2-22-09, 8:45 am

Original source: The Atlanta Progressive News

(APN) ATLANTA – 'The system we have for taking care of our veterans is more hostile than the IRS,' journalist and author Aaron Glantz used to describe the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs during a talk at The Carter Center Tuesday night, February 17, 2009.

His new book, 'The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle Against America's Veterans,' documents the U.S. government's neglect of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

'We make our veterans battle for each and every benefit we promised them,' Glantz said. 'They even have to fight for recognition in this country.'

Glantz spent time in Iraq as a journalist from April 2003 to mid-2005, speaking mostly to Iraqis and family members of Iraqis killed during that time. But Glantz carried some of the burdens of the US invasion and occupation with him.

'It was a very different homecoming for me,' Glantz said. 'I had trouble sleeping. I had a lot of aches and pains that didn't seem to relate to anything. I had trouble relating to people about anything.'

Because he was an unembedded journalist, Glantz never had a chance to spend time with US soldiers in the field and when he came home, none of his friends could relate to his experience.

'I felt very alone,' he said. 'I felt there was no one else I could talk to.'

But veterans eventually started showing up at his speeches about the occupation and inspired Glantz to write his book.

Through his research, Glantz discovered there are hundreds of thousands of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), brain trauma, and who have filed disability claims.

Glantz noted neither the US people nor the media seem too concerned about the plight of its veterans.

'There is a tremendous crisis concerning wounded veterans yet no one in the media seems to be talking about it,' he said.

Glantz cited Pew Research Center numbers that reveal the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as veterans issues, represented just 2 percent of recent major media news coverage.

'[The Bush administration] promised us a war that would be easy,' Glantz said. 'Then they tried to cover it up when people came home wounded.'

Soldiers serving three, four, or even five tours of duty overseas are finding it difficult to cope mentally. Glantz noted 12 to 15 percent of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are on some form of anti-depressant.

Glantz said tens of thousands of soldiers are discharged because of a mental disorder developed while in combat. Soldiers caught using a particular drug, marijuana, for example, as a form of stress relief are also discharged because that drug is not on the government's approved list of drugs.

As a result of such strain and pressure, Glantz also discovered an alarming number of veterans who have committed suicide.

'Eighteen soldiers commit suicide everyday in this country,' he said Tuesday. 'In January [2009], more soldiers killed themselves than those that died in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.'

Glantz read a passage from The War Comes Home, a story about Brian Jason Rand, a soldier who served two tours in Iraq and later committed suicide.

'His death was 100 percent preventable,' Glantz said.

He blamed many problems on the 'cumbersome' bureaucracy veterans face when trying to get the help they need.

'Basically all our system is – we throw a pile of paperwork up at our veterans and hope they go away,' Glantz said. 'It shouldn't take a journalist's story and a Senator's phone call to get someone their claim.'

The War at Home is interspersed with resource boxes that point veterans to help filing claims, legal defense, suicide prevention, homeless prevention, and more, according to a copy obtained by Atlanta Progressive News.

'I guess what I'm trying to say with this book is, let's not wait 17 or 26 years before we deal with this problem because I've seen this movie before and I know the ending,' Glantz said.

--Jonathan Springston is a Senior Staff Writer for The Atlanta Progressive News and is reachable at jonathan@atlantaprogressivenews.com.