http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6593000 

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Comments made on the site about the audio report:

Our Flawed, Warrior-Making Culture

Thank you so much for doing this story. I was immobilized as I listened to the heartfelt stories of these soldiers. I was also ashamed of our treatment of them. I believe that a warrior making culture like ours has to try to create an environment that denies humanness ("be a man") in order for individuals to be able to do and witness heinous acts committed against other humans. I feel most sorry for the soldiers who don't admit the mental effects of being in war — their loss of humanity makes living among them a scary thought.

— Kathy Castania, Rochester, N.Y.

It's Hard to Believe

Mr. Zwerdling put together an amazing piece. I sat in my driveway with the car running for 20 minutes because I had to hear the end of the story. This piece will surely get the military's attention and maybe the attention of soldiers who need to admit they are having PTSD symptoms. It's hard to believe that, after Vietnam, our soldiers are still fighting with themselves and their superiors for help with PTSD. Mr. Z also did a great job trying to tell both sides of the story: the Army is a large organization and changing a culture of belief takes a lot of time and perseverance. This piece is a step in the right direction. What a talented journalist! A big pat on the back to him. Obviously he is one of NPR's best.

— Shannon Cothran, Pensacola, Fla.

Time for Real Change

PTSD is a normal human response to witnessing or experiencing violence and feeling intense fear, horror, and helplessness. War is condoned violence. If everyone condoned peace, we could rid this world of war.

These soldiers need support from their government, not denial and punishment. It's time for real change.

— Mary Ann Reynolds, Austin, Texas

My Own Driveway Moment

Daniel Zwerdling and producer Anne Hawke deserve an award for this broadcast.

What else can I say? I had a driveway moment. I am glad that NPR's market share has about doubled so that twice as many Moms and Dads heard this story.

— Thomas Pirko, Kirtland, Ohio

The Shame

I was profoundly moved by this story and the betrayal these soldiers faced by the system and their former comrades. It seems so shameful that this country engages young men so brutally through combat, and ignores the impact on their emotional lives.

This story should be receiving top coverage if it weren't for the deep level of denial the government and military are in regarding Iraq.

— Rori Reber, San Francisco, Calif.

Call to Arms

I haven't been so distressed by an NPR report in a very long time. I plan to go to my three congress members and demand that they initiate an investigation on the military's treatment of the mental health problems of our Iraq vets, both at Fort Carson and at other bases. And I will be telling ALL of my friends and relatives to listen to the story on the NPR Web site, and then tell their representatives to do the same.

At the same time, we must realize that our military has no monopoly on PTSD. Think of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis with PTSD, most of whom will never have any chance to receive treatment.

— Betty Goebel, Thornton, Colo.

Better Soldiers

Thank you for your story. I'm often struck at the youth of our armed forces and I can only imagine how this war affects them. If the purpose of this conflict was to free the people of Iraq from a mindless, unemotional killer, why would the military expect our soldiers to be mindless and unemotional? Of course the horrors of war will affect the troops. I believe that the fact that our troops do care and are challenged by reconciling their purpose with the damage of war makes them better soldiers — soldiers capable of the emotional capacity to believe in freeing other humans from tyranny.

— Laura Dixon, Leland, N.C.

An Obvious Reluctance

Is it any wonder that young people are reluctant to join the armed forces when they see that they will be abandoned if their minds are in any way affected by the horrific events they witness or effect? I believe the American people have pledged never again to blame soldiers for doing their job, whether they agree or disagree with the cause, but now to have their own brothers in arms condemning them for their mental injuries and forcing them into a "no mans land" of inadequate resources and isolation is unforgivable. We average civilians must not let this happen and must come to soldiers in need with support if their system won't do it.

— Barbara Stechert, North Wales, Pa.

Barrier to Service

It is my opinion that the stigma of mental illness is still a main barrier to service. I have spent many years trying to live down and succeed in this society after Vietnam and receiving mental health services. I agree that a whole host of services should be provided to the veterans but if you get labeled with a mental health diagnosis you will be denied many of the rights afforded to others.

— Dennis Moss, Temperance, Mich.

Relearning Lessons from Vietnam

It is often said that we always fight the last war when our troops are sent into battle. That is true when the commanding officers retain the lessons learned from previous conflicts. However, prior to this war the officers that had fought in Vietnam and implemented the changes that improved the U.S. military post Vietnam had either retired or were pushed aside by this administration. This resulted in a loss of the institutional memory of the U.S. military and now we are forced to relearn the lessons of Vietnam.

I am surprised at the response, or lack there of, by senior staff to this very real problem of PTSD. It would be nice if we could implement a "no soldier left behind" policy. Soldiers who come back from Iraq with PTSD have left a part of themselves on the battlefield. As a nation we owe them the treatment and therapy that it takes to make them whole again.

I am personally saddened by the poor response of the command staff at Fort Carson. It seems to me that they are attempting to show a battle readiness by emphasizing training without acknowledging the reality of going to war with troops who are suffering from PTSD or depression automatically reduces their battle readiness before the battle has begun.

People who are suffering from depression will not be able to function at the peak level that is required to be successful on the battle field.

The Pentagon's response that the US military is doing more for the troops in regard to PTSD than any other Army in the history of the world rings hollow to me. Just because we are doing more does not mean that we doing enough.

— Rick Piller, San Francisco, Calif.

Shame on the Military

I am a civilian employee with the Department of the Interior (Field Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), and we have a program called the "employees assistance program" where we are allowed no less than six sessions with a counselor per year concerning any issue that may be effecting our lives free of charge. Now there are times when my job can be very hazardous, but at least I am not seeing people blown to bits or being shot at. I am amazed that returning soldiers who have risked their lives are ridiculed, called cowards, and denied treatment when they are diagnosed with PTSD! Shame on the military for being so backward! You think they would have learned their lesson from Vietnam.

— Daniel Lantz, Bremerton, Wash.

Perceived Weakness, Really a Strength

I was saddened and surprised to hear the hard line taken by the non commissioned officers. I thought the army had evolved from that "suck it up and drive on" attitude and finally recognized that war has a psychological affect on everyone it touches, especially the front line soldier.

What the non-coms perceive as weakness — recognizing the need for, and asking for, help — is actually a strength... the coldness of their comments, the assumption that soldiers suffering from PTSD are just goldbricking, the lack of compassion, and the enjoyment of combat that at least one sergeant took pride in, are evidence of the negative impact the war has had on these men...or were they this cold, hard, and dispassionate before they joined the army and went into leadership positions? In the future, after they leave the service, will one of them be a person we hear about on the news, whose friends and neighbors can't understand why such a quiet unassuming man "went postal" at work or the local mall?

It's bad enough that we send men and women into the hell of combat and its aftermath, and worse when we expect them not to be changed by it.

If the army were smart, treatment for PTSD would not be an option, but a requirement for all returning soldiers, with no stigma attached. After all, who can truly say that killing, seeing your friends killed, seeing the bodies of men, women, and children killed by suicide bombers, etc., is not traumatic and stressful?

— George Chuckrow, Seattle, Wash.

Always Faithful

I'm a combat veteran from Korea '51-'52. 55 missions in fairly low level stuff in a B-26 from a steel mat runway in a place designated as K-9. I also know what mortar rounds sound like, guerilla pot shots zing like, as well as an 88 slamming a bunker. In our day, PTSD was unknown. However, 'Pissed To Severe Degrees' would work. To those of us lucky enough to come back without a George Washington or two, we had a saying, "Shot at and missed. S—- at and hit." Every service person was promised, no matter what, that the government would take care of those who served. Unfortunately today's kids are finding out what too many of us know for a fact: The government lies! Notice photo-ops and TV coverage tout the QRC in getting the wounded out quickly. And, of course, the great advances in prostheses. All commendable. Yet the mind set of the military against the mental damage done is swept aside and classified as a weakness in manhood or "conduct unbecoming a warrior." The system has failed miserably to administer to the mind. We haven't shown the snake pit of those out-of-sight-out-of-mind, lives ruined by the guilt and destruction of individuals and families due to the remembrance of things seen and done a promise made at signing on with the military, yet broken.

A greater embarrassment is that Idaho's Senator Larry Craig has been Chair of the Veteran's Affairs Committee. Better known as head of the administration's veteran's budget slash.

I read the check list they give to returnees at Fort Lewis, Wash. In a word, well, I can't use the word, but "unnerving" will have to do. First: A returnee wants to get the hell out of there and back home. Anything that remotely hints of the possibility of further detainment is immediately suspect and rejected. Second: Anything that smacks of any intimation of the still rampant stigma of mental illness will be dismissed. Third: Indications of problems are not always readily apparent, as those who came up with that check list should know. I further submit that whoever devised that thing had never experienced a mortar round at close range, had never seen a buddy's guts spilled out of his body, had never killed someone up close and personal or other etceteras involved in the "glories of war."

Remember the soldier slapping incident attributed to General Patton? The Fort Carson situation is a slap in the face to every one who gave, in effect, "their last full measure of devotion," has become mentally maimed for that service, yet is classified as unfit and therefore denied the necessary benefits to heal their wounds because it's too expensive?! Wounds, incidentally, primarily caused by an agenda driven administration secondarily by military action. To borrow and alter from the Marines, "Semper Fie!"

— J.G. (Jim) Weiser, Boise, Idaho

Time to Walk the Walk

I was infuriated at the way the Army, and by extension the government has treated these brave, dedicated, patriotic young men. Every member of Congress and the White House should be required to hear this program. Your reporter was excellent, the stories heart-breaking and the need for help crystal clear.

The country should be allowed to see, not just hear this story by getting it before both the relevant House and Senate Committees with the soldiers in question permission. They could testify publicly. You should send a copy to Chris Matthews and Hardball or Anderson Cooper 360. I wanted this aired. Hell, I am even more livid since this government depicts itself as so pro-military.

Well, here's a chance to prove it...

— Jerry Schnoll, Milwaukee, Wis.

What Can We Do?

My father was a Captain in the Army and served in Vietnam in the 60s, receiving a Purple Heart. After his return, he suffered from nightmares and didn't really enjoy things in life that he had enjoyed before. He was a warm and caring man before he went to Vietnam. When he returned he was mostly cold and sad. Thirty years later, he was diagnosed with PTSD. In therapy he revealed that had it not been for his wife and two kids he would have committed suicide. He was angry that he had lived thirty years without knowing that he could be suffering from something as a result of what happened to him in Vietnam. After beginning on the road to recovery from PTSD in the 90s, my father was diagnosed with kidney cancer (he was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam) and died in 2002. The military did not take care of its veterans after Vietnam and it is happening again to the veterans of the war in Iraq. What can we do to help our veterans get the treatment they need?

— Chip Begley, London, Ky.

Powerful and Inspiring

I thought this was an extraordinary piece. It was necessarily in-depth, in addition to being well-constructed and, of course, extremely poignant. I was listening to the piece while driving in my car and just couldn't stop the tears as I listened to these young men tell their stories. Furthermore, despite the fact that I arrived at my destination about halfway through the piece, I remained in the parking lot to listen to this story in its entirety. I was simply too captivated to get on with the rest of my day.

Mr. Zwerdling's piece is a paragon of investigative journalism. I am often skeptical of investigations that involve "testing on the dependent variable" — first arriving at certain assumptions and then carrying out research and asking questions. However, I feel Mr. Zwerdling did a wonderful job of counteracting this problem by using a large sample size and by asking questions at both high and low levels. As a fledgling journalist myself, I found this story to be somewhat inspiring from a journalistic perspective, and very powerful from a personal perspective.

— Suemedha Sood, Arlington, Va.

Uncertain Future

My brother went to Iraq, return in the future. He has shown me pictures of dead people and told me about the things he did there. He has gone for help with his anger issues because my mom told him he needed, but he doesn't see the problem. He doesn't know how to talk to doctors about emotional issue because he was never talked about his feelings. He thinks feeling pain is weak.

Who knows how that will work out?

— Maria Card, Boise, Idaho

Treatment Delayed

I have a family member who returned from Iraq. He had PTSD, everyone could tell. He was depressed and started drinking more. He had nightmares and would thrash around in the bed at night. He had asked about seeing someone about this issue, but wasn't seen. He was not offered to be seen until three to six months after he got out of the armed services.

— Angel Hawkins, Deep Run, N.C.

Comprehending the consequences

This was one of the most disturbing and painful stories I have heard in years of ATC listening. I find it sadly ironic that it was followed by a news report that President Bush was reportedly outraged by the Senates refusal to confirm John Bolton. The churlish Mr. Bush should be made to listen to this report to help him comprehend the most awful consequences of his disastrous Iraq policy and feel the pain of what is truly outrageous.

— Paul Sheren, Montague, Mass.

Victims of a Throw-Away Society

I believe that these soldiers are victims of our throw-away society. When they became such that the Army could no longer use them, they simply threw them away rather than to recycle them back into society. It should be noted that most of these soldiers are very young and could possibly not have learned the life skills necessary to cope with the trauma of war. I believe that if the Army expects these soldiers to risk their lives, then the soldiers are within their rights to expect the Army to protect them both physically and emotionally.

— Helen Charbonneau, Marietta. S.C.