PTSD in contemporary Veterans: The impediments to VA care

The modern Veterans Administration (VA) system, traditionally resourced to meet the needs of aging veterans, is struggling to keep up with current demand for PTSD and other mental health services. Despite new policies designed to streamline and expedite VA mental health services, the bureaucracy of the VA is slow to respond to the dynamic demands of changing warfare (Yano, Simon, Lanto, & Rubenstein, 2007). The warfare experienced by soldiers in the Global War on Terror is very different from previous wars (Hoge, Castro, Messer, McGurk, Cotting, and Koffmann, 2004). Returning service personnel have experienced improved battlefield medicine and advanced body armor leading to fewer deaths, but a greater number of traumatized survivors has resulted (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2008).