Where the New $800 Million Veteran Affairs Center Falls Short

Pick any day of the week and chances are you’ll find a newspaper in some corner of the nation reporting on the problem of combat stress among troops returning home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Star Press in Indiana, for example, quotes a local psychologist today, who says post-traumatic-stress-disorder cases are real in his community and that it is “going to get worse.” PTSD is a serious problem in Colorado, too, as I’ve personally reported in serial fashion this year for Salon. With such high mental toll for their service in the war, it was naturally assumed the new $800 million Veterans Affairs Center would include residential treatment for those suffering from PTSD and other hidden wounds. But the hefty price tag does not include such facilities, reports 7News, quoting a baffled Congressman Mike Coffman (pictured), a veteran, saying, “this is beyond comprehension.” The VA explains that “major construction funds” can’t be spent on a residential treatment facility, adding that the VA has applied for separate funds to build a stand-alone facility for the purpose. Let’s hope those funds come through.