Congress Holds Briefings On Soldiers With PTSD

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Denver Post
January 5, 2007
Fort Carson officials were at the meetings along with staffers of Colorado's congressional delegation.
By Erin Emery, Denver Post Staff Writer
Colorado Springs - Congressional staff will meet for a second day today with Fort Carson officials to learn how the post treats soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Kit Bond, R-Mo., called for an investigation after NPR aired a piece stating that soldiers were discharged from the Army for personality disorders or patterns of misconduct after they were diagnosed with PTSD.
Representatives of the three and staffers for four Colorado congressional members, Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar and Reps. Mark Udall and Doug Lamborn, attended Thursday's briefings.
Fort Carson has insisted that it provides adequate treatment for soldiers with the illness. In the past three years, 56 soldiers there have been discharged for personality disorders after they were diagnosed with mild or moderate PTSD.
Lamborn, whose district includes Fort Carson, sent his field representative to Fort Carson on Thursday; met two weeks ago with Maj. Gen. Robert Mixon, post commander; and received a briefing about PTSD Wednesday at the Pentagon.
In August, Salazar sent a letter to the Senate Armed Services and Senate Veterans Affairs committees asking for a joint hearing to "examine the adequacy and efficacy of the federal government's assistance for veterans suffering from PTSD."
The hearing never took place.
 
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