From: jewell@MACE.CC.PURDUE.EDU (Larry Jewell)
Newsgroups: soc.veterans
Subject: 'NamVet Newsletter, Vol.5, no.3 (4/6)
Date: 13 Sep 92 00:58:32 GMT


     the  War Department to provide some type of screening to eliminate 
     recruits   susceptible   to   psychiatric   breakdown.    Military 
     physicians,  at a loss to treat the problems,  simply mustered the 
     extreme cases out during the first three years of the war.   "They 
     
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     were  put  on trains with no supervision,  the name of their  home 
     town  or state pinned to their tunics,  others were left to wander 
     about   the   countryside  until  they  died  from   exposure   or 
     starvation,"  reports  Richard  A.  Gabriel,  a consultant to  the 
     Senate  and  House Armed Services committees and one of  the  best 
     chroniclers of PTSD.
       Gabriel's  research tells us that in 1863,  the number of insane 
     soldiers simply wandering around was so great,  there was a public 
     outcry.   Because of this,  and at the urging of medical surgeons, 
     the  first  military  hospital for the insane was  established  in 
     1863.   The  most common diagnosis was nostalgia.   The government 
     made  no effort to deal with the psychiatrically wounded after the 
     war and the hospital was closed.  There was, however,  a system of 
     soldiers'  homes  set up around the country.   Togus,  Maine,  was 
     designated as the eastern branch of this system, and in 1875,  its 
     director noted that, strangely enough, the need for the hospital's 
     services seemed to increase rather than decrease.
       For  civilians  in the 1800s,  the growth of the industrial  era 
     created  large  companies with machinery operated by  workers  who 
     often  had injury-producing accidents.   Train wrecks became  very 
     common.
       Author  Charles  Dickens was involved in a railway  accident  at 
     Staplehurst  in  Kent,  England,  on June 9,  1865.   He  suffered 
     symptoms which today would be diagnosed as PTSD. Dickens described 
     the horrifying scene in a letter:   "[T]wo or three hours work.... 
     Amongst  the  dead  and dying surrounded by  terrific  sights...."  
     Sometime  after,  he wrote he was "unsteady"  and said,  "I am not 
     quite right within,  but believe it to be an effect of the railway 
     shaking."
       Railway accident victims began suing the railroads.  Lawyers for 
     the  railway  companies  fought back with the  term  "compensation 
     neurosis,"  which  charged  that  litigants  were  trying  to  get 
     something for nothing.
       This discounting of effects of the trauma by charging the victim 
     with having ulterior motives was also common in the military.  "It 
     is  by  lack of discipline,  confidence,  and respect that many  a 
     young  soldier has become discouraged and made to feel the  bitter 
     pangs  of  homesickness,  which is usually the precursor  of  more 
     serious  ailments,"  commented  the assistant surgeon  general  in 
     1864,  reflecting  the sentiment that most who suffered signs  and 
     symptoms of war trauma were, in fact, malingering.
       Unfortunately,   the   attitude   that  combat   veterans   with 
     psychological  problems  are really malingerers who are trying  to 
     gain economically is still with us today.  That attitude, combined 
     with  veterans'  pride and distrust,  accounts for the fact  that, 
     while  a  Research  Triangle  Institute  study  concludes  830,000 
     Vietnam veterans have full-blown or partial PTSD, only 55,119 have 
     filed  claims,  and  the  adjudication boards have  only  believed 
     28,411 (July 1990) of those claimants.
       Emotional stress builds very fast on a battlefield, and if there 
     is no permissible emotional outlet, the soldier will "convert" his 
     symptoms  into  physiological conditions.   Gabriel,  who  was  an 
     active intelligence officer for 22 years, offers Maj.  Marcus Reno 
     and  his soldiers as a classic example of the breakdown of men  in 
     battle.   Major  Reno's troops served as a blocking force for Gen. 
     Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn.  The battle had 
     hardly begun when Reno himself became a psychiatric casualty.  The 
     major's Indian scout, Yellow Knife,  was struck square in the face 
     by a bullet,  which sent his blood,  flesh,  and brains spattering 
     
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     all over Reno, who immediately went into shock.   He began foaming 
     at the mouth, and his eyes rolled wildly in his head.   He uttered 
     sounds which made no sense.
       Some  of Reno's men were so paralyzed with fear,  they  couldn't 
     defend themselves.  They were so terrified,  in fact,  the Indians 
     thought them cowards and refused to kill them.  Maj.  Myles Moylan 
     was  found later by the cavalry rescue force,  "blubbering like  a 
     whipped urchin, tears coursing down his cheeks."
       Some  of the soldiers report they hallucinated during the fight, 
     seeing  columns  of soldiers approaching and hearing  voices  when 
     there  were  none.   Other soldiers entered into states  of  shock 
     approaching  stupor  from  the emotional exhaustion  generated  by 
     fear.   About  the  only  thing that didn't happen to  Reno's  men 
     during  the battle was desertion,  but this was because there  was 
     simply no place to go.
     
       The  first army in history to determine that mental collapse was 
     a  direct  consequence of the stress of war and to regard it as  a 
     legitimate medical condition was the Russian Army of 1905 in their 
     war  with  the  Japanese.   Military expert  Gabriel  states  that 
     Russian  attempts to diagnose and treat battle shock represent the 
     birth  of military psychiatry.   The Russians'  major contribution 
     was  their recognition of the principle of proximity,  or  forward 
     treatment.   Although  it's believed by most armies today that the 
     Russians  were  right in treating psychiatric casualties close  to 
     the  front,  with  the goal of returning them to  the  fight,  the 
     recorded  rate of those who returned to battle suggests the method 
     was not very successful.  In actuality,  less than 20 percent were 
     able to return to the front.
       The  outbreak  of WWI produced large numbers of  psychologically 
     wounded.   Unfortunately,  what little had been learned up to then 
     was  forgotten.   The  only American experience  with  psychiatric 
     casualties  that  anyone  remembered was  when  American  soldiers 
     stationed  with  Gen.  John J.  Pershing on the Mexican front  had 
     exhibited   an   abnormally   high   rate   of   mental   illness.  
     Consequently,  the  medical  establishment set out once  again  to 
     recreate the wheel.  This time, they began by attributing the high 
     psychiatric  casualties to the new weapons of  war,  specifically, 
     the  large-caliber artillery.   It was believed the impact of  the 
     shells  produced a concussion that disrupted the physiology of the 
     brain, thus the term "shell shock."
       Although  WWI  generated stress theories based on models of  the 
     mind,  such  as Freud's "war neurosis,"  the theories never gained 
     wide acceptance.  Quite simply,  Freud postulated,  "war neurosis" 
     was  brought about by the inner conflict between a soldier's  "war 
     ego" and his "peace ego."
       Another  diagnosis  at  the  time  which  gained  no  widespread 
     attention was that of neurasthenia:  "The mental troubles are many 
     and marked; on the emotional side,  there are sadness,  weariness, 
     and  pessimism;  repugnance  to  effort,   abnormal  irritability; 
     defective   control  of  temper,   tendency  to  weep  on   slight 
     provocation; timidity.   On the intellectual side,  lessened power 
     of attention, defective memory and will power.
     
       By  the  end of World War I,  the United States had hundreds  of 
     psychiatrists   overseas   who  were  beginning  to  realize   the 
     psychiatric  casualties  were  not suffering from  "shell  shock."  
     These  psychiatrists were beginning to realize it was emotions and 
     not  physiological  brain  damage  that  was  most  often  causing 
     
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     Volume  5, Number  3                               March 14, 1991

     soldiers   to   collapse   under  a  wide   range   of   symptoms.  
     Unfortunately,  they continued to believe this collapse came about 
     primarily in men who were weak in character.
       During  WWI,  almost two million men were sent overseas to fight 
     in  Europe.   Deaths  were  put at  116,516,  while  204,000  were 
     wounded.  During the same period, 159,000 soldiers were put out of 
     actions  for  psychiatric  problems,  with nearly  half  of  these 
     (70,000) permanently discharged.
       Harking  back to military medicine during the Civil War,  it was 
     concluded  that the answer to psychological casualties was to more 
     thoroughly screen the applicants.  Based on this,  the main effort 
     to  reduce  WWII psychological casualties was to focus on  sifting 
     through  draftees in order to weed out those predisposed to  break 
     down in combat.   The military used the best available psychiatric 
     testing  and  rejected  no fewer than five  million  for  military 
     service.
       In World War II, the ratio of rear-area support troops to combat 
     troops was twelve to one.  In the four years of war,  no more than 
     800,000  soldiers saw direct combat,  and of these,  37.5  percent 
     became  such  serous  psychiatric  cases,  they  were  permanently 
     discharged.  In the U.S. Army alone (not counting Army air crews), 
     504,000 men were lost to the fight for psychiatric reasons.  There 
     were  1,393,000 who suffered symptoms serious enough to debilitate 
     them for some period.
       In WWII, it became clear it was not just the "weak" in character 
     who were breaking down.  This is reflected in the subtle change in 
     terminology  that  took  place near the end of World War  II  when 
     "combat   neurosis"   began  to  give  way  to  the  term  "combat 
     exhaustion."   Author  Paul Fussell says that term as well as  the 
     term  "battle fatigue"  suggest "a little rest would be enough  to 
     restore  to  useful  duty  a soldier who would  be  more  honestly 
     designated  as  insane."   While the name changed showed  movement 
     away  from the psychopathology,  it didn't keep the military model 
     of  "predisposition plus stress equals collapse"  from working its 
     way back into military medicine.
       Fussell  was  a 20-year-old Army lieutenant and the leader of  a 
     rifle platoon in France.  He was severely wounded in 1945 and came 
     home  to  earn  a Ph.D.  from Harvard.   He has written  a  highly 
     acclaimed book, WARTIME.  In the preface he says, "For the past 50 
     years  the  allied war has been sanitized and romanticized  almost 
     beyond  recognition by the sentimental,  the loony patriotic,  the 
     ignorant,  and  the  bloodthirsty -  I have tried to  balance  the 
     scales."
       Fussell  quickly  cuts  to  the heart  of  the  war  experience, 
     reminding  us  that those who fight are at once  young,  athletic, 
     credulous,  and  innocent of their own mortality.   He points  out 
     that  the  populace is naive to the pain and  suffering.   Fussell 
     quotes Bruce Canton:  "A singular fact about modern war is that it 
     takes  change.   Once begun it has to be carried to its conclusion 
     and  carrying  it there sets in motion events that may  be  beyond 
     men's control.  Doing what has to be done to win, men perform acts 
     that alter the very soil in which society's roots are nourished."
       Astonishingly,  Canton  was writing about the Civil  War,  which 
     Fussell in turn characterizes as "long, brutal, total, and stupid" 
     -  something  that can be said about any war when we fully realize 
     that before society's roots can be altered,  soldiers'  very souls 
     are seared by the acts they perform and witness.
       The  denial and naivete of the populace as to what war really is 
     becomes  a dynamic underlying the trauma of  soldiers:   "[S]evere 
     
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     trauma  was often the result of the initial optimistic imagination 
     encountering actuality."   Many Vietnam veterans can attest it's a 
     long  way  from  the jungles of Vietnam to  Disneyland  (America).  
     That  is  just about as far as Erich Maria Remarque knew it to  be 
     from the western front to home in WWI:  "Now if we go back we will 
     be weary, broken, burnt out, rootless, and without hope.   We will 
     not be able to find our way anymore.   And men will not understand 
     us....  We will be superfluous even to ourselves, some others will 
     merely submit, and most will be bewildered...."
       Fussell  points  out all wars are boyish and are fought by  boys 
     who are useful material for the sharp edge of war,  but only for a 
     short  time:  "[A]fter  a  few months they'll be dried up  and  as 
     soldiers  virtually  useless  -  scared,   cynical,   debilitated, 
     unwilling...."
       While the average age in the military during WWII was 26, it was 
     the  18-year-olds who were up front.   "Among the horribly wounded 
     the  most common cry was 'mother!'"   Replacements got hit  before 
     anyone  knew their names,  "forlorn figures coming up to the  meat 
     grinder  and  going  right  back out of it  like  homeless  waifs, 
     unknown and faceless to us," said poet James Dickey.
       Fussell  notes  the detachment may be heartless but it makes  it 
     possible  for  sensitive  people  to survive  the  war  relatively 
     undamaged.   While  it's true that we detach ourselves from war in 
     order  to survive,  it's also clear that the act of detachment  is 
     itself  a kind of willed destruction.   It's the price paid;  it's 
     why  we  never learn.   The psychic numbing necessary  to  survive 
     combat  is  not something you step into and out  of  easily.   You 
     can't do it halfway.
       The  attitude  is betrayed by phrases such as,  "It's just  dead 
     meat,"  "Kill  'em all and let God sort 'em out,"  or "Bomb Hanoi, 
     Bomb Saigon, Bomb Disneyland, Bomb everything."   This attitude is 
     about  as tangible a thing as you can find.   It is all  consuming 
     and  pervades the soul.   You carry it with you when you leave the 
     battlefield.   You  carry it home,  where you live with  it.   You 
     share  it  with your family and your friends and  your  kids,  and 
     ultimately  with your society.   And it is poisonous,  exceedingly 
     poisonous -  "and it alters the very soil in which society's roots 
     are nourished."
       At  the close of WWI,  Edmund Wilson looked out over London  and 
     said,  "No  one pretends to give a damn anymore -  unless they are 
     one's  close friends or relatives -  whether people are killed  or 
     not.... The long-continued concentration on killing people whom we 
     rarely  confront,  the  suppression of the natural  bonds  between 
     ourselves   and   these  unseen  human  creatures,   is  paid   by 
     repercussions.   The  spitefulness and fear and stifled guilt,  in 
     our  immediate personal relations....  Our whole world is poisoned 
     now...."
       It  takes  time and effort to overcome such  detachment  -  some 
     people  never do.   To look at any of it is to look at all of  it.  
     It  can be overwhelming.   It may be the reason Kurt Vonnegut took 
     23  years to tell us about his experience during the fire  bombing 
     of Dresden, just as it took Fussell 50 years to say, "Now 50 years 
     later,  there  has  been  much  talk about  'The  Good  War,'  the 
     justified war, the necessary war, and the like, that the young and 
     innocent  could  get the impression that it really was not such  a 
     bad thing after all.   It's thus necessary to observe it was a war 
     and nothing else,  and thus stupid and sadistic,  a war,  as Cyril 
     Connally said, 'of which we are ashamed, a war... which lowers the 
     standard  of  thinking  and feeling...  which is  as  obsolete  as 
     
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     drawing  and  quartering...;  further,  a  war opposed  to  'every 
     reasonable  conception of what life is for,  every ambition of the 
     mind or delight of the senses."
       Of course,  the same can be said for the Korean War.   In Korea, 
     1,587,040  served -  33,629 were killed in combat and 103,284 were 
     wounded.  Of the 198,380 who were actually in combat, 24.2 percent 
     were psychiatric casualties.  In other words, the chances of being 
     a  psychiatric  casualty in Korea was 143 percent better than  the 
     chances of being killed.
       In Vietnam,  2,8 million served.   Given the nature of guerrilla 
     warfare,  it  is  hard to estimate the number exposed  to  hostile 
     fire.    However,   the   Research  Triangle  Institute's  Vietnam 
     readjustment  study  concludes  480,000 have full-blown  PTSD  and 
     another 350,000 have partial PTSD.
     
       The  British psychiatrist R.D.  Lang has written that an  insane 
     response  to an insane situation is sane behavior.   Working  with 
     schizophrenics,  he  concluded many were the way they were because 
     of massive double-bind situations they were put in -  telling them 
     one  thing  while their reality and treatment were  the  opposite.  
     For instance, the religious child grows up being told, "Thou shalt 
     not  kill,"  until he is drafted and the message  becomes,  "kill, 
     kill, kill!"
       Gabriel  writes  in  NO  MORE HEROES,  a study  of  madness  and 
     psychiatry  in  war,  that  contrary  to what is  in  the  movies, 
     television, and the military, it is not only the weak and cowardly 
     who  break  down in battle.   In reality,  everyone is subject  to 
     breaking down in combat, :perhaps most telling, not only are there 
     no  personalities or demographic factors which are associated with 
     psychiatric  collapse;  neither  are there any factors  associated 
     with  heroism.   It's  impossible to predict which  soldiers  will 
     collapse  and which will behave bravely."   A soldier who is brave 
     one day may well be a psychological basket case the next.  Gabriel 
     states flatly, "There is no statistical difference in the rates of 
     psychiatric  breakdown  among  inexperienced  troops  and  battle-
     hardened veterans."  When all is said and done, all normal men are 
     at risk in war.
       Gabriel  believes  there  is enough evidence from  studies  done 
     after  WWII  to suggest it is only those who are already  mentally 
     ill, about two percent of the population,  who don't break down in 
     battle.  In other words, only the sane can go insane;  the already 
     insane  remain  that  way.   "Perhaps  it  is  simply  that  while 
     collective  insanity  can  destroy normally sane  men,  it  cannot 
     reverse individual insanity," writes Gabriel.
       This  idea,  that  all normal men have a breaking point and  all 
     combat veterans will fall off a continuum at recovering, from mild 
     to severely pathological, has been called the endurance model.  It 
     looks  at  war  madness as a form of  adaptation.   The  task  for 
     therapists  and  psychiatrists  to unravel the  sense  behind  the 
     symptomatology,  acute  or chronic,  that is observed in  veterans 
     today: "Fatigue and listlessness,  depression,  startle reactions, 
     recurrent  nightmares,  phobias  and  fears  involving  situations 
     associated with trauma, mixtures of impulse behavior, unsteadiness 
     in  human relationships and projects of all kinds (including  work 
     or study), that may take the form of distrust, suspiciousness, and 
     outbursts of violence."
       Robert J. Lifton is a psychiatrist based at Yale University, and 
     he  is  renowned  for his work  with  trauma  patients,  including 
     Vietnam veterans.   His response to the illness model (soldiers in 
     
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     their conflictive "neurotic" state become afraid to die and afraid 
     to  kill)  is  he doesn't see not wanting to die or kill as  being 
     very  "neurotic"  and  that,  in fact,  perhaps mankind can use  a 
     little more of this attitude.  Lifton points out this model worked 
     in WWII because the Nazis were so obviously evil:  "Those soldiers 
     that  broke  down,  who were afraid to die and afraid to  kill  on 
     behalf  of  this  crusade,  could be quite comfortably  viewed  as 
     neurotic."
       The dynamics were different in Vietnam,  where conditions of the 
     war  were  such that moral revulsion combined  with  psychological 
     conflict lead to both acute and delayed reactions.  Lifton writes, 
     "[M]onths  or even years after their return to this country,  many 
     Vietnam  vets  combined features of the Traumatic Stress  Syndrome 
     with  preoccupation with questions of meaning -  concerning  life, 
     and ultimately, all other areas of living."
       Lifton  argues  that in the search to understand  the  soldiers' 
     traumatic  stress reaction,  doctors should focus on the death and 
     destruction  that actually took place and its related questions of 
     meaning, rather than invoke the idea of "neurosis."
       "At  the  heart of the traumatic syndrome -  and of the  overall 
     human struggle with pain - is the diminished capacity to feel,  or 
     psychic  numbing.   There is a close relationship between  psychic 
     numbing...  and death-linked images of denial ('If I feel nothing, 
     then death is not taking place'), or 'I see you dying but I am not 
     related to you as your death.'"
       In  order  to survive,  soldiers undergo a radical reduction  in 
     their  sense of the actuality of things.   One example is Canadian 
     bomber-pilot  J.D.  Harvey on his return from rebuilding Berlin in 
     1960:  "I  could not visualize the horrible death my bombs...  had 
     caused  here.   I  had no feeling of guilt.   I had no feeling  of 
     accomplishment."
       Lifton  tells us this happens in order for the soldier to  avoid 
     losing  his  sense completely and permanently.   "He  undergoes  a 
     reversible  form  of symbolic death in order to avoid a  permanent 
     physical or psychic death."
       Having  closed  off and numbed themselves in order  to  survive, 
     soldiers  are  then faced with the task of working their way  back 
     toward  humanity.   The struggle is to "reexperience himself as  a 
     vital human being."  However, it is not all that easy,  for "one's 
     human  web has been all too readily shattered,  and in rearranging 
     one's  self-image  and  feelings,  one is on guard  against  false 
     promises of protection, vitality, or even modest assistance.   One 
     fends  off  not only new threats of annihilation but  gestures  of 
     love or help."
     
       This  goes to the heart of current concerns about PTSD  -  that, 
     paradoxically,  its tremendous incidence in Vietnam was ultimately 
     a  sign of the sanity of those who fought in the war.   Otherwise, 
     why  be disturbed by the killing,  by the stuff of war?   But ever 
     after, in peacetime, the reconstruction of "the human web" becomes 
     more and more implausible;  if societies are sane -  if,  in fact, 
     they are civilized - why are there wars?
       The  arguments  are circular.   The question of PTSD  is  always 
     thrust  back upon us.   The reason there are wars is because  most 
     societies  are  not civilized,  but might be someday.   There  are 
     "cures"  offered in the best of societies for PTSD,  programs that 
     are  established  to  reintegrate  sane men  and  women  into  the 
     established   order.    But  always  the  absolute  cure  to   the 
     eradication of symptoms of PTSD is to eradicate their causes.   We 
     
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     are disturbed by war, and justly so.   As we know it today,  Post-
     traumatic  Stress  Disorder is marked by a reexperiencing  of  the 
     trauma  in thought,  feeling,  or dream content,  which is in turn 
     evidenced by emotional and psychological numbing.  Today,  PTSD is 
     characterized   by  depression,   loss  of  interest  in  work  or 
     activities,  psychic  and  emotional  numbing,   anger,   anxiety, 
     cynicism  and  distrust,  memory loss and  alienation,  and  other 
     symptoms.   And  why  not?   Who would not be alienated  from  the 
     scenes  of  death  witnessed  by  soldiers?   The  point  is  that 
     throughout  history,  men  and  women have acted to  suppress  the 
     horrors  that they've seen.   It's time we recognize that for what 
     it  is -  as not only the outward manifestation of PTSD,  but  the 
     clearest  evidence we have that wars are destructive in other ways 
     than  in body county.   It takes many years for even the most sane 
     among us to arrive at what we have seen and wanted to forget.
       Psychiatrist  Victor  Frankel survived internment in  four  Nazi 
     concentration  camps during WWII.   It would be quite a few  years 
     before he wrote his book, MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING.   In the book, 
     he  states  clearly  that  "an abnormal response  to  an  abnormal 
     situation  is normal behavior."   In other words,  if some  things 
     don't make you crazy, then you aren't very sane to begin with.
       Unfortunately, it's an idea whose time has not yet come.
     




































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     Volume  5, Number  3                               March 14, 1991

     It's finally here - a patch which acknowledges the other side 
     of the Vietnam Veteran:  His wife!
       Hardly needing any explanation, it is multicolor with Red,
     White, Blue, Green and Gold for the Map of Vietnam. 
       While the text drawing below doesn't really do it justice, I
     think if you run it out on your printer, you'll sorta get the 
     idea of how special this unique patch is.
       They are available for $5 each from VETLink #1 - Dept. 65
     P O Box 2056  Pittsfield, MASSACHUSETTS 01202 
         (Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery)
     
                   @@@@@@@@@@              @@@@@@@@@@
                @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@          @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
             @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@      @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
           @@@@@@@@         @@@@@      @@@@@         @@@@@@@@
          @@@@                 @@@    @@@                 @@@@
         @@@@                     @@@@@                    @@@@
        @@@@                                                @@@@
       @@@  V  I  E  T  N  A  M    V  E  T  S     W  I  F  E  @@@
      @@@                                                      @@@
     @@@           :@@@@@@@@@@@:        :@@@@@@@@@@@:           @@@
     @@@          @.............@      @.............@          @@@
     @@@         @...............@    @...............@         @@@
     @@@        @.................@  @.................@        @@@
     @@@       (...................@@...................)       @@@
     @@@       @.............             ..............@       @@@
     @@@       @.............. MAP OF USA ..............@       @@@
     @@@       @.................      .................@       @@@
     @@@       @................. WITH .................@       @@@
      @@@       @..............         ...............@       @@@
      @@@       @............... MAP OF ...............@       @@@
       @@@      (........                       .......)      @@@
        @@@      @......  VIET NAM SUPERIMPOSED ......@      @@@
         @@@      @........                 .........@      @@@
          @@@      @..........  OVER IT ............@      @@@
           @@@   I  @ ............................ @  N   @@@
            @@@      @............................@      @@@
             @@@      @..........................@  A   @@@
              @@@   S  @........................@      @@@
               @@@       @....................@  M    @@@
                 @@@  T   @..................@      @@@
                  @@@      @................@      @@@
                   @@@  A    @............@  Y    @@@
                    @@@       @..........@       @@@
                     @@@  N     @......@   M    @@@
                      @@@         @..@         @@@
                       @@@  D      @@         @@@
                        @@@                  @@@
                          @@@    B   Y     @@@
                           @@@            @@@
                            @@@          @@@ 
                             @@@        @@@
                               @@      @@
                                @@    @@ 
                                 @@  @@
                                   @@
                (c) 1988 VVA Chapter #65  Pittsfield, MA
     

     NAM VET Newsletter                                        Page 53
     Volume  5, Number  3                               March 14, 1991

                    Vets Hospital Echo is now on-line!
                            Input by Joan Renne
                  NamVet's Women Veterans Section Editor
                        The Friends BBS - Omaha, NE
                              (402) 896-2669
     
     The Vets Hospital Echo is now on line! It came about after lengthy 
     discussions  with  several  veterans about the kind  of  care  and 
     treatment our newest wounded and disabled veterans will receive at 
     Veterans Administration Hospitals.
     
     Many  of  us  have experienced the good,  the  not  so  good,  and 
     sometimes  the dreadful treatment from the Veterans Administration 
     Hospitals and Clinics across the United States.
     
     It  is not the purpose of this echo to cast blame on or aspersions 
     at  the  staff or the administrative personnel of any V A  Medical 
     Center.  Our purpose is to help presently hospitalized veterans of 
     all  wars,  and  especially the new disabled and wounded  veterans 
     from the war in the Gulf. Our second purpose is to help the family 
     members of our veterans find their way through the red tape...  to 
     discover, as we have, what works, and what doesn't in dealing with 
     the  Veterans Administration or other institutions related to  the 
     veterans care.
     
     One  thing we can all do is press our Senators and Representatives 
     to  restore  the funds that have been cut from the budget  of  the 
     Veterans  Administration  that has caused a shortage  of  doctors, 
     nurses  and research programs.  Present staffing is way down,  and 
     beds  are empty when there are many veterans who had been promised 
     care, who are no longer considered a as "deserving" that care.  It 
     is  my opinion that decreased budgets for the VA has created  this 
     situation  which  leaves many veterans without any care,  many  of 
     them  among  the  homeless  and  unemployed  who  need  that  care 
     desperately.
     
     What can we do? President Bush has told us repeatedly that the war 
     in the Gulf is not another Vietnam;  that we will welcome home our 
     Gulf  War Veterans with Pride.  Part of our pride in them must  be 
     that  we  respect what all veterans in time of conflict or war  go 
     through.  We  must also understand that the war does not stop once 
     the wounded leaves the battle field.  That last battle will remain 
     in that veterans mind for the rest of his or her life.  Not all of 
     the  wounded  will bear the physical scars of war,  but that  many 
     will  have  the  psychological  scars we  cannot  see.  We  *must* 
     understand, and do all we can to help all the new veterans.
     
     Where  can we go to get answers?  Most of the answers we find will 
     be through our own experience, plus information from the different 
     service  organizations  such  as  the  V.F.W.,   American  Legion, 
     Disabled American Veterans, and their auxiliary members.
     
     Title 38, which is the section of Government rules and regulations 
     pertaining to the Veterans Administration changes rapidly,  and we 
     must keep up with it.
     
     G.  Joseph Peck,  from VETLink #1 in Pittsfield,  MA and I will be 
     co-moderators  of  this  echo.   I am a disabled  Korean  conflict 
     veteran and G. Joseph is a Vietnam era veteran.   Both of us care. 
     
     NAM VET Newsletter                                        Page 54
     Volume  5, Number  3                               March 14, 1991

     Although  neither of us have access to *legal*  opinions,  we  *do 
     have*  opinions and a personal and historical knowledge of how the 
     system works.
     
     =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
     Note from Joe: This echo is, for the moment,  not available on the 
     FidoNet <tm> backbone.  If you or your SysOp wish, you may request 
     it   from   VETLink  #1  (9600bps)   or  Friends  BBS   (2400bps).  
     Remembering always "To care for him(her)  who shall have borne the 
     battle",  I  am both humbled and honored with this opportunity  to 
     see  to  it  that  America's  veterans  are  never  forgotten  nor 
     neglected.
     














































     NAM VET Newsletter                                        Page 55
     Volume  5, Number  3                               March 14, 1991

          
          
                       _     ______   _______  __    _  _______
                      /\\    H    M   H        H\\   H  HHHHHHH
                     /  \\   H        H        H \\  H     H
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              ______    ______      _     __    _  ______   _______
              H     H  H     /)    /\\    H\\   H  H    M   H
              H     H  H____//    /  \\   H \\  H  H        H
              H     H  H   \\    /====\\  H  \\ H  H   HHH  HHH
              H_____H  H    \\  /      \\ H   \\H  H_____M  H______
          
                                .  _  .  _  .  .
                            -.- . -   .   - . -. -  .
                         - -  -   - . -   -  -    -  .-
                        -   .   .           .    -  -  -.
                      - .            . .  .    .   .  . -.
                    -.    .  .     .   U   S .  -        -.
                   -     .      .     .  .  -    .  . -   -.
                  -  .        .   .  -  -   .         .   -.
                  - .  .. V I E T N A M  V E T E R A N  . _ -
                 -   .   .    .    _ _   _ . _-_ .    -     -
                 - .            - -   -_- -_-xxx _ -.  . - .-.
                  - . .  .  .  - XXXXXxxXXXXXXXXXXXx -. - .- .
                  -    .  . XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-.  .--.
                  - .-   XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX -.- -
                   -.-  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX -.  -.
                    -. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx .g -.
                     -. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX .- j.
                     .- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  .  p
                    .-.  XXXXXXXX   ]XXXXXXXXX  ]XXXXXXXX  .-  -
                     -.   XXXXXX       XXXXX      XXXXXX    -.- -
                    --      XXXXXX     XXXXXX    XXXXXX     --
                    -         XXXXXXXXX X'`XXX XXXXXXX      Y
                    Y          XXXXXXXXX    XXXXX XXX
                                XXXXXXX X X XXXXXXXX
                                 XXXXXXX XXX XXXXXX
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               "  I t ' s    o n l y    t e e n a g e    a c n e !  "
                                                   -Robert Nimmo-
          
          
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     


     NAM VET Newsletter                                        Page 56
     Volume  5, Number  3                               March 14, 1991

     
     This Message brought up from POW Network BBS:
     Date: 01-24-90 (15:26)              Number: 267
       To: ALL                           Refer#: NONE
     From: CHUCK SCHANTAG                  Read: (N/A)
     Subj: THE WAR COMES HOME, AGAIN     Status: PUBLIC MESSAGE
                       Submitted by: Lefty Frizzell
                   NamVet's Need-To-Know Section Editor
                   The Executive Washroom - Katy, Texas
                              (713) 347-2558
     
     On December 20, 1989, the war came home to Gary Roth of Milan 
     Illinois.
      
     Gary enlisted in the Navy in 1964 fully expecting to be sent to 
     VietNam. Every generation of the Roth family served in wars and he 
     wasn't going to be the exception.  Early in his Navy training Gary 
     was injured and spent well over a year in the Navy hospital in 
     Maryland. As part of his recovery, he was made a corpsmans aid, 
     assisting the hospital staff with all the war wounded then 
     entering the system.  Needless to say, the memories of what he saw 
     during that time haunts him to this day.
      
     The War came home again to Gary Roth.
      
     On December 20, 1989, Gary's only son Scott, was killed by a 
     snipers bullet in Panama.  Scott was only 19 at the time he died, 
     and was firmly convinced that what he was doing was right for 
     America.
      
     Gary came to visit me the other day, said that he could not get 
     any support from the older vets so he had to turn to his own.  He 
     asked if I would help him organize a committee to build a Memorial 
     in Washington DC.
      
     I say no to many things, but I NEVER turn away my own.  A call to 
     a Marine Nam vet Attorney, got the corporation going and the 501 
     (c) 3 papers in process, a 9th Inf Arty officer, now a CPA has the 
     fund accounting covered.  Another Nam Vet, now a radio 
     personality, has agreed to do press releases.  Congressman Lane 
     Evans of Illinois and Jim Leach of Iowa are going to introduce a 
     bill before Congress to allocate the necessary land.
      
     The only thing Roth needs now, is your support.  I'm not talking 
     money either.  What Gary Roth need most is encouragement, and a 
     few kind words from his own.
      
     To deny him this, is to forget everything we have learned.
      
     Gary can be contacted (mornings) at the address listed below
     
                               Gary Lee Roth
                 2618 136th Ave. Ct.       (319) 787-3187
                          West Milan, Il.  61264
      
     



     NAM VET Newsletter                                        Page 57
     Volume  5, Number  3                               March 14, 1991



     =================================================================
                       Veteran info you want to know
     =================================================================

                   "Ask the Veterans' Affairs Counselor"
                      DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
                  Office of Public Affairs - News Service
                    Washington DC 20420  (202) 233-2741
     
                         Input by: G. Joseph Peck
                         NamVet's Managing Editor 
                        VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA
                              (413) 443-6313
     
     (Following  are  representative  questions answered  daily  by  VA 
     counselors.  Full information is available at any VA office.)
     
     Q-- I heard that Congress passed a law authorizing special life 
         insurance dividends for World War II veterans.  I understand 
         that veterans are entitled to this dividend even if they 
         haven't kept their policies in force.  Is this true?
     A-- No.  The VA does not pay dividends on lapsed insurance 
         policies.  It sounds as if you were misled by the insurance 
         hoax that has plagued the VA since 1948.  The hoax is refueled 
         every few years by the mysterious distribution of 
         "applications" that claim that dividends are available for the 
         asking and that Congress has passed a law authorizing the 
         dividends.  There has been no such action nor is there any 
         pending.  Annual dividends on current GI insurance policies 
         are paid by the VA to veterans who continue to pay premiums.  
         Dividend payments are made automatically, usually on the 
         anniversary date of the policy, and no application is needed.
     
     Q-- I own a manufactured home on a rented lot.  I would like to 
         purchase a lot for it.  Can I do this using the VA guaranteed 
         loan program?
     A-- Yes.  A VA guaranteed loan may be used to buy and improve a 
         lot on which to place a manufactured home you already own and 
         occupy.
     



















     NAM VET Newsletter                                        Page 58
     Volume  5, Number  3                               March 14, 1991

                         BENEFITS for NY VETERANS
                            and their FAMILIES
     
                             STATE OF NEW YORK
                           EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
                       DIVISION OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
     
                         MARIO M. CUOMO, Governor
                 DR. NICHOLAS F. SALLESE, (Past) Director
     
     "What  you  don't  know about veterans'  benefits  can  hurt  you.  
     That's precisely why  the State of New York -   through the medium 
     of its Division of Veterans Affairs   -    provides   professional  
     counseling   in   the  preparation   and presentation  of   claims  
     for all  veterans'   benefits.    The  well-being  of veterans and 
     their families is a prime concern of my administration."
     
     "I   urge  you  to contact your nearest New York  State  Veterans'  
     Counseling  Center  where  you will find State Veteran  Counselors 
     who  will  explain  your entitlement  to veterans'   benefits  and 
     extend sympathetic help in  resolving your problems."
     
                               Mario M. Cuomo, Governor
     
     "Veterans'  benefits are not granted automatically;   they must be 
     applied for and  the  laws and regulations determining entitlement 
     are  extremely   complex  and  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the 
     average   claimant.     Your  State   Veteran  Counselor   is    a  
     professionally-qualified   expert   -    especially   trained   to 
     represent    you   before  the  various  boards  and  adjudication 
     officials   of   the  Veterans   Administration.    All   services  
     rendered   by  your  State  Veteran Counselor are free and  entail 
     no  fees  or charges.    County Veterans'   Service Agencies   are  
     also  equipped  to give veterans information and  offer   advocacy 
     services."
     
                       Dr. Nicholas F. Sallese, (Past) Director
     
                               CIVIL SERVICE
     FEDERAL:    Ten-point preference for eligible disabled veterans in 
     competitive  exams   only.    Certain   requirements   waived  and 
     special     priority    given    in   certain    job   categories.   
     Unremarried  widows,   certain  wives  and  mothers   of  disabled 
     veterans are also eligible for preference.
     
     STATE   AND   LOCAL:    Ten-point original appointment  preference  
     for    disabled  veterans   and   five-points  and  2-1/2  points,  
     respectively,   for   promotional exams.    Job  retention  rights 
     applicable to veterans and wives  of  totally disabled veterans.
     
     DEATH PENSION
     FEDERAL:    A   non-service  connected  death pension is   payable  
     to   eligible  unremarried  widows and minor children of  deceased 
     veterans  who  served during a  period  of  hostilities.    Amount 
     depends  upon their income  and,   in  some instances  net  worth.   
     Minor  children  may  be  eligible  even  though  the   widow  has  
     remarried or is ineligible because of income.    Widowers,   under 
     certain conditions,  may  also  be eligible.    Certain widows may 
     become  eligible   if  remarried status changed due  to  death  or 
     
     NAM VET Newsletter                                        Page 59
     Volume  5, Number  3                               March 14, 1991

     divorce of second husband.
     
     DISABILITY BENEFITS
     COMPENSATION:   Apply  for  service-connected condition anytime in  
     lifetime.   Disability  rating  based on severity of condition and 
     reduction  or  loss  of earning power.   Additional allowances for 
     dependents of veterans with 30%  or more disabilities and veterans 
     with certain presumed chronic diseases.
     
                      THE KEY TO ALL VETERAN BENEFITS
                        ... an HONORABLE DISCHARGE
     SERVICE  PENSION:   A  pension  is  payable  to  eligible  wartime 
     veterans  with  non-service   connected   disabilities  which  are 
     permanent  and  totally  disabling.   Veterans who served at least 
     90  days between 5/19/16 and 4/16/17 in or around Mexico  qualify.  
     Payments based on need, annual income and net worth.
     
     DOMICILIARY
     Admission  limited  to eligible veterans who are disabled,  unable 
     to  earn   a living   and  in  need  of  medical   treatment   and  
     full   care   other    than  hospitalization.    One   domiciliary  
     located   in  New  York  State   at   Bath   in  Steuben   County.   
     Nursing  home  care is up to 6 months at any  VA  approved nursing 
     home on direct referral from VA hospital.
     
     EDUCATION
     FEDERAL:    Honorably  discharged  veterans with active duty of at  
     least  181 days,  any  part  of which occurred after 1/31/77,  may 
     qualify   for   up  to   45  months    in    approved    training.    
     Avocation   or  recreational  courses  not  permitted.    Veterans  
     may   complete   high   school  without  charge   to   educational 
     entitlement.    Those  satisfying  active  duty obligations  after  
     18  months service are entitled to the full 45 months.  Servicemen 
     with  two  years  active duty  are  eligible  for  benefits  while 
     still   in   service.    Allowances  for  predischarge   education  
     courses   available  to servicemen  to  complete  high  school  or 
     prepare   for  courses  above  high  school   level.    Generally,  
     education  must  be completed within 10 years  of  separation.   A 
     monthly    financial   stipend   is    provided    for   veterans.   
     Proportionate  allowances  payable  for  half   and  three-quarter 
     time.   Special  tutorial help available for essential courses  to 
     help overcome subject deficiencies.
     
     ON-THE-JOB  TRAINING  AND APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM   Available  with 
     allowances  for  full-time training in addition to wages  paid  by 
     employer.
     
                                NEED CASH?
                YOU CAN BORROW ON YOUR GI INSURANCE POLICY
                     See YOUR STATE VETERAN COUNSELOR
     
     FARM    COOPERATIVE  TRAINING   Allowances  may  be  provided  for 
     eligible    veterans  engaged   in   agricultural  employment  and 
     enrolled   in   approved   institutional  agricultural    courses.   
     Proportionate  allowances  payable for half and  three-quarter  or 
     full-time.
     
     TUITION  ASSISTANCE   Vietnam  veterans  who served  in  Southeast  
     Asia   are  entitled  to  $500 per semester for full-time or  $250 
     
     NAM VET Newsletter                                        Page 60
     Volume  5, Number  3                               March 14, 1991

     per   semester   for   part-time   undergraduate   study  at   any 
     institution of higher learning in New  York State.
     
     CHILDREN OF VETERANS whose death or permanent and total disability 
     was   due  to  service   in   Armed  Forces  during  a  period  of 
     hostilities  may pursue  approved courses  in school and  colleges 
     under  the War Orphans Educational  Assistance Act.   Orphans  age 
     18-26,  receive  a  financial  stipend for  45  months  schooling. 
     Certain children,  beginning at age 14,   are eligible for special 
     restorative training.
     
               CHECK THE BENEFICIARIES ON YOUR GI INSURANCE
             YOU CANNOT CHANGE THEM BY LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
     
     WIDOWS   AND  WIVES  OF VETERANS eligible for educational benefits  
     receive  a financial  stipend.   The  veteran  must  have died  of  
     a  service-connected disability, or be 100% disabled from service-
     connected causes.
     
     SPECIAL   REGENTS  GRANTS  are  awarded to  eligible  children  of 
     deceased  veterans or those who suffered a disability of at  least 
     50%.  No competition for these $450 a year awards.
     
     EDUCATION  LOANS:    The National Defense Student Loan Program may 
     be available to  eligible college students attending participating 
     institutions.  Student loans are also available up to $2500 a year 
     through the New York State Higher Education Service Corporation.
     
     HOSPITALIZATION
     Emergency   or  "bed  available"   admittance for veterans of  any  
     war   or,   of  service   after   1/31/55.    Emergency   hospital 
     treatment  may  be   obtained  at  civilian   hospitals,   at   VA  
     expense,   for   service-connected  disabilities,  provided  VA is 
     notified  within  72 hours of admittance.    Most  retirees   from 
     service   are  eligible for treatment in Armed  Forces  hospitals,  
     dependents  of retirees  are  also eligible.    Line-of-duty cases 
     have  top priority  for  VA hospital admission.   Exceptions  made 
     for  emergencies.   Out patient treatment authorized  for service-
     connected disabled veterans.   Prescriptions,  drugs,  and certain 
     prosthetic  appliances approved for veterans receiving house-bound 
     or   Aid  and  Attendance benefits.    Dental treatment  available  
     for  Vietnam veterans on one-time completion basis if  application 
     is made within 3 months of separation.
     
     Hospital   and  medical  care is provided certain members of Armed  
     Forces   or  nations allied with the United States in World War  I 
     and II.    Public Law 94-432  extends hospital and medical care to 
     any  person  who served during  World War I or World War II  as  a 
     member  of  Armed  Forces of Czechoslovakia or  Poland  in   armed 
     conflict with an enemy of the United States.  Must be a citizen of 
     the United States for at least ten years.