Terrorism and Genocide: Traumatic Impacts

One of the major barriers to addressing the needs of military officers is the passiveness of the DOD and VA. This leaves no option for the military officer but to look for an alternative since the employer is never willing to cater to his or her psychological needs. Mental health experts rarely attend to the needs of veterans and troops, especially those living in rural areas because of inaccessibility. For those veterans and troops who manage to access mental treatment, they are never given proper attention since they only access inconsistent care. Military officers are left to struggle with mental problems, as well as neurological injuries (Langston, Gould, & Greenberg, 2007).

Currently, the defense department has made some efforts to address the problems facing veterans. Recently, the defense centers of excellence for psychological health and traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) were launched to help those veterans who feel their lives are at risk psychologically. The no-profit Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund has been established to assist veterans to deal with problems associated with the brain. The biggest barriers are the lack of health workers and inadequate tools that can be used to address brain problems. Task Force on Mental Health at Pentagon admitted that the military lacked mental experts. In the fighting fields such as Iraq, it takes a considerable time to attend to a client because of distance. Therefore, some soldiers would prefer not to visit the clinics because of poor quality service (Greene-Shortridge, Britt & Castro 2007).

References

Greene-Shortridge, T. M., Britt, T. W., & Castro, C. A. (2007). The stigma of mental health problems in the military. Military Medicine, 172(2), 157–161.

Langston, V., Gould, M., & Greenberg, N. (2007). Culture: What is its effect on stress in the military? Military Medicine, 172(9), 931-935.