1. Logan Ridings, Jacob Hewgley, Alex Dulong
Mrs. Lester
Honors Lit Comp.
12 April 2012
Why should the public spend more government tax dollars to fund PTSD technologies and
medical advancements?
Alex DuLong
Research question 1. Why are new medical advancements and technologies needed for the
military?
Topic Sentence 1: The mortality rate among soldiers soldiers is roughly three times that
of Americans of similar age at home.
[photo]Concrete 1: New statistics show that the war in Iraq is comparable to Vietnam.
[photo]Commentary 1: Overall, the death rate of military personnel in Iraq is roughly
four per every one thousand soldiers.
Commentary 2: During Vietnam the mortality rate among American troops was nearly 22
per 1,000 a year, five times that of the war in Iraq.
[photo]Commentary 3: The ratio of dead to wounded is only a third of what it was
in ‘Nam, because soldiers get faster, better, healthcare by providing more professionally trained
field doctors and nurses.
Commentary 4: Though less military personnel are dying, along the same lower ranks,
soldiers are dying almost as frequently as they were in the Vietnam war.
[Video if possible]Concrete 2: Combat situations make the Marine Corps death rate is
higher than any other branch of the military.
Commentary 1: An active Army member is more likely to be die per deployment than
Army Reserve members, but Marines are at risk whether they are active-duty or in the reserve.
[photo]Commentary 2: The death rate of Marines is double that of the Army due to
different combat exposure.
Commentary 3: Navy death rate is nine times less than Marine Forces.
Commentary 4: The greatest difference is observed in the statistic that the Marine Corp.
death rate is twenty-three times higher than that of the Air Force.
[photo]Concrete 3: Eighty-seven percent of enlisted officers are not able to receive
medical aid in the field.
Commentary 1: In just the first year of the Iraq war , casualties reached over 1,000 dead
U.S. soldiers.
Commentary 2: The Defense Department Counted 87 attacks on U.S. forces per day.
Commentary 3: “Our soldiers are not properly organized or equipped to fight the
Insurgents” (Andrew Krepinevich).
Logan Ridings

2. research question 2. How are the the Department Of Veterans Affairs and the Armed Forces
helping soldiers medically with PTSD?
[photo]Topic Sentence 2: Since WWII The VA or Department Of Veterans Affairs has
helped provide war veterans with financial aid, and the armed forces are helping by adding
precautions and screening programs to catch cases of PTSD.
[photo]Concrete 1: Each medical center within VA has PTSD specialists who provide
treatment for Veterans with PTSD. Plus, the VA provides nearly 200 specialized PTSD treatment
programs.
Commentary 1: With the VA providing medical centers across the country it helps all the
soldiers and veterans returning from combat to get the help they need.
Commentary 2: More and more doctors specialized in PTSD diagnosis are being added to
help treat this psychological disorder.
Commentary 3: In my opinion I think the VA is doing a lot to help by providing both
doctors and specialized PTSD programs, but I also think they could do a lot more.
Concrete 2: VA services are provided to all Veterans who completed active military
service in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard (or Merchant Marines during
WW II.) Each PTSD program offers education, evaluation, and treatment.
Commentary 1: The VA does not turn a single veteran away but to keep doing this, they
need new and more advanced medical equipment.
[photo]Commentary 2: The VA offers the PTSD recovery programs in three major parts,
education the VA tries to educate the veterans about PTSD. Evaluation, the specialized doctors at
the VA medical centers try to diagnose the issues. Treatment, The VA provides prescriptions and
rehabilitation programs to help support veterans with PTSD.
Commentary 3: To obtain the goals the VA has set for itself by not turning away a single
veteran, they need the new and advanced medical equipment.
Concrete 3: Every VA Medical Center has providers that have been trained to offer
PTSD treatment. Some VA medical centers are now offering walk-in clinics. By walking into the
primary care clinic, a Veteran can be seen that day by a mental health provider.
Commentary 1: Today in the 21st century, the VA can provide a PTSD specialist at
walk-in clinics that saves a lot of time and money.
Commentary 2: The VA is helping veterans find treatment easier, by offering so many
clinics and specialist across the world.
Commentary 3: When it comes to veterans the armed forces do not help out as much
they care more about their active duty soldiers. The VA mainly helps veterans if the VA had
the latest most advanced medical equipment, I think this organization could cut the amount of
veterans who have PTSD in half.
Jacob Hewgley
Research question 3. What “safety nets” and other actions have been put in place since WWI to

3. help prevent PTSD?
[Photo]Topic Sentence 3: Since WWI many precautions have been taken to help prevent
PTSD and other Psychological Illnesses.
Concrete 1:We examine the attempts of US psychiatrists during the 20th century to treat
and prevent the psychiatric consequences of war by implementing screening programs, providing
early intervention strategies for acute war-related syndromes near the front lines ("forward
psychiatry"), and mitigating the symptoms of long-term psychiatric disability after deployment.
[Video]Commentary 1: We now have “Screening Programs” available for soldiers before
and after war.
[Photo]Commentary 2: Scientists are studying their brain patterns and other data to
determine the severity of PTSD or the chance of obtaining PTSD.
[Photo]Commentary 3: Once the soldiers are properly diagnosed with a mental illness
they can find the right treatment methods or programs to help them.
Concrete Detail 2: Even before the United States became involved in World War II, a
number of leading US psychiatrists were contemplating how they could contribute to the war
effort. They focused their attention on selection because they believed that the thorough
screening of volunteers and inductees would weed out those individuals predisposed to
breakdown, which would reduce or even eliminate mental health problems during deployment.
[Photo]Commentary 1: Also scientists are introducing early intervention programs for
soldiers.
Commentary 2: These intervention programs are great for the PTSD victims because the
intervention could possibly correct their stress disorder before it gets serious.
[Photo]Commentary 3: If the scientists could correct the disorders before they start, we
would greatly reduce the number of suicides and murders due to stress disorders.
Concrete Detail 3: US psychiatrists and psychologists have initiated an impressive
number of research projects on treatment strategies for PTSD. Proposed specialist treatments
have included the use of antidepressant medication and individual and group psychotherapies.
There is now an extensive evidence base for the efficacy of trauma-focused cognitive behavior
therapies administered to individuals or groups of veterans.
Commentary 1: Scientists are coming up with new treatments all of the time
Commentary 2: These treatments are tested and then determined if they are a reliable way
to treat patients.
Commentary 3: If reliable, they are sent out to therapists and used on patients as soon as
possible in order to treat the patient in the best way possible.
[Photo]Commentary 4: Before scientists can test these treatments or send them out, they
have to have the money for research.