Dear FRONTLINE,

Maybe I'll let you know about my story a very long time from now because at a time like this it still bothers me that I cannot communicate anything effectively much at all in my life nevermind tell stories in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sergeant Anonymous
Hometown, USA

Dear FRONTLINE,

As the father of an "Operation Iraqi Freedom" Marine, currently in Bethesda Naval Hospital, I'm glad to see that someone is raising the question of what to do for our service men and women when they come home. In my son's case, Paul seemed to weather the effects of combat well, until he began to show disturbing signs of PTSS a few months after his return from war. Short term memory loss, an inability to focus his thoughts for any length of time, extreme fatigue, and even hearing voices and seeing demons are a few of the symptoms he suffers from.

My greatest concern for Paul and others like him is that the military, constrained by tight budgets, will abandon them the way they did many veterans of the Gulf, and Viet Nam wars. My son has been told that he will be discharged for medical reasons, and my concern stems from the diagnosis given by the doctors in his case. They have told him that he had a predisposition to schizophrenia before he entered the service. This seems strange to me, as he had none of the symptoms he suffers from now, until after he went to war for his country. Is this the military's way of absolving themselves of responsibility for his recovery?

Eric Peterson
St. Petersburg, Florida

Dear FRONTLINE,

I think this is a great topic that could use more attention. Having served in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 working the IED/VBIED problem I came home and had a good deal of time adjusting. I found many of those I was in Iraq with or that I talked to that had been in Iraq experiencing many of the same problems, sleepless night, anxiety in crowds, and I hated driving down the road. It took me a good 6 months to get back to where I could sleep through a full night again and even now 9 months later I will have nights where I wake listening for the sound of in coming rockets or mortars.

The biggest issue I still have is a feeling of guilt at times for all those killed or wounded by the IED’s and VBIED’s, a questioning of sorts if I had done enough or that had I worked longer etc than I could have done more and protected more troops.

The Army gave me great skills that taught me and helped me survive the battlefield and to make it home alive. The one thing they did not teach however was how to adjust back to life after war.

One of the biggest things that helped me was that I kept a journal everyday that my wife reads and asks questions and I talk about my experiences a lot, some times probably to the point of driving those around me who were not there a tad nuts.

Any program that can shed more light on the subject is great. We morn those that have passed and will never return home, however I some times think those that do return, come home with deeper scars that they will carry for life, some cope and carry on, some become stronger, and others struggle to go on. This is an important issue that due to modern combat will affect more and more of our population in addition to this the military needs to look at helping family members cope with what they may see and expect.

Thank you for your hard work.

Chris NA
North West, Indiana

Dear FRONTLINE,

I have represented veterans since 1977. My occupation is a veterans service officer. In the past two decades plus, I have filed multiple thousands of PTSD claims quite successfully.

In 2002 a group of individuals posting messages on the Military.com web site created a safe haven for those suffering from PTSD to communicate with one another.

It is a segment of the "Health and Fitness Discussion Board" known as "Discussion Threads about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

There are links to vital PTSD information, as well as exchange of information between the members. A site well worth the effort to visit.

AMVETS Service Officer

Dave Barker
Chillicothe, Ohio

Dear FRONTLINE,

Since the war in Iraq started, I have seen about ten new patients in my psychiatric practice who were Viet Nam vets. They have all had significant problems in their lives, but all of them managed to adapt until the war in Iraq started. Significantly, the problems arose, not with September 11th and not with the invasion of Afghanistan, but only after we invaded Iraq. They all remark that Iraq reminds them of Viet Nam-vague purposes and disguised enemies and little truth from our government. Most of them do not resent the way they were treated after the war, only the way the war was sold to them at the time. They all feel sorry for the Guardsmen and women. They don't think the Guard should be fighting such a protracted and inconclusive battle.

I'm a middle aged man who missed Viet Nam. From the beginning, I didn't think this war was worth a single young soldier's life. Louisiana has been hit especially hard lately and I weep almost daily with every death. I do not know what to do with my anger. I don't know where to go with this, I am proud to be a citizen of the United States, but I feel like my country is abandoning me, abandoning the ideals that I grew up on. I think we are no longer a beacon. We are more like the old Soviet state with its secret police and its Gulags.

Jonathon Rynning
New Orleans, Louisiana

Dear FRONTLINE,

My husband and I just watched "Frontline: A soldier's Heart" on P.B.S. and want to tell you that it was heart-rending. to think that mental problems are called cowardice by the military is the most heartless and outrageous thing that I can think of.

This war is going to cost more of the same in addition to so many lives lost. One thing I think, this film should be seen by the President, Mr. Rumsfield, and anyone else who thought that this would be a "Piece of Cake". Thank you for showing it.

Willie Defee
Hemphill, Texas

Dear FRONTLINE,

You've got to be somebody before you can be yourself, and somebody important before anyone else will take you seriously.

Before Hollywood celebrities and other famous, well-loved people began revealing their own battles with mental illness, its stigma still dissuaded most ordinary people from seeking treatment themselves.

Similarly, I'm afraid that it's going to take a decorated war hero (possibly a Medal of Honor winner) to either suddenly freeze up in Iraq (like Rob Sarra) or come home and privately fall apart (like Jeff Lucey) before the military finally realizes that post-traumatic stress disorder is neither a result of cowardice nor a lack of discipline, but rather, it's evidence that the human mind can take combat for only so long. After all, no American could possibly earn his country's highest award for valor by being a coward.

The military teaches its soldiers and Marines how to kill, but also needs to teach them how to live with their having killed. An alternative, I suppose, could be to train them to imitate the movie character, the Terminator: no pain, no feelings, no remorse. That would make them very effective in combat (no need to tell anyone to "suck it up"), but it would also make them far too dangerous to ever be returned home to civilian life.

Marshall Irons
Denver, Colorado

Dear FRONTLINE,

As A Vietnam combat veteran, I would like to thank you for your

thoughtful coverage of PTSD in "The Soldiers Heart".

In 1973, after serving multiple tours as an army infantyman in Vietnam and being slightly wounded twice, I sought help from the Veterans Administration after my discharge. Since I reported my difficulties more that six months after my separation from service, the VA denied me any treatment for psychological problems. I did receive excellent treatment for my physical medical problems.

In the ensuing years, the public became more cognizant of Vietnam Veteran's psychological difficulties and lobbied congress for better care through the VA. At the same time medical sciences understanding of PTSD was advancing rapidly.

The result was a huge costly expansion of the VA's services to veterans with PTSD. Like the treatment of many other diseases in the 20th century,treatment was by no means perfect. As with many other diseases, PTSD is not fully understood by medical science.

Only recently medical research is beginning to discover subtle physical changes in the brains of persons exposed to combat and other trauma. PTSD is turning out to be both a psychological and a physical disease. An individuals susceptibility to PTSD probably has nothing to do with their supposed mental strength.

The result is much better treatment for veterans with PTSD at the VA. I can personally attest that the VA now provides the best possible treatment for PTSD, with the caveat that treatment is limited by medicines still incomplete understanding of PTSD.

If doctors researching PTSD still don't completly understand PTSD, it stands to reason that military commaders knowledge is also incomplete. Your show highlighted the inconsistancies in the way different military units deal with combat stress. It is a work in progress. Your show went a long way in explaining PTSD to the public. It will increase public pressure on the military to continue to improve in this area and in that you have done the country and its soldiers a great service with "The Soldier's Heart."

John Reid
Portland, OR

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am the daughter of a Korean War Infantryman, a scout that has killed in his own defense and that of his country. My dad has spent all of his life wresting with terrible recurring dreams and visions that never went away, like spending the night in a foxhole with his dead best buddy, having to drink water from a pool filled with dead bodies, or having a dud mortar shell land three feet away and knocking him to the ground. My mother and four siblings have suffered many years also - I truly believe as a direct result of his mental anguish. My dad finally got help when he was 65 years old and was diagnosed with PTSD, and I still consider my dad and our family some of the lucky ones because we survived through 45 years of hell. Three of Dad's younger brothers that were soldiers and Marines in Vietnam weren't so lucky, dying slow agonizing deaths by the alcohol bottle, resulting in several years of pain for them and their wives and children.

I believe that the best way to save our society from much more of agony like this that is coming now is to recognize the hardships and sacrifices of these men and women by providing them all with the best medical & mental health care available. They need to be commended, held in highest esteem and honor. Like the soldiers have done for us, our apppreciation needs to be demonstrated through actions and deeds and not only through memorials and monuments.

Connie Crone
Mason, OH

Dear FRONTLINE,

If you want to do a better,more accurate story on the mental health of returning soldiers I would suggest looking into the medical and psychological reports done over the past 25 years relating to troop deployments around the world.

It is well known that the reserve and national guard troops are not as deployable as regular troops for several obvious reasons. To deploy to an urban combat zone reserves and national guard is a most irresponsible act. In fact, the idea of a reserve marine is absurd. You are asking a weekend soldier to maintain the high level aggressiveness the corp requires to accomplish their dangerous missions. Look into the past, examine the records. I believe these deployments to be cruel and unusual punishments.

Leslie Moore
Orleans,, Ma. 02653

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am glad that finally PBS has had the guts to speak out for the troops, they give so much. To the family of the young man who hung himself, you have my thoughts and prayers. And shame on the military for not helping these brave young people out, and worse yet, branding them as cowards because they may have problems with killing and seeing death and destruction all around. They need mental health therapy,

I watched my father, a WW2 vet suffer until his untimely death ata age 57. Where is all this money the Pentagon gets going? As far as I am concerned these young people are simply cannon fodder for the military to use and then when they are of no use any longer are thrown away. No wonder they join Peace groups after they get out.

west hills, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

Right or wrong in Iraq? I believe our soldiers are defending freedom wherever they go and may they get home safely and quickly from Iraq. From my training I know that in combat people play dead and will rise to kill you. Our soldiers are doing the best they can in Iraq and need all the support that they can get from reporters, the media, and citizens in this country. our soldiers are under the kind of pressure that we can never imagine as we live safely here due to their efforts. I hope to God that Frontline portrays our soldiers sympathetically; our soldiers can be hurt at any time by any citizen. They need our support.

Annandale, VA

Dear FRONTLINE,

Does PTSD transcend culture? Are we as Americans, or more broadly, we as a "civilised" society, the ones most likely to experince PTSD?

What about our fundamentalist enemies? Those willing to kill themselves? What of those willing to rejoice and praise the efforts of their friends and family as they are killed in acts of jihad? When a religious belief supersedes the basic concept of human rights and human existence, we are shocked. ... What must we do to prepare our men and women to deal with the fundamentalist islamists, knowing, that in their culture, that which we abhore,they rejoice?

The pain I feel for the Marine describing his incident of shooting the woman approaching his men cannot be easily described. On one hand I feel that in a war of this type(one of no clearly drawn lines, one of no clearly identified enemy, one of no clearly determined safe haven)there is no such thing as innocent civilians. However, due to our culture, one cannot help but feel tremendous grief andor guilt for killing an innocent woman. What of the other Marine waiting in reserve as his fellow units were engaged? Remember his words of guilt? "Why are they fighting and we are sitting here?"

If we must fight those without remorse, should we not develop a guilt free sense of existence? I liken it to the movie Apocalypse Now, where Marlon Brando is speaking of aircrews being chastised for putting the words "fk" on a bomb, yet we use it to slaughter people.

Chris Kerr
Mustang, OK

Dear FRONTLINE,

I now have a better understanding of what my brother experienced while he was a Canadian Peacekeeper in Bosnia 11 years ago. He returned home a completely different man.

The change in him inspired me to write a poem that I named "The Peace Keeper and The Screaming Tree"... little did I know how close to "home" it was.

While I may never know what my brother saw and experienced, I will be able to understand better why he changed so dramatically.

All soldiers will remain forever in my prayers...

Mrs. Jeannette Wu
Ottawa, Canada

Dear FRONTLINE,

"The Soldier's Heart" shows a side of war that we don't see on television or hear on the news. For all the soldiers sacrifice for their country it is my feeling that they don't get enough support from the people who put them in harm's way.

I am worried about how they will be when they finally come home for good and how they will cope with the world they left behind and interact with the people that they love. Because they will not be the people that they were when they went to war.

West Yarmouth, Massachusetts