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Soldiers of Misfortune: Thousands of Long Island Veterans Need Help

by Spencer Rumsey on January 27, 2011

Stop Making Sense

Walter Schmidt

Walter Schmidt

“If I’m 30 or 40 years old,” explains Walter Schmidt, director of veterans services for the Town of Oyster Bay, “I don’t know if I want anybody to know that I’ve been formally diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Because that means I’m a little crazy, and if I’m a little crazy, although I know I’m not supposed to lose my job because of that, I’ve been told that that has happened.”

Countering self-destructive myths like that is part of his job, explains Schmidt, 63, whose exposure to Agent Orange when he served on a Navy gunboat in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam in 1969 ultimately led to diabetes, PTSD, hearing loss and multiple sclerosis, which made him a tetraplegic. His symptoms didn’t appear until 1994, and he’d never used the VA before that.

Today he only has the use of his right hand. As he fishes for a pretzel he dropped on the floor of his Massapequa office, he waves his grip-extender and jokes that he “believes in the five-hour rule.”

A CPA, Schmidt’s been in this role for eight years. Of Long Island’s 13 townships, he says only Oyster Bay has a veterans office.

“Putting my body aside, I know very few able-bodied Vietnam veterans who don’t, in private, admit to having sleeping problems, to having anger-management problems,” he says. “And most of us admit that our personality before we went to Vietnam as opposed to our personality after Vietnam changed. In some cases, dramatically.”

One group that’s sprung up on Long Island, after starting in Los Angeles a couple of years ago, is The Soldiers Project, which provides strictly confidential treatment to veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who may have post-traumatic stress disorder and other problems.

“Mental health issues are still stigmatized,” says Susan Cohen, a psychiatric nurse who says she’s lined up 70 volunteer therapists, all licensed mental health professionals, and dozens of nonclinical volunteers. Her group’s services are free, and “there’s no paper trail,” she adds.

Sometimes a PTSD diagnosis may hinder a promotion if one’s still in the service, she says. Unlike the VA, her group also treats the soldier’s family members. So far, Cohen’s group has been getting about two or three veterans a month seeking her group’s treatment.

The calls are coming in from the soldiers’ mothers, grandmothers, wives and girlfriends. “They often recognize the soldier’s got a problem before he does,” she explains.

A typical phone call, Cohen says, goes something like this: “‘My husband or my boyfriend is back from Iraq. He sleeps all day, and he gets very angry if I try to talk to him. He’s not doing the things he used to do.’”

Cohen says her group is part of the Veterans Health Alliance on Long Island, and she praises the VA for working with the community and the Department of Defense for recognizing that some soldiers may be suffering from invisible wounds that require special attention before the problem takes a serious turn.

The reputation of the VA has waxed and waned over the years. Frank Amalfitano, executive director of United Veterans Beacon House, said after his father died at the Northport facility in 1978, he wouldn’t talk about the place.

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Long Island News, News
Alfonse D’Amatobarack-obamaCover StoryDepartment of DefenseDepartment of Veterans AffairsEd ManganoEric ShinsekiFaith Mission Outreach CenterFamily & Children’s Associationfeaturedfeatured-scrollFrank AmalfitanoInterfaith Nutrition NetworkJohn JavisMary JoestenMental Health Association of Nassau CountyNassau CountyNassau Veterans Service AgencyNew York Veterans Advocacy GroupNorthport VA Medical CenterRicky HamSuffolk CountySuffolk County United Veterans (SCUV)Suffolk County Veterans Service AgencySusan CohenThe Battle of Long IslandThe Soldiers ProjectThe Veterans PlaceTom RonayneTown of Oyster BayU.S. Centers for Disease Control and PreventionUnitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter RockUnited Veterans Beacon HouseVeterans for PeaceVeterans Health AllianceVeterans Health Alliance of Long IslandVeterans Health Alliance on Long IslandWalter SchmidtWelcome Back WarriorsWilkens Young
Alfonse D’Amato, barack-obama, Cover Story, Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Ed Mangano, Eric Shinseki, Faith Mission Outreach Center, Family & Children’s Association, featured, featured-scroll, Frank Amalfitano, Interfaith Nutrition Network, John Javis, Mary Joesten, Mental Health Association of Nassau County, Nassau County, Nassau Veterans Service Agency, New York Veterans Advocacy Group, Northport VA Medical Center, Ricky Ham, Suffolk County, Suffolk County United Veterans (SCUV), Suffolk County Veterans Service Agency, Susan Cohen, The Battle of Long Island, The Soldiers Project, The Veterans Place, Tom Ronayne, Town of Oyster Bay, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock, United Veterans Beacon House, Veterans for Peace, Veterans Health Alliance, Veterans Health Alliance of Long Island, Veterans Health Alliance on Long Island, Walter Schmidt, Welcome Back Warriors, Wilkens Young
About the Author
Spencer Rumsey
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