Treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder lacking

Ask any expert on the Vietnam War and they will tell you that the troops never lost a single battle. While that was true during war itself, there is one more battle that is still not over. It is the battle against PTSD. This one is not just about them but about all veterans sent into combat, by draft or willingly, then abandoned by the same country they risked their lives for.

Historical Importance of the Vietnam War
: The Vietnam War was the prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the United States (with the aid of the South Vietnamese) attempting to prevent the spread of communism. Engaged in a war that many viewed as having no way to win, U.S. leaders lost the American public's support for the war. Since the end of the war, the Vietnam War has become a benchmark for what not to do in all future U.S. foreign conflicts.

Dates of the Vietnam War: 1959 -- April 30, 1975

Some people think this battle began in the last 9 years when the troops were sent into Afghanistan but the truth is it only increased the numbers of veterans with PTSD. It has become a fight to save the lives of generations of veterans and it is a battle they will not lose.

Treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder lacking
By Lisa Singleton-Rickman
Staff Writer

Published: Monday, November 29, 2010
MUSCLE SHOALS - Sitting alone on the edge of his bed, Herchial Allen held the barrel of his .357-caliber pistol in his mouth and prepared to pull the trigger.

Suddenly he heard the voice of his young goddaughter calling his name.

The gun fell to the floor and he sat in silence for a long time, realizing he had only imagined her voice. Hearing the voice, at least for the moment, saved his life. But Allen remained broken and feeling hopeless.

The year was 1998, a year after he retired from Reynolds Metals Co.

Within days, the Vietnam War veteran from Muscle Shoals was in treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

Thirty years later, flashbacks from the war had started coming regularly. The flashbacks from his time in Vietnam in 1966-67, combined with a constant state of nervousness and anxiety, seemed to take over his life once he retired and was no longer busy.

Allen's eyes fill with tears and his voice quivers while recalling the experiences that brought about the flashbacks — the likes of entire villages blowing up in flames with elderly people and children trapped inside grass huts. They are the kind of images one never forgets, he said.

“It's like nothing you can imagine, having that kind of stuff constantly haunting you,” Allen said. “You really feel like you're never going to get away from that haunting. It's like there's no way out.”
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Treatment for post traumatic stress disorder lacking