Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Fighting the smear ... one U at a time

A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to talk to a senior adminstrator at a large state University. Once she found out that I was retired military, we started to discuss the resources the University was putting towards returning vets - then the conversation turned.

It all started with, "I just got back from a conference on veteren issues. We discussed that the number one problem is PTSD and ...."

Ungh. Nice lady - but only new veterens by what she saw on TV and hears at conference. As we have discussed here
starting in '04 - the smear of this generation of vets is well on its way. They will try to marginalize us just like they did with the Vietnam Vets.

We talked for another 30 minutes as I backed her away from her bad information - even gave a plug to
Burkett's book to help her understand where this smear was coming from. She had no idea - and that is the problem. We then discussed the money aspects of it all and she kind of blinked when I asked her who the speakers were and if perpetuating the "PTSD Crisis" pays their bills. Consultants and all.

She isn't
the only one.
Combat veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars now have a place to go in Arizona to ease their transition from the battlefield to the classroom.

Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff opened a new service center last week for combat veterans and other military members who are returning or going to college for the first time. A grand opening is planned for Veterans Day in November.

Among the services at the Center of Excellence for Veteran Student Success is counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, tips on how to get established off-base, and information on reuniting families and dealing with
anger, injury, and depression.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Andrew Griffin, who coordinates services at the center, said student veterans tend to feel lost, anxious and insecure when they come to campus, which is a far less rigid place than their last military assignment.

"To them, the university is almost like a minefield in a way," he said. "
They really want to get across and they want to be successful, but they're really leery of taking that first step."
I'm sorry - that is not the average vet at college that I know of. As a matter of fact that last quote is spot on - it describes ALL students - and that is the point. Vets are older and more experienced and have a different background, but they are just like other students.

Their difference has everything to do with age and background .... and nothing to do with PTSD. Support vets - great. Replay the worst aspects of what happened to the Vietnam Era vets - no thanks.

Maybe it is the desire to find victims to support, I'm not sure. The PTSD theme though is cancer and it is used by all the wrong people to marginalize people who served. It smears all with a false image of what PTSD is - and it dilutes help from those who have no-kidding PTSD. Real PTSD, BTW, exists of course - but does not make one a victim - and not everyone who says they have it, do. As a matter of fact - most who have it won't tell you and don't want to talk about it to a bunch of university pogues.