PHOTO OR ILLUSTRATION CREDIT TK
Young flips through an album of photos from her life — both before and during her time in Afghanistan.
Vietnam war almost 50 years ago.
Tragically, the Vietnam generation of vets didn’t have access to
the kinds of services now available through the VA.
While the Greek historian Herodotus mentioned the
trauma of war 25 centuries ago
in his account of the battle of
Marathon, it wasn’t until 1980
that American psychiatry formally recognized and named the
condition, describing PTSD as
an injury caused by an outside
stimulus rather than by an in-
ternal human weakness. More
effective forms of treatment followed slowly.
Today, with rising veterans’
demands for mental health services, the VA is making a determined and costly effort to
reach those who live in remote
areas or who may be unaware of
VA services. It has launched 70
mobile outreach vans to cruise
the streets of cities and towns
across the country. It’s also expanding its secure teleconferencing facilities and expects this