Purple Heart medal for PTSD?

For those that don't know, the Purple Heart is the oldest American combat medal that is still in use. It is awarded to any military member who is wounded or killed in combat, and is considered a great honor.

But that may be about to change:

A military psychologist suggests making troops suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder eligible for the Purple Heart to help remove the stigma of a disorder affecting about 20 percent of combat veterans.

Such a move would be a major change in the Purple Heart awards policy, which does not classify PTSD as a combat wound.

John E. Fortunato is chief of the Recovery and Resilience Center at Fort Bliss, Texas, where he treats soldiers suffering from PTSD.

During a visit to Fort Bliss on Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates praised the center, which uses intensive individual therapy and nontraditional ways such as acupuncture, meditation and yoga to treat PTSD.

At Red River Army Depot on Friday, Gates said it was an “interesting idea” to award the Purple Heart to troops suffering from PTSD, adding the issue is “clearly something that needs to be looked into.”

On Thursday, Fortunato said PTSD is a “physical disorder, at least in part,” because it damages the brain, making it no different from shrapnel wounds.

This is a very, very bad idea for the following reasons:

1) It's an invitation to fraud - PTSD is far easier to fake than a physical injury. Soldiers already have many incentives to exaggerate PTSD as much as possible; this is only going to increase that amount.

2) It's an insult to those who have suffered real injury on the battlefield - there is a full order of magnitude difference between soldiers who have suffered death or loss of limb on the battlefield, and those who have PTSD.

3) It's a slippery slope of tragic proportions; Purple Hearts are not awarded for self-inflicted wounds, but this could change that. Anyone suffering from PTSD or depressed enough to hurt themselves must have been mentally ill, right? So we will literally be handing out medals for committing suicide or shooting one's self in the foot. Bad call.

I pray this doesn't go beyond the discussion stage. Even if I was awarded such a medal, I would be too ashamed to wear it, and so would most soldiers I know. PTSD itself is not a shameful thing, but being awarded such a medal under these undeserving conditions is.

I agree that PTSD is real and some soldiers have suffered from the things they have seen in combat. But how many of them have seen things they didn't expect to see in war? I joined the military fully expecting to go to war someday, and I went to war fully expecting to see some incredibly gruesome or frightening things. And I was right. Moreover, I am strongly skeptical of the articles claim that 20% of combat veterans suffer from PTSD, unless they count all veterans, not just the ones from the current war on terror.



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