VETERANS MENTAL HEALTH CARE URGED

Veterans' mental health care urged
Jennifer Jacobs
Des Moines Register
May 16, 2006
More money and cooperation are needed to make sure Iraq war veterans are tested and treated for mental health problems "so that no one else gets lost in the shuffle" like Joshua Omvig, U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell of Iowa said Friday.Omvig, a 22-year-old veteran from Grundy Center, suffered from untreated post-traumatic stress disorder and felt so hopeless that he killed himself in front of his mother four months ago."We've got to do something about this. We can do better," Boswell, a Democrat, said at a news conference held with Gen. Wesley Clark at the state Capitol."Condolences and deep feeling will never take the place of your son," Boswell told Omvig's parents, Ellen and Randy Omvig, who did not speak at the event.Military and Veterans Administration officials have no idea how many of Iowa's more than 9,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are suffering from combat-related mental health problems, but national studies indicate that between 12 percent and 20 percent of returning service members show symptoms.Boswell, a Vietnam veteran, and Clark, a retired Army general and former Democratic presidential candidate, were promoting a proposed bill called the Comprehensive Assistance for Veterans Exposed to Traumatic Stressors Act, which was introduced in April 2005 and is now in a U.S. House subcommittee.It calls for the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense to work together to improve programs that identify and treat post-deployment mental health conditions, to study ways of preventing chronic PTSD, and to require routine intervention for returning members of the armed forces."The Bush administration needs to get its priorities right and start taking care of our troops," Clark said.
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=7216