STUDENT VOICE: What Happened to No Man Left Behind? All Veterans Deserve Mental Health Care

by Lori Rhea DiSorbo  

    As we witness the horrors of another war, our hearts go out to the Ukrainian people and all involved in the conflict. We ache for the loss of life but not just that; we ache for the suffering, loss, torture, and trauma that will linger in the lives of those who survive, just as we ache for our own veterans who have stared down the horrors of war and come home with invisible wounds. Why, then, do we restrict certain veterans from receiving the mental health care they deserve?

     Our country must not leave any service men and women behind in regard to mental health care.

     Traumatized service members who act out against rules or turn to substance misuse in response to trauma can be discharged for bad conduct or dishonorably discharged and lose the mental health services they desperately need. Although limiting certain military benefits as a result of misconduct is understandable, we should not deny mental health care for service members who have experienced combat trauma. Instead, mental health care should be a baseline for those who have experienced a service-related incident that leads to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), or Military Sexual Trauma (MST). 

     The good news is that in recent years, Veterans Affairs (VA) has taken a more serious look at the link between combat trauma and veteran homelessness, incarceration, and death by suicide. Congress and the military slowly recognize the sobering fact that one in five veterans experience mental health problems and 20 veterans die by suicide each day. The VA is aware that the need for advancements in brain science and expanded clinical treatment are great.

     In response, the VA has reinstated mental health care for veterans with certain less than honorable discharge statuses, such as general and other. However, this still does not include those with bad conduct or dishonorable discharges, another 2-5% of veterans. Regardless of an undesirable response to trauma, veterans deserve mental health care in return for their sacrifices.

     Therefore, I am asking all state and federal representatives to support policy change that would protect this small but important group of veterans who have been left behind to suffer without assistance. A slight overall increase in the VA’s budget would provide mental health care to all veterans. 

     Veterans enlist, knowing it could cost them their lives. All those who return mentally wounded deserve the justice and dignity of mental health care. Let’s encourage our representatives and the VA to leave no service member behind.

Lori Rhea DiSorbo is a graduate student at the Graduate College of Social Work, University of Houston, with an interest in veterans and changing systems that unjustly criminalize certain populations.