Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2007

Floor Speech

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007 -- (House of Representatives - August 04, 2007)

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MS. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I rise today--as we consider the FY 2008 Defense Department Appropriations bill to speak about the need to ensure that every soldier returning from Iraq gets access to health care including mental health care servIces.

One of the most important things funded in the bill is the program to help the Defense Department deal with the rising number of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from mental health conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD.

As you know Mr. Chairman, PTSD is a chronic medical disorder that follows exposure to an overwhelming traumatic event. Its symptoms can include flashbacks, sleeplessness, restlessness, irritability. The majority of those with PTSD meet the diagnostic criteria for several psychiatric disorders, especially depression and substance abuse, and many also attempt suicide.

Our military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan are constantly at risk for car bombs, suicide bombers, and improvised explosive devices. Combat imposes a psychological burden that affects all combatants, not only those who sustain physical wounds.

Yet, despite a renewed interest and focus on this problem by Congress, I am disturbed by recent reports about the use of administrative discharges to ``involuntary separate'' ``unfit'' soldiers in order to maintain ``good order and discipline'' among the ranks.

While this may seem quite normal, these reports indicate that these discharges may be pushing men and women out of the service for conduct that may be tied to undiagnosed or untreated post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms even as the Army's Surgeon General has stated that the ``army does not want PTSD treated as a discipline problem.''

PTSD and other mental health challenges often include complex behaviors which include difficulty controlling one's emotions and self-medicating with alcohol, other medications, or illicit drugs in an attempt to return to ``normalcy.'' Without a thorough evaluation by trained professionals during this process, many soldiers suffering with PTSD may be discharged and cut off from needed healthcare, with deadly consequences.

This problem was brought to my attention recently and tragically through the case of a constituent who my office was working to help access VA health services which he thought he had earned through his sacrifice on the battlefield.

This constituent served his country in Iraq for 10 months only to come back to be discharged as a ``disciplinary problem'' even though he manifested many symptoms that would indicate PTSD.

Instead of helping him find the door to diagnosis and treatment, he was just plain shown the door. Besides losing access to DoD health services, the character of his discharge also unfortunately prevented him from receiving any of the VA health and mental health services that could have helped him which so many in Congress have fought to make available to returning service men and women.

The Army did eventually clarify his discharge so that my constituent could access VA health benefits. Unfortunately, this changee did not occur until after his problems had gone untreated for several more months and only a few weeks before he ultimately committed suicide.

However, why we would force our service men and women, who have fought the enemy on the battlefield, to fight the enemy of bureaucracy anew is beyond me, especially when medical professionals maintain that early intervention and treatment can make a difference for those with PTSD and other mental health conditions.

Sadly, the problem is much more widespread than one constituent. There are many who have noted the increasing use of the administrative discharge process to quickly discharge soldiers considered ``disciplinary'' problems or ``unfit'' including pressure placed on unit commander to remove these soldiers rather than get them help.

Mr. Chairman, I intended to offer amendments to try and get the DOD leadership to address this issue with a renewed sense of urgency especially since the DOD's own Mental Health Task Force expressed ``serious concerns'' about this problem.

The Task Force found a conflict between the haste to enforce discipline and the need to properly evaluate soldiers prior to a disciplinary discharge to ensure that reported misconduct is not a result of an untreated or undiagnosed mental health condition.

In June, that Task Force recommended that DOD change its policies to ``Guarantee a Thorough Assessment of Behavioral Symptoms When Evaluating Combat Veterans for Administrative/Legal Dismissal from the Military'' including ``carefully assessing a soldier's history of exposure to conditions that could cause PTSD, or traumatic brain injury, or related diagnoses for those facing administrative or medical discharge.''

While my amendments would have been made in order under the open rule under which this bill will be considered, the Defense Subcommittee Chairman, MR. MURTHA, graciously offered to work with me on this issue as the bill moves forward, including conference report language. On that basis, I will not offer my amendments today.

In the word ofthe DOD's task force, ``the military also has a clear responsibility to restore to full level of function a service member damaged in the line of duty, and to be cognizant of and attentive to the psychological aftermath of deployment, manifested in hidden injuries of the brain and mind.''

We can and must do better for our soldiers.

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