Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Suicide, and the Lessons of War

Articles by Penny Coleman

Veterans Studies: Expanding Notions of “Vet Friendly” to Include the Curriculum
By Penny Coleman, Military Experience and the Arts.   Published: May 20, 2014
Despite the eagerness of colleges and universities to accept the tuition and other benefits that student veterans bring to their campuses, and even despite the well-intentioned efforts of many schools to provide those students with supportive “veteran friendly” environments, veterans remain marginalized in the curriculum.

Military Suicides: Those We Might Yet Save
By Penny Coleman, Justice Policy Institute.  Published: January 24, 2012
Soldiers throughout the ages have suffered traumatic injuries in response to the horrors of war.

Why Are We Throwing Traumatized Vets in Jail for Calling 911?
By Penny Coleman, Alternet.  Posted April 21, 2011.
Joe Bangert is being jailed for doing exactly what he was trained to do: calling for backup when he feels threatened.

10 Reasons the U.S. Military Should (Officially) Use Pot
By Penny Coleman, Alternet.  Posted December 29, 2009.
Medical marijuana may have a host of advantages over other treatments for traumatized vets, but the VA won't even study its efficacy.

Pentagon's Advice to Traumatized Veterans: Think Happy Thoughts!  
By Penny Coleman, Alternet.
 Posted December 10, 2009.
Hey, all you quitters and whiners: If it’s bad and it hurts, you have to try harder, have faith, and above all, think positive!

Why Are We Locking Up Traumatized Veterans for Their Addictions Instead of Offering Them Treatment?
By Penny Coleman, Alternet.  Posted November 11, 2009.
This Veterans Day, let's get past the bunting and ribbons and look at our returning troops' real needs.

Read Alternet editor Joshua Holland's letter to Alternet subscribers about the following articles *

*  Does Military Service Turn Young Men into Sexual Predators?
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted October 22, 2009.
"Everyone has the potential to be a sex offender. It depends on how they have been conditioned."
Please note: In the original AlterNet article above, I stated that, "The first BJS survey of incarcerated veterans found that two-thirds of those veterans had been convicted of rape or sexual assault." That was incorrect. In fact, in the first BJS survey of incarcerated veterans (1981), almost two-thirds of veterans had been convicted of a violent crime. The break-down among types of violent crimes is not indicated in the report. Penny

*  Think Vietnam Vets Were Screwed? Wait Until You See How Many Veterans of Bush's Wars End up in Jail 
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted September 9, 2009.
Far too many soldiers end up behind bars while the rest of us are free to ignore the human evidence of what our military ventures really cost.

*  The Tragedy of Our 'Disappeared' Veterans 
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted August 12, 2009.
How the justice system has been manipulated to put astonishing numbers of vets with PTSD and other psychiatric injuries behind bars.

Cruel and Unusual: Why Are We Doling Out Harsh Justice to Returning War Vets?  
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted August 5, 2009.
Veterans are more likely to get longer sentences than non-veterans for the same crime. How can we treat returning soldiers so badly?

What Made Him Snap? Soldier Goes on Killing Spree in Baghdad 'Stress Clinic'
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted May 11, 2009.
Yesterday's attack was the deadliest by a fellow soldier since Bush's wars began. The trauma of combat may be the source.

They Sent Me to Distant Lands to Fight Against Muslims ... Then I Became One
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted April 9, 2009.
Along the way, I ate Burger King in Peshawar, developed a debilitating drug habit and caught a 3-year prison sentence.

One Soldier's Tale of How War Drove Him Crazy
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted March 20, 2009.
"When it got really bad, I dumped 5 tons of sand into my basement to remind me of Afghanistan."

Kids Learn that Killing Is Fun at the Army's Lethal New Theme Park
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted December 19, 2008.
The Army's new recruitment tool lets high-tech video game centers desensitize, condition, train and even enlist America's youth.

U.S. Still Losing a Brigade's Worth of Vets Every Year to Suicide
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted November 11, 2008.
Obviously, the most immediate and reliable way to prevent soldier suicides is to get troops out of harm’s way -- bring them home.

Raped in the Military? You'll Have to Pay for Your Own Forensic Exam Kit
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted November 11, 2008.
This outrage gives "supporting the troops" a whole new meaning.
Editor's note: a correction was made to this story since publication. The uncorrected version stated incorrectly that the military doesn't cover forensic exam kits for the 20 percent of rape victims treated on military bases.

How 6,700 Tons of Radioactive Sand from Kuwait Ended Up in Idaho
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted September 17, 2008.
Questions remain about how depleted uranium waste from the first Gulf War was transferred, and whether health risks were posed.
Note: This article also appeared in the "Boise Weekly (Idaho)" titled Hot Sand, 6,700 tons of radioactive Kuwaiti sand at home in Idaho By Penny Coleman, Posted September 24, 2008.

Suicide Attempts for Vets Jump 500% in Five Years, and Government Ignores It
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted September 11, 2008.
Vets are killing themselves in growing numbers, but the government sees suicides as a way to lower the official average processing time of claims.

Echoes of Vietnam: VA Stalls, Dissembles While Vets Suffer and Die
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted July 4, 2008.
The latest episode of the Department of Veterans Affairs' callous denial of veterans' suffering is a continuation of a long tradition.

Maine Jury Says It's Legal to Protest an Illegal War
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted May 31, 2008.
A rare bit of good news for the anti-war movement goes largely ignored by the media.

Half of Vets Suffering Brain and Mind Injuries Go Untreated, But Pentagon Pretends Nothing's Going on
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted April 29, 2008.
An activist travels to the DoD's annual suicide prevention conference, only to find the military brass living in a parallel universe.

Sending a Son off to War: a Mother's Anguish
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted April 21, 2008.
"How will I survive the wait and the not-knowing, and will I survive at all if my worst fears are realized?"

Pentagon Holds Thousands of Americans "Prisoners of War"
By Penny Coleman, AlterNet. Posted March 26, 2008.
There are at least 60,000 of them, but they're not on the DoD's list of soldiers missing in action.

Winter Soldier: America Must Hear These Iraq Vets' Stories
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted March 15, 2008.

War Trauma Is an Admission of Weakness in 'Macho' Army Culture
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted March 14, 2008.

Pentagon, Big Pharma: Drug Troops to Numb Them to Horrors of War
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted January 10, 2008

Activist Tells Congress About Suicide Epidemic Among Vets
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted January 2, 2008

120 War Vets Commit Suicide Each Week
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted November 26, 2007
[Hear this editorial read by KPFK's Blaise Fontaine]

Casualties on the Home Front: The Epidemic of Vet Suicides
By Penny Coleman, The Beacon Broadside. Posted November 10, 2007.

Veterans' Suicides: a Hidden Cost of Bush's Wars
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted November 11, 2007.
Note: These two Veterans Day 2007 articles listed above are published on two sites under different names, but the content is the same.

Pentagon Denies Increase in Troops' Suicides a Result of War
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted August 28, 2007.

War Psychiatry and Iraq Atrocities: How Killing Becomes a Reflex
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted August 22, 2007.

AlterNet: Reflections of a Vietnam War Widow: It Doesn't End When They Come Home
By Penny Coleman, Alternet. Posted June 25, 2007.

The casualties continue to mount after they come home ...
Posted on AlterNet.org. Memorial Day, May 28, 2007.

Vets' suicides: casualties that go uncounted and another hidden cost of war
Posted on AlterNet.org by Joshua Holland. Valentines Day, February 14, 2007.

 

Audio

KPFK's Online Audio Archives Website
Dec 09, 2007 "World Focus: Returning Veteran Suicide" by BlaiseFontaine
[Note: This item is no longer available from the Online Archive, but can be downloaded from Flashback (see below)]