Moving past PTSD : consciousness, understanding, and appreciation for military veterans and their families

Summary: From World War I until today, the United States has failed to provide adequate transition support to millions of veterans leaving military service. Instead of providing meaningful jobs, access to quality health care and education, and fair and equitable housing, veterans learn that when their military service is done, they are now fighting a new battle--a failed bureaucracy that has let them and other veterans down for the past 100 years. It's not as if we as a nation haven't tried. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has seen the largest increase in funding in its history and has been given several free passes when the budget axe arrives. Federal funding and grants for education have also enjoyed similar financial favor; and housing opportunities have been increased. Yet on a rudimentary level, we as a nation cannot stop believing that GI Joe and Jane can't wait to come back home and pick up right where they left off before their military services began. The truth is, that person is gone and is not coming back. Many veterans, particularly those with PTSD are lost when returning home. [This book] hopes to break this cycle. In their own words, veterans, caregivers, and the family members that love them are given the opportunity to tell us what is truly broken in the military to civilian transition. Advances in clinical treatment, the presentation of a new, fast-track job training program, and new awareness for the challenges facing all military veterans changes our way of understanding of who the twenty-first century veteran is. Through this understanding, we can change their lives and they can change ours. -- Back cover.