The fact that so few “disabled” veterans have some mental readjustment problems upon reentering the workforce IS A GOOD THING!. Most health individuals, after having an accident or illness that leaves them “disabled” are bummed out by the fact that they’ve become “disabled”, period! The question is why young people who’ve become “disabled” serving their Country should be, for the most part, better adjusted, mentally, than some civilian who lost an arm or a leg in a car accident.

I know if I lost a limb, or etc. and became “disabled”, that I’d probably go through a phase of being depressed and taciturn about my new condition. Yet this is the situation in the United States today… so many “civilians” take the concept of voluntary service for the Republic so lightly, and treat those who value military service with such disdain and contempt, that a man who has a purple heart pinned on his chest to explain his “disability” is treated as if he’d been injured in a drunk driving accident.

Frankly, had I been on the airplane with the CEO who made the above comments, I’d have gotten pissed off and suggested that the board of his company was making a mistake by not firing him. A CEO who doesn’t understand the importance of character and sacrifice, of loyalty and service, is a CEO who is likely to cut corners and make poor promotion and hiring decisions. An American CEO who lacks any appreciation of the Republics citizen soldiers who’ve given their health in service to it, probably also lacks much appreciation regarding the Republics laws or the value of his own franchise.

But that reserve time can be served in the Individual Ready Reserve. The last time the IRR was called up en masse was for Korea, although I understand a relatively small number of ex-officers with particular skill sets have been recalled during the WOT.

If employers are concerned about this they are misinformed.

Hmmm….

The myth that veterans suffer higher rates of mental illness than the general population is a persistent one but has been proven untrue by numerous studies. The effect especially disappears when you compare veterans with people of similar circumstances who did not serve. A lot of this belief springs from people who claim to be veterans or who never served in combat who want to play the victim. It seems that every other homeless person claims to be a vet yet few can provide any evidence that is the case.

Warfare is traumatic but the military does a good job of filtering out people who can’t handle it. (That’s why you get screamed at in boot camp). I would take the AMA study with a grain of salt considering that probably a third of the general population could be classified as “seeking mental health care” (trouble sleeping, marital counseling, complaining of the blues can all get you counted).

One of my colleagues is upset because her brother committed suicide after he got back; she feels the Army knew he was a suicide risk, ordered him back early, and didn’t provide supervision.

NPR takes an NPR line – I’m not sure, here, what kind of proportions we can take. Many variables make comparisons difficult and the AMA is likely to emphasize larger percentages because of their perspective; the attitude toward mental problems have been quite different from war to war, etc.