Veterans and PTSD

If you enlisted in the military or are a veteran, you may have seen combat. This is part of what it means to be in the military. While serving, you probably have been on missions exposed that have you to life-threatening experiences or other horrible events that could have led to your PTSD.

The number of veterans with PTSD usually varies due to their service area:

• (OIF) Operations Iraqi Freedom and (EF) Enduring Freedom: About 11%- 20% of military personnel out of every 100 Veterans who served during these periods have PTSD within a given year.

• Gulf War/Desert Storm: There are approximately 12% out of every 100 Gulf War veterans have PTSD within a year' a time.

• Vietnam War: With this area, the numbers are higher at 15% out of every 100 Vietnam Vets are diagnosed with PTSD during the late 1980s, according to the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study. It found that an estimated 30% of every 100 Vietnam Era vets have PTSD within their lifetime.

When it comes to any combat situation, many factors can add stress to an already tense situation. These situations can contribute to PTSD and other problems relating to a service person's mental health. Many of these factors have to do with what you do while in war, the politics surrounding the war, the area you served, and the enemy you faced during the war.

Other causes of PTSD military can be military sexual trauma. This could be any sexual harassment or sexual assault that occurs while you're in the military. This assault and harassment can happen during war, peacetime, or training.

Among veterans who use the VA Healthcare System:

• 23% of women in the military have reported a sexual assault.

• 55% of women and 38% of men have experienced sexual harassment while serving.

While there are many more veterans, then there are women, military sexual trauma is more common in women veterans.

When it comes to PTSD, there are many factors involved that relate to our servicemen and women, whether veteran or currently serving. As citizens of this country, we need to do our part to take better care of them when they come home from war. We must do better in the future regarding their healthcare, both mental and physical.

While we claim to be patriotic and support our men and women in uniform and say we stand behind our troops, we are, in fact, turning our backs on them. These troops we claim to support desperately need our help. It takes more than standing for the national anthem to show respect to those who served to protect the privileges and rights we take for granted today.

There needs to be more accountability with the citizens of this great country. We say we support the troops, but continuously ignore those who have given up everything for the rights that we have and the privilege we hold every single day. Those who leave for combat or have been harassed or assaulted are rarely the same as when they left.

It is time for us to stand for our troops and do what we can to give them the support and the care that they deserve. They need time to recover and have the chance to make it through a day without considering suicide. While we enjoy our many privileges, rights, and freedoms, many of our troops suffer in silence and are forgotten.

We can no longer allow our troops to suffer in silence and allow this to happen.

Currently, I'm writing a small novella about a veteran dealing with his PTSD. It's taking a bit to get it off the ground and I hope you could help out on my crowdfunding page here.