Military Officer - October 2008 - (Page 15) from combat experience. Lt. Col. Frank F. Montalvo’s plea to the contrary (“Prescription for PTSD,” “Your Views,” August 2008) would, if adopted, transfigure the military awards system from an objective standard of worthiness to, in the case of PTSD, a subjective one. Such would be alien to our long-tested, and sound, military awards system. If a platoon is in a fire fight with all fighting bravely, but only a few, or even many — who are subsequently diagnosed with PTSD — are awarded the Purple Heart, such a system would be a recipe for poor morale and even, who could argue otherwise, ridicule within the ranks. It would be manifestly unjust to recognize sacrifice under fire by one who was “traumatized,” while at the same time effectively dismissing without recognition those individuals who did their jobs under fire perhaps even better than some of the PTSD victims. Many would agree with Colonel Montalvo that there are “barriers” to mental health treatment which ideally will further abate over time, and which [DoD] can and should continue to address. But allowing medical diagnoses, however valid, to substitute for a military commander’s judgment in issuing the Purple Heart under objective standards is a path the U.S. military should continue to resist. —Cmdr. Donald J. Farber, USN-Ret. San Rafael, Calif. Given Colonel Montalvo’s comments in the August 2008 [issue] … and my experience as a mental health and PTSD counselor to military personnel in Washington state over the past 10 years, I would like to add only two small observations. … First, PTSD assistance is truly a family affair. It also has a serious imOCTOBER 2008 MILITARY OFFICER 15 http://www.hydrosil.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.