PTSD lingers for war veterans

Amid the pall of the Fort Hood shooting and with the dead not yet buried, a panel of military and medical experts said much is being done to address the "unseen wounds" of post-traumatic stress disorder, which is a "biological" change in a person that won't fade with platitudes.

"It's not going to go away. … It's a feeling of deep loss, feeling of extreme anger," said Brig. Gen. Jeff Burton, assistant adjutant general for the Army of the Utah National Guard.

"It's an unseen wound. I am concerned about this more than anything."

Burton was among several panelists Wednesday in the "After the Battlefield," forum held at the University of Utah as part of Veterans Day activities.

His own story is one in which he admits he has PTSD, although he believes it is overdiagnosed. His trauma rose from witnessing the suicide of his son and it was compounded by his experience commanding 650 troops on the battlefield in Iraq.

"I was tough and dedicated and men were going to get the best leadership possible, but it came at a cost to me."

Burton said military leadership must step forward and let deployment-weary soldiers know it's OK to discuss the horrors they've witnessed and ask what help is available.

"The problems will be exacerbated if they are not brought to the forefront and discussed. They served honorably and are suffering, and we can't see the wounds that they bear," he said.

The war on terror since 9/11 has seen almost 2 million members of the U.S. military deployed, with 4,000-plus killed and 30,000 suffering combat wounds.

Battlegrounds in Iraq and Afghanistan are producing results not duplicated in previous military conflicts, with the rate of "survivability" drastically improved because of better body armor and advancements in medical care, said David Rudd.

"What is happening is we have people who are surviving combat injuries today who would have never survived them before," said Rudd, chairman of the U. College of Social and Behavioral Science.

This comes even despite the prolific use of improvised explosive devices, which not only produce the devastating loss of limbs but add a layer of overwhelming psychological impacts.

The panel featured slides depicting an unexploded shell under a chair in a "safe zone" and another device in someone's sleeping quarters.