U.S. failing stressed-out soldiers

By DAVID GOLDSTEIN
The Star's Washington correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Pentagon has referred for further treatment only 22 percent of the soldiers it found in danger of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a government report due out today says.

That means nearly eight out of 10 soldiers possibly at risk for the disorder were left to cope on their own.

The study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said officials with the Department of Defense did not explain how they determined whether at-risk soldiers received further evaluation for combat stress or other mental health problems.

"As a result, DoD cannot provide reasonable assurance" that all of the Iraq and Afghanistan soldiers who needed more treatment got it, the GAO said in a draft of its report obtained by The Kansas City Star.

A Pentagon spokesman said he had not yet seen the report and could not comment. Veterans groups reacted swiftly.

"We want to know how the Secretary of Defense has allowed this to happen," said Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director of the nonpartisan Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, who also led an infantry platoon in Iraq. "Untreated PTSD and bad follow-up by DoD can have this country repeating many of the same mistakes the government made during the Vietnam War. PTSD can lead to homelessness, suicide, and crime."

Post-traumatic stress disorder is the most widespread mental health problem experienced by soldiers in combat. It can cause nightmares, flashbacks, depression, survivor's guilt, and other types of anxiety.

The Star recently reported that the government had seriously underestimated the number of troops expected to return from Iraq and Afghanistan this year suffering from the disorder. Congress required in the 2005 defense reauthorization bill that the GAO review how the Defense Department dealt with soldiers who needed further mental health evaluations.

The GAO studied 179,000 soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan between Oct. 1, 2001, and Sept. 30, 2004. All of them had answered questions used to screen service members for post-traumatic stress disorder. The questions are part of a more extensive post-deployment medical screening given to all returning troops.

On post-traumatic stress disorder, troops are asked if they've recently experienced an upsetting or frightening event that caused them to: have nightmares; avoid similar situations; be always on guard; feel jumpy, emotionally numb or detached from their surroundings.

The GAO found that 9,000 of the 179,000 soldiers gave answers indicating that they may have been at risk for developing post- traumatic stress disorder. But the agency said that only slightly more than 2,000 - 22 percent - were referred for further evaluation.

The GAO noted that Department of Defense officials said that not all of the soldiers identified by the screening questions to be at risk for PTSD would need referrals.

"However," the agency stated, "DoD has not identified the factors its healthcare providers used to determine which ... service members needed referrals."

The draft report recommends that the Defense Department clarify how it determines which at-risk soldiers get referrals and which don't.