IVAW Vets on FOX TV!

Hart Viges and Rooster Romreill on FOX (yes, Fox) Monday:
 
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpp/news/031609_Soldiers_Battling_PTSD_in_Texas

Two Other YouTube Videos with Iraq Veterans Against the War

IVAW on the PBS NewsHour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf9o-QjV0hw

Testimony to the Iraq War Tribunal - IVAW:  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4753879815639536771

Soldiers Battling PTSD in Texas

An alarming number of soldiers - returning from war-zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, are coming home with an injury no bandage can heal. The personal and emotional crisis is not only taking a toll on military lives.  Some fear a much larger public crisis is about to explode across Texas.

Writing songs, for Gary Romriell, is a way to appease the demons that torment his mind.

"I’m pretty sure they are here to stay," Said Romriell.

The words are like ghosts from a life far from the Williamson County farm where he now lives. The fire fights and long patrols are over for him. But what he endured during his tour of duty in Iraq clings like the dust on his old field boots.

"You can’t completely walk away from it; your subconscious mind won’t let you," said Romriell.

Diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Romriell tries to focus on his new life with his fiancé and young son.  However the ghosts are never far away.

"There is no understanding it, even my fiancé who I’ve lived with about 3 years, who lived through my fits, and anxiety attacks, nightmares and all the teeth grinding, she doesn’t fully understand what it means to be a traumatized veteran," said Romriell.

According to the Department of Defense, in 2008, at least 128 soldiers committed suicide. The Marine Corps reports 41.

In May, 21-year-old Chad Oligschlaeger, a marine and former McNeil high school graduate, was laid to rest. His father, Eric, said his son took his life because of post traumatic stress.

"We have to get something in place to help these guys so they’re not left out in the cold, because we can’t imagine what’s going on in their heads," said Eric Oligschlaeger.

Fort Hood commanding General, Rick Lynch says he understands. According to Lynch, 60% of the soldiers on the Post have gone through 3 deployments and 500 are currently diagnosed with PTSD or a traumatic brain injury. In addition, the need for help is not limited to those wearing fatigues.

"These soldiers and their family members need access to care, and right now I don’t have enough on the installation to meet these needs," said General Lynch.

As more solders come home, the problems facing military families continue to grow.   Those problems can spill over into the communities where those families live. There are efforts to find those in need. 

For example in Travis County, veterans are tracked when they are booked into jail and their cases are red flagged.  A judge then has the option to send the individual to a treatment program rather than to a jail cell.

Some of that help can be found inside the doors leading to the Samaritan Center in north Austin. Soldiers and their families receive free counseling as part of a program called Hope for Heroes.

"The need is huge," said Program coordinator Michele Riggs.

Riggs works with her poodle calming troubled minds. Since the program began, 150 veterans have received counseling.

"They need help, if we are not there as a community to band together to support those who are taking care of us then we’ve failed," Said Michele Riggs.

The Hope for Heroes program is funded with a private grant which is about to run out.

The Obama administration is pledging more money for veterans programs in the 2010 budget. More health screening and treatment services. The Marines are currently holding training sessions on how to recognize suicidal warning signs. However, with 6,000 Texas soldiers returning within the past year and more homecomings on the way, there is concern programs will not be in place in time, and there will be more soldiers like Gary Romriell.

"I mean we put in everything, our minds, our bodies, and as soon as we took our uniforms off we were forgotten about," said Romriell.

Because he cannot forget. Gary Romriell will continue to let his music guide him on this lonely walk of a wounded warrior.
 

For Hart Viges, Barton Springs Pool provides an escape.

"Its where I can stare at moss rock and water and not think about anything else," said Viges.

With each stroke  the pain he feels inside grows numb.

"You feel like you cannot communicate, that you are tainted in some way, you’re sick in life," said Viges.

Viges is an Iraqi war veteran and he is not alone. According to a study by the Rand Corporation;
18% of returning veterans suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or depression. Almost 20% have traumatic brain injuries. Without treatment there is isolation and then desperation.

"I’ve attempted suicide by cop, that brought me to my stay at ASH …I want to thank those cops personally for not pulling the trigger," Said Viges.

Private Joseph Dwyer is another example of a personal crisis  becoming very public. Once praised, after photographed in 2003 rescuing an Iraqi child, in 2005, Dwyer was in a standoff with El Paso police. He later told police he was hallucinating  believing Iraqi militants were crashing into his apartment. Two years later, this celebrated soldier, was found dead from an overdose.

"As I tell people I’ve cried personally

more in the last 2 years than I’ve cried in my entire adult
live," said Fort Hood Commanding General Rick Lynch.

General Lynch says he needs state and federal money to build mental health facilities on the post not only to treat soldiers but also their families. There is concern that a major mental health crisis is about to explode in Texas.  With money short at the state capitol, the need may outstrip the cash available. Dr. Kathryn Kotrla, with the Texas A&M Health Science Center in Round Rock, is trying to find the money.

"We do not know the full extent of what we face yet. Said Dr.Kotrla who also warns, time is running out," Kotrla said.

"I have said, that we would be seeing the waves of the Tsunami, I don’t think the Tsunami has crested but we will start feeling the force of it very soon, " said Kotrla.

As a leading expert in behavioral science, Kotrla is part of a state and federal coalition that is trying to build programs to care for returning veterans. State lawmakers are being asked to provide emergency funding. The funding would provide a million dollars for PTSD recognition training and another million to hire counselors.  The plan would also allocate $4.5 million for out-reach, education and employment programs.

"Are all the resources in place? No," said Dr. Kotrla.

According to Kotrla, it will take a community effort, across the state to raise the money. Getting them to come in is another problem.

"Its so hard to bring about an outreach when veterans themselves, we want to hold themselves up we don’t want to go outside into the world . How do you find everybody locked up in their cubby hole," said Hart Viges.

The challenge is reprogramming a warrior’s brain. At Fort Hood, the army built what looks like an Iraqi village. The chaos is designed to prepare soldiers mentally and physically for challenges they will face. A constant state of alert keeps them alive there. But once back home, this mental state is linked to emotional meltdowns. The key is finding a way to help soldiers, like Hart Viges , emotionally decompress.

"I know who I am, I don’t feel like I lost a part of myself, it was just a little hard to find," Viges said.
 

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