Veterans could use reinforcements on the home front

Too many veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are now fighting a war after the war, an insidious and invisible battle to fit into civilian society after suffering injuries that may not be obvious to friends and family or even to the veterans themselves.

A two-part series Sunday and Monday in the Yakima Herald-Republic detailed problems of those suffering from traumatic brain injury. The series, titled "Coming Home: The Scars of War," noted the Walla Walla office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs serves about 2,400 or so known Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in Northern Idaho, Eastern Oregon and most of Central Washington. Of those, about 100 receive treatment for traumatic brain injury and almost 500 have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. That's about 1 in 5 coming home with PTSD.

The symptoms frequently simmer until they boil over. The vets struggling with anger, edginess and sleeplessness can turn to alcohol or drugs, which in turn can land them in legal trouble. "They may have done something and broke the law," says Damien Patterson, "but they got to remember that they went overseas and did traumatic things and they are sick." Patterson, a corporal in the Army National Guard, is a volunteer with the Yakima County Veterans Program who tries to link available services with veterans in jail and on the streets.

A crucial time for identifying problems comes right after the veterans return stateside, and the challenges can be many. Veterans may have trouble adjusting from the structure of the military to the free form of civilian life. They carry with them memories of the brutality of combat, and they don't always want to admit they need help. The military doesn't have a strong track record of taking depression seriously as an illness. Records can fall through the cracks in their journey from far-flung field hospitals to base hospitals and then specialty hospitals. Veterans Affairs has neither the strongest record nor reputation for being responsive to veterans' needs.

But there are encouraging trends. Returning servicemen and women now must undergo screenings for PTSD and traumatic brain injury. The VA is stationing outreach workers at Army Reserves and National Guard bases to inform returning vets about available services, a practice that may be put into statute. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the new chairwoman of the Committee on Veterans Affairs, says she will seek legislation requiring all military branches to link a service member with a military officer who would be their advocate at the VA before discharge.

Today's Iraq and Afghanistan vets can find kinship with their Vietnam brethren, many of whom came home with problems that the country they served took a long time to recognize. Gradually, our nation -- both military and civilian -- is recognizing that the effects of combat can linger even among those who are outwardly healthy. The end of the fighting does not signal an end of the battle for our vets.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Sharon J. Prill, Bob Crider, Frank Purdy and Karen Troianello.