VA employees learn more about how to help returning soldiers

While hundreds of military families are celebrating the return of their loved ones from overseas, 150 Veterans Affairs Medical Center employees met on Tuesday afternoon to discuss how they can improve care for soldiers that may be hesitant to talk about post-deployment mental health issues.

Headlined by American journalist David Finkel, the employees discussed true life examples of young soldiers' experiences, along with excerpts from Finkel's 2009 novel, “The Good Soldiers,” during the hour long closed meeting.

Written after working as an embedded journalist with the Ft. Riley, Kansas-based Second Battalion for eight months during the surge of troops to Iraq in 2007, approximately 400 copies of Finkel's book were given to employees at the medical center.

“The goal was to get everyone to better understand how to best help the people that have chosen to come to us,” Iowa City Veterans Affairs Administrative Officer Matthew Crosby said.

Speaking of the struggles returning soldiers face on a daily basis, Finkel stressed that professionals, family members and friends need to be sensitive to the fact that they may not understand what the man or woman went through overseas.

“Veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars often do not talk about their experiences and might be hesitant to get help dealing with things,” Finkel said. “This is because many perceive admitting they may need help as a weakness, or believe that it's dishonorable in some way.”

Army Lt. Col. Brent Cummings, who worked as the Second Battalion's Executive Officer when Finkel was embedded, said that although he understood why soldiers may choose to remain quiet about problems when around their peers, mental health issues cannot go ignored.

“Don't give up on providing the information about where people can go for help,” Cummings said. “They [the soldiers] might say they don't want to take advice or don't want to listen, but at some point they will.”

Although returning home is a long-awaited event for soldiers and their families, Veterans Affairs Heath Center Neuro-psychologist Michael Hall stressed that it's important for people to be aware that the initial “bliss” of being home may wear off, and that resources are available to help.

Post traumatic stress disorder, an anxiety disorder that can develop after traumatic experiences, depression, nightmares or having trouble with readjustment to life outside of the war zone are a few of the possible issues that returning soldiers may face.

Janann Anderson, an Iowa City VA veteran's program manager, said that although it may be intimidating for both the soldiers and their families to face mental health issues, it is important take the necessary steps so that everyone can live their lives to the fullest.

“The best advice we can give, and that we follow at the VA, is to meet the service member where they're at [in their thought process],” Anderson said. “If you don't take the time to do that, they may not want to continue to to get help.”