Statement from John Terzano, Vice President, Veterans for America, Upon Introduction of the Lane Evans Mental Health and Benefits Improvement Act

Statement from John Terzano, Vice President, Veterans for America, Upon Introduction of the Lane Evans Mental Health and Benefits Improvement Act (H.R. 1354)

Thank you to Congressman Jim Moran and Ray LaHood for introducing the Lane Evans Mental Health and Benefits Improvement Act (H.R. 1354). This important piece of legislation is an essential first step in responding to the unique needs of this generation of service members and veterans.

The recent press accounts about the failures at Walter Reed and the overwhelming response has demonstrated what many of us have known for many years - the DOD and the VA structures in place to deal with returning service members and veterans have ceased to resemble a system. What we have today is an accretion of laws based largely on precedent built up over 200 years of piecemeal development.

It is often said that our military fights its current war based on the last one fought—this is also true of DoD and VA programs for returning service members and veterans. We are trying to squeeze them into a system designed for a previous military and a much different war.

There is a belief in this country that a veteran is a veteran is a veteran—and that the needs of veterans are uniform across generations. Nothing could be further from the truth—a veteran is not a veteran is not a veteran.

Each generation this country has sent to war has had unique needs.

The programs in place today ignore the specific needs of this generation of service members and veterans and no amount of money is going to fix a structure whose very foundation is broken.

It was not until 1980 - 8 years after the last combat soldier left Vietnam that PTSD was officially recognized as a mental health problem. In 1983, I testified before Congressman Lane Evans in support of his legislation that would extend the life of the Vet Center program three years—Congressman Evan’s legislation was in response to the Reagan Administration’s decision to cut the Vet Center program at the very time that Vietnam veterans were just beginning to avail themselves of this unique counseling model.

Lane Evans also took the lead in mandating the VA to undertake a comprehensive study on the readjustment needs of Vietnam veterans. Think about that for a moment—over 10 years after the last combat soldier left Vietnam, not only were we still fighting for basic programs and services, we as a nation still did not know in detail who the Vietnam veteran was.

We cannot afford to wait years to find out who this current generation of service members and veterans are—moreover, we cannot wait years to provide them with the type of unique and special programs that are so desperately needed.

As I noted above, the Vet Center program was an innovative and unique counseling program specifically designed for the special PTSD needs of Vietnam veterans. Today that program and its model is still being used for this generation—and I submit to you that though the program was most beneficial to the Vietnam veteran, I do not believe it is the right model for this generation.

The face of today’s military is drastically different from any military we have ever sent to war. The average age of the active duty soldier is almost ten years older than his or her Vietnam counterpart – and today, three out of every five service members have families.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can accurately be described as “family wars” – 700,000 children in America have at least one parent deployed.

Today’s military has a greater percentage of service members with special needs than ever before. More women are fighting today – 155,000 have been deployed – including 16,000 single mothers. There have been periods of this war where National Guard and Reservists have represented 40% of the boots on the ground.

No one can convince me that the needs of a single mother are the same as the regular army soldier or the same as a 33 year-old guardsmen. Unique service members—different types of fighting—different sacrifices being asked, means nothing less than unique and special programs for these individuals. And I know that if Lane Evans were still in Congress today he would not only agree but he would be leading the effort to get it correct now and not later when it will be too late.

I am also encouraged and pleased that this bill accurately recognizes the mental health consequences of war.

Our wars have put tremendous stain on our military and the challenges and stresses of these wars are unprecedented in recent history. This strain will undoubtedly increase the mental health needs of this generation of service members.

Already, 1 in every 4 service members have returned with a diagnosed mental illness - specifically, over 30,000 service members have been diagnosed with PTSD.

This number will inevitably rise. As our wars become more violent and as our military becomes more and more overstretched, the rate of mental illness will increase.

This legislation is a very good start in beginning to gather the type of information necessary about those who have served while at the same time extending basic mental health care for those traumatized by war. And I thank again Congressman Jim Moran and Congressman Ray LaHood for their leadership and commitment.