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Mullen: Treating PTSD needs sustained effort

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs said Wednesday that helping combat veterans with mental health issues will require a new kind of commitment from society.

Speaking at an Alexandria, Va., conference about unseen battlefield injuries, Adm. Michael Mullen said helping Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries requires more than traditional military and veterans health care.

Society also must commit to help, he said, because many of those suffering are 20-year-olds with long lives ahead of them.

Post-traumatic stress needs more attention and early treatment, he said.

“This is different from a car crash, different from a football injury and different from a boxer. These are America’s citizens. We owe them a response to this that is equal to their needs. It needs to be the first check we write.

“The young people I visit want their lives back,” Mullen said.

His remarks came at the start of a day-long conference sponsored by the Military Officers Association of America and the U.S. Naval Institute, seeking solutions to the problem.

“These challenges are just beginning to be understood,” Mullen said. “There are decades’ worth of work and commitment that must not just be started now but sustained over a long period of time.

“Sadly and tragically, we are going to continue to generate this requirement,” Mullen said, referring to the fact that the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is far from over.

Mullen said he is committed to avoiding a repeat of what happened after the Vietnam War, with its lost generation of homeless veterans.

“Shame on us if we don’t figure it out,” Mullen said.

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