Dr. Raymond Scurfield is an associate professor and director of the Katrina Research Center at The University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Coast. He’s also a Vietnam veteran and acclaimed author known for his expertise in war-related trauma. His most recent book about the shattering impact of war is War Trauma: Lessons Unlearned From Vietnam to Iraq.

Below are excerpts from a recent column he wrote about Walter Reed Medical Center and what America’s reaction to some of the shocking conditions there says about us - as well as the future of the U.S. military…

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Does the widespread reaction to the recent expose at Walter Reed Medical Center and the neglect of some of our physically wounded Iraq war veterans indicate that our nation has had a wake-up call to what the full impact of war entails — and what is required to address it?

As a Vietnam veteran with a 25-year leadership career with the VA, please forgive my skepticism. The underlying institutional problems go far beyond any benefits from sacking high-ranking officials; cosmetic cover-up and pest control treatment at one military facility; and renewed time-limited Congressional oversight that eventually dissipates.

Walter Reed characterizes one of over 30 lessons unlearned about our nation’s treatment of war casualties over many decades:

• Our country sends us to war.
• Our military uses us in war.
• And our country forgets us after war.

This unlearned lesson is compounded by a second - when our nation sends us off to war, a sacred covenant is made - in return for going into harm’s way and putting our lives and our comrades-in-arms’ lives and health at risk, the nation promises to honor our sacrifices and provide humane and timely war-related financial benefits, health and medical/mental health services.

When this sacred covenant is broken, despair, isolation, rage, and alienation cascade in turbulent waves over our war-wounded and their families.

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