“He’d be screaming out in Vietnamese in the middle of the night, and I’d wake up with a fist in my face,” Debbie said. “He began to be very angry. … He lost all interest in our relationship. … I was grieving the loss of my husband, even though he was sitting right there next to me.”
It wasn’t until a chance encounter with a fellow Vietnam veteran in a parking lot that Randall realized he had a problem and needed help.
“My husband shared things with him that he could only share with another vet,” Debbie said. The veteran asked Randall whether he was getting help from the VA, and after he replied he didn’t need help, the veteran said, “I think you do.”
The next day, the veteran came to the Spragues’ house and took Randall to a veterans’ service office. After a PTSD diagnosis, Randall immediately began therapy; most important, said Debbie, “he wanted to get well.” With that, Debbie, who was diagnosed with secondary PTSD, and Randall worked hard to get to a place where they once again have dreams for a great life together.
For many, it’s still a struggle. People who come home from war can feel isolated even when they’re with their families, said Lt. Gen. Bernard “Mick” Trainor, USMC (Ret), a Korea and Vietnam veteran. Like the other panelists, Trainor sees value in peer support. Servicemembers can notice when someone’s behavior has changed from before war and can encourage that person to seek help — perhaps in a way family members cannot. But it’s harder for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, whose comrades are scattered across the country after a deployment, than it was for veterans of earlier conflicts.
“One of the great things after World War I and World War II was the American Legion and the VFW,” said Trainor. “People would join these groups and [be] with their substitute buddies from the days in the hole. ... You don’t get kids from Iraq and Afghanistan … going in great numbers to … these organizations where they could sit there and tell lies but [where] there was a communion of spirits.”
Peer support can be valuable to military survivors as well, according to Bonnie Carroll, founder and president of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.
“We now have 40,000 surviving families around the country who gather around the country, and [we have] care groups and support groups to connect folks one-on-one,” Carroll said. “It is that peer-to-peer connection. Whether it is over the phone or email, it is a connection to share something so personal but then normalize and then validate that experience.”
“The Army is taking action on behavioral health challenges. … Educating our soldiers and our leaders ... will enable early detection and proper treatment to help remove the stigma of [mental health] injuries.”
— lunch keynote speaker Gen. John F. Campbell, Army vice chief of staff
Discussion Panel: The Significance: The Impact of Mental Health on Government and Society
Panelists are Debbie Paxton, M.S.N., R.N., mental health advisor, U.S. Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment, and spouse of Gen. Jay Paxton, USMC, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps; retired Navy reservist Kathryn Power, M.Ed., regional administrator, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; moderator Alex Quade, freelance war reporter; Capt. Richard Stoltz, USN, director, Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury; and Terri Tanielian, senior social research analyst, RAND Corp.
Panelists discussed the impact of mental health on the government and in civilian communities, focusing on the extent and consequences of psychological-cognitive injuries in the military and veterans’ populations. To begin, moderator Alex Quade posed a question: How can we improve upon resources and programs for veterans with mental health issues? The across-the-board consensus landed on better integration — between the mind and body, between the public and private sectors, between programs and research, and among DoD, the VA, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
NOVEMBER 2013 MILITARY OFFICER 55
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