Suicides by troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are sharply on the upswing, and they are only one of the many important side effects of the two wars that will continue long after the United States draws down its military presence in the region.
Returning troops are also suffering from other problems, including traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, crippling injuries, depression and difficulty in adjusting to civilian life. And they are doing so at such frequency that the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs can’t keep up, according to a panel of experts at the first annual Medill National Security Journalism Initiative conference.
T. Christian Miller (Photo/Molly Nevola)
The panelists, including a senior Army public affairs officer, gave journalists attending the conference advice on how best to cover these important stories in Washington, on military bases and in communities around the country with significantveteran populations.
Panelist T. Christian Miller, a reporter for ProPublica, said the most important first step is to talk to those involved, not just read reports. He advised reporters to “get onto a military base and have a good look around” and to talk to troops, their families and military officials to get a good first-hand understanding of the issues.
One key to understanding the many related issues is to work with the service members or veterans in order to get access to their health records and other important documentation, according to Miller, a ProPublica reporter who has won numerous awards for his coverage of how the military often fails its wounded.
Todd Bowers (Photo/Molly Nevola)
Todd Bowers, deputy executive director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, told conference participants that he is only one of many wounded veterans who are now working for advocacy groups as a way of personally helping to resolve some of these complicated issues. He said working with the media to call attention to the physical, psychological, social and economic costs of war and their effects on those who serve, their families and the communities they are trying to rejoin is of paramount importance.
Bowers said many problems, including military suicides, are likely to get worse in the near future even as the U.S. presence diminishes in the two war zones. That’s because the depression and feelings of alienation that can plague returning troops often take years to develop, he said.
“It’s hard to reintegrate; no one understands what you’ve been through. And you often find that one of the biggest shocks is the difficulty in transferring those [military] skills to the civilian marketplace,” according to Bowers, who said some of his family members were angry at him for re-enlisting and serving subsequent tours of duty in Iraq.
Col. Tom Collins, the chief of media relations within Army Public Affairs, said the U.S. military is working overtime to correct some of the problems, and he and other panelists praised the Obama administration to taking steps to involve the private sector in providing jobs and other services for returning troops and veterans.
Collins said the Army wants to work closely with the media to not only make sure these issues are covered but to make sure they report fairly and accurately, even after problems are identified. “We’re thin-skinned [but] through you guys we’re able to tell our story,” Collins said.
Later he added, “Please be patient with us.”
Kelly Kennedy, the moderator of the panel, urged conference attendees to look beyond the daily news headlines and dig deeper to get at some of the more fundamental issues, including whether the military’s use of burn pits to get rid of waste in overseas war zones is causing lung damages and other illnesses.
T. Christian Miller’s handout from the conference:
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