Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is reported to affect nearly 500,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. But that doesn't reflect the number of troops that have been affected by combat, although represented that way in the media and politically.
We believe that the changes a combat veteran undergoes are not in any way a disorder, and petition the government to officially recognize Persistent Adaptive Combat Stress as an injury to troops who were in direct combat while overseas.
The military awards individuals for having served in combat. These are highly valued and recognize that being in combat warrants special recognition. It's time to honor veterans and change how they are treated by officially including Persistent Adaptive Combat Stress to the VA's nomenclature of combat injuries.