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To: Wharf Rat who wrote (50535)	7/8/2004 6:53:26 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

Veterans centers see soldiers with stress By Robert Rogers Correspondent With one in eight soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, veterans centers are bracing for a flood of discharged soldiers following years of declining need. The 1-in-8 ratio, arrived at by an Army study on veterans who returned last year from combat zones, is slightly lower than the rate of affliction among Vietnam veterans, but markedly higher than for veterans of the Gulf war, according to researchers. With more than 150,000 U.S. soldiers serving in the Middle East, the full extent of soldiers in need of psychological treatment may not yet have been felt, experts say. Local veterans center counselors are seeing more walk-in traffic at their facilities in line with the increase in soldiers deployed in Iraq. "We have seen a significant increase in veterans since the war started," said Jerry Melnyk, terans Center. Melnyk said the biggest factor in the development of post-traumatic stress syndrome is combat exposure and intensity, a conclusion consistent with the ratio of PTSD soldiers affected by the current war falling between those of Vietnam and the Gulf War. Combat intensity has made its mark on Glen Juranek, a 23-year-old Army medic who came home to his parents Glendora home in March. After psychological evaluations and readjustment classes, Juranek said he initially "felt totally out of place" in an environment in which he had spent his whole life. "Being back in the civilized world was just weird," Juranek said. "Also, talking to people who are always asking about what things are like over there was irritating. They don't understand that you don't want to talk about it right away." Juranek, who served in Iraq for a year and witnessed the toll of heavy fighting as a medic, said he has not been diagnosed with PTSD and feels "better" than he did when he first re-entered the community. But his experiences have left indelible impressions. "Ive come to accept and understand," Juranek said, "but I try not to think about it. After 25 years of working with troubled veterans, Melnyk has settled on a tried and usually true aphorism: "The more combat you've been exposed to, the more symptoms you'll usually show." Like any one of the 15 veterans centers in California, the Culver City site is staffed by a manager and three counselors who try to provide "readjustment counseling" to assist in easing the abrupt transition from military to civilian life, Melnyk said. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have forced the military, and the Army in particular, to rely heavily on reservists and National Guardsmen. In securing a country of Iraq's size, full-time military personnel have been augmented by men and women who live as civilians all but one weekend per month. This brings with it a new set of difficulties, Melnyk said. "National Guardsmen have more to deal with, and therefore a more difficult adjustment," Melnyk said. "These are people with regular jobs who think they'll come back and return to normal - then comes the shock." The 206 Veterans Centers nationwide - with 15 in California, including Anaheim, Commerce, Culver City, Corona, San Bernardino and Gardena - are also feeling a shock of being depended upon for services not only by returning veterans of the current conflict, but those who served 10 years ago or more. Melnyk, who sees veterans of the Gulf War routinely come in for the first time exhibiting post-traumatic stress symptoms, said his center has had 823 visits and taken on 87 new clients since April 1, though not all have stress symptoms. As of June 29, veterans of today's battlefields in Afghanistan and Iraq have visited veteran centers nationwide 7,937 times, according to Susan Fishbein, a Veterans Affairs spokeswoman. pasadenastarnews.com