Troops Survive Battlefields Only To Be Forsaken At Home

Greco belongs to the multitudes of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans separated from the military for misconduct while coping with mental health disorders connected to their service. During a recent five-year period, tens of thousands of troops with diagnosed conditions received less-than-honorable discharges, stripping them of some or all of their medical, housing, education and additional benefits that could ease their re-entry to the civilian realm. The study identified post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and depressive disorder among nine conditions linked to misconduct. In 2008, reacting to news reports and pressure from Congress, the Pentagon began to move away from the diagnosis of personality disorder, a class of mental health conditions marked by socially improper behaviors. Critics accused the military of exploiting the clinical definition of personality disorder as a pre-existing condition to deliberately misdiagnose troops beset by PTSD, depression or other major disorders arising from their service. Thousands of them, including sexual assault victims, were saddled with less-than-honorable discharges that barred them from seeking medical care and collecting disability pay, saving the Defense Department an estimated $12.5 billion from 2001 to 2007. The symptoms resemble those of post-traumatic stress disorder, ranging from anger and anxiety to insomnia, social isolation and suicidal thoughts. [...] the condition typically recedes within six months, a crucial distinction from PTSD, and seldom results in a medical discharge that can improve a service member's chances of obtaining health care and retirement benefits. Veterans groups contend the Pentagon has pivoted to adjustment disorder as its preferred diagnosis to swiftly discharge troops it deems troublesome, pushing them out when they may be struggling with more severe conditions. The Army Review Boards Agency has ruled on three occasions — most recently last summer — that his condition could stem from an unspecified event that happened in the weeks between his discharge and diagnosis rather than his yearlong tour in Iraq. The military does everything it can to tighten the screws on veterans, said Goldsmith, 31, assistant director of policy and government affairs for the Vietnam Veterans of America in Washington, D.C.