Support our troops: Stop personality disorder discharges

Under the new health reform legislation, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in March, private health insurance corporations may no longer deny or drop health insurance coverage for American civilians on account of “pre-existing conditions� or serious illness. But how about our wounded combat veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan?

Since 2001, nearly 25,000 U.S. soldiers have been discharged from military service by reason of pre-existing personality disorder. That’s a staggering and improbable figure. How could almost 25,000 young Americans have been inducted into military service, put through rigorous training, sent for one, two, three and even four tours of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan, and only then be discovered and diagnosed with personality disorder allegedly pre-dating their recruitment? What are the consequences for the soldier?

Joshua Kors summarizes the consequences in “Disposable Soldiers� (The Nation, April 2010): “Those who are discharged with personality disorder are denied a lifetime of disability benefits, which the military is required to provide to soldiers wounded during service. Soldiers discharged with personality disorder are also denied long-term medical care. And they have to give back a slice of their re-enlistment bonus.�

As a result, wounded veterans often leave the service financially in debt to Uncle Sam. Veterans comprise a disproportional share of the homeless in America.

Is this how we Americans honor our wounded troops? Where are all those flag-waving, self-described patriots, with their banners, speeches and auto stickers declaring their desire to “support our troops�? Have they or anyone else looked into the basis for these nearly 25,000 cases of personality disorder discharge?

The military’s official diagnosis of pre-existing personality disorder is made in the face of the individual soldier’s undeniable ongoing symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder as well as chronic pain and suffering resulting from shock, concussion, shrapnel, bullet wounds, broken bones, neurological damage, sleeplessness and loss of hearing, sight and limbs.

Still, official Pentagon policy is to deny that these combat wounds and experiences have anything to do with the soldier’s continued experience of pain and suffering. Instead, these officials assert, the soldier must have had all along a pre-existing personality disorder. A further incentive for maintaining that official policy is this: The Pentagon saves hundreds of millions of dollars in denied benefits for our troops.

Back in 2007, when Barack Obama was in the U.S. Senate, he introduced a bill to halt all personality disorder discharges in the military. Any involuntary discharges would have to be based on other, more substantiated grounds. Conservatives in the Senate managed to defeat the bill, in spite of the fact that many Republicans and most Democrats supported it.

Eventually, President George W. Bush picked up on the issue and signed a milder bill that simply requested the Defense Department to investigate the matter. This put the fox in charge of the chickens. Predictably, the Pentagon, in carrying out the requested study, failed to consult with any of the wounded veterans or their families and private physicians, and concluded that “no soldier was improperly diagnosed or wrongly discharged.� Come again?

The Pentagon finding is contradicted by most independent medical experts, some of whom have testified before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. One psychologist reported: “I’ve treated hundreds of soldiers over the years, and I’ve seen a dozen personality disorder diagnoses. None of them actually had a personality disorder.� To misdiagnose a single case is bad enough. What happens when the multiplier is 25,000?

So, what is to be done about this? What do we do when a Pentagon administration of armchair warriors so flagrantly denies the medical needs and acquired rights of our wounded troops? What do we do when a significant segment of those in positions of power inside and outside Congress are able to block legislation designed to restore the respect and benefits our wounded veterans deserve? How can we break the logjam? Who can do it? The few commentators who have addressed the issue have generally assumed that only the Legislature can rectify the situation. Not so.

The answer is straightforward: If the Legislature cannot act for politicized reasons, then a principled executive must take charge. President Obama has the executive authority and power to order the military to end all personality disorder discharges, past, present and future, and restore the disability compensation, as well as the long-term medical care and lawful benefits that we owe our combat veterans. The Legislature does not have to be involved. All it takes is an executive order. What’s the legal basis for this unilateral action?

Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution provides that “The president shall be commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States when called into actual service of the United States.� That’s exactly the situation of our troops serving in and returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

As commander-in-chief, President Obama has the supreme executive power to define conditions of recruitment and of service, as well as conditions of separation or discharge from service. He can outright forbid involuntary discharge by reason of an alleged pre-existing personality disorder. In like manner, the president can maintain, revise or completely abolish “Don’t ask, don’t tell.� All this he can do with or without legislative consent.

When the Legislature gridlocks, for its own internal politicized reasons, the president can and must step in and use his full executive power to do right by our wounded veterans. It is high time to take that step, and do it now.

Sharon resident Anthony Piel is a former member of the U.S. Army’s 2nd & 4th Armored Divisions.