Oral Testimony of Paul Sullivan, Executive Director, Veterans for Common Sense

July 25, 2007 - Chairman Filner and members of the committee, thank you for inviting Veterans for Common Sense to testify about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Personality Disorder Discharges among our Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.

My testimony focuses on offering solutions so our veterans receive prompt medical care and disability benefits for PTSD. 

The Department of Defense has discharged more than 22,000 veterans in the past five years with a personality disorder, or PD.  The current DoD system assumes our soldiers are malingering, and the current VA system is designed to fight fraudulent claims.  

The DoD and VA barriers to prevent abuse of the system are blocking too many deserving veterans from getting the high-quality VA medical care and prompt disability benefits they need.

When the military uses PD to discharge a veteran who fought honorably, then the military is breaking its own rules.  Chapter 5-13 states that if a veteran was in combat, then the military is generally prohibited from using PD.  VA’s recent review of PTSD claims found no evidence of fraud.

A veteran discharged with PD is usually denied VA healthcare and benefits based on VA rules prohibiting services for a pre-existing condition.

Here are VA’s latest statistics about PTSD.  As of March 31, VA diagnosed 52,375 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans with PTSD.  However, VA approved only 19,000 PTSD claims.  This disparity should be investigated.

VCS urges Congress to adopt the robust package of policies listed in our written statement so Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with PTSD receive prompt medical care and benefits.  Here are our top three proposals:

First, Congress should legislate a presumption of service connection for veterans diagnosed PTSD who deployed to a war zone after 9/11.  A presumption makes it easier for dedicated and hard-working VA employees to process veterans’ claims.  This results in faster medical treatment and benefits for our veterans. 

Second, the military should stop discharging Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans using PD.  The military should review all personality disorder discharges for veterans deployed since 9/11.  Congress should order VA to review applications for healthcare and benefits where PD was an issue.

Third, DoD and VA should establish a policy to reduce the stigma against people with mental health conditions that military studies confirm hinders many of our war veterans from seeking care.

The scope of PTSD in the long term is enormous and must be taken seriously.  When all of our 1.6 million service members eventually return home from Iraq and Afghanistan, based on the current rate of 20 percent, VA may face up 320,000 total new veterans diagnosed with PTSD. 

In conclusion, if America fails to act now and overhaul the broken DoD and VA disability systems, there may a social catastrophe among many of our returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.  That is why VCS reluctantly filed suit against VA in Federal Court last week.  Time is running out.

The consequences of failure among our veterans are severe – including broken families, lost jobs, stigma, drug abuse, alcoholism, crime, homelessness, and suicide.

The disastrous consequences are preventable, yet our window of opportunity to prevent these problems is closing.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.  I will be glad to answer your questions.

[Note: Testimony was limited to five minutes.  VCS will post our full written statement soon.]