Memorial Day doesn’t have to be just one day, and my previous post about veterans’ health got me wondering about the care that my grandpa received from Veterans’ Affairs (VA). My grandpa served in World War II on a minesweeper for the U.S. Navy. Take a look at him and a shipmate in the photo below. He’s on the left. WWII sailors were lookers, weren’t they!?
I gave my mom a ring on Monday and asked her to tell me a little bit about the care that my grandpa received.

Earlier this month an e-mail was sent by psychologist Dr. Norma Perez at Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center in Temple, Texas to staff suggesting that they “refrain from giving a diagnosis of [post traumatic stress disorder] PTSD straight out.” Dr. Perez suggested that a diagnosis of “adjustment disorder” be given instead. This didn’t upset me at first as there are many instances of any number of conditions being over-diagnosed, and maybe Dr. Perez just wants to be accurate. As I read on, though, a couple of things jumped out at me.
First, I learned from many sources that the level of …read more