Reflections on Hiroshima and the Veteran Suicide Epidemic

August 6, 1945. 81 years ago, the United States forced Japan to swallow the medicine it had created for Germany. Eight decades later we can reflect on the aftermath: nearly 240,000 killed outright and another 100,000 dead over time from radiation and related secondary causes. ~340,000 Japanese deaths attributable to nuclear energy. Since then, the most commonly cited mainstream estimates converge somewhere in the range of 150,000–300,000 additional non-Japanese deaths worldwide from nuclear material — bomb testing, reactor accidents, and mining combined — with weapons-testing fallout by far the largest single contributor.

[Historical note: WWII planners estimated over 1 million American casualties and several million Japanese deaths if an invasion to force surrender had been necessary.]

Compare the costs of Afghanistan, Iraq and related Middle East wars just to US forces since 9/11: ~11,000 US armed forces and contractors killed. Over 877,450 “invisibly” brain-wounded Traumatic Brain injuries alongside 53,700 visibly wounded. Over 163,000 Veteran suicides. Over 110,000 Veteran deaths due to prescribed drug overdose deaths.

The VA itself estimates roughly 125,000 post-9/11 veterans wrongfully denied VA services due to Other Than Honorable (OTH) or similar discharge status, representing about 6.5% of the entire post-9/11 veteran population. More than 33,000 of them had actually deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Keep in mind that both DoD and the VA still classify TBIs along with PTSD in the Mental Health category, despite overwhelming evidence that most PTSD diagnoses in combat veterans are a result of underlying and undiagnosed brain wounding, a physical injury.

Experiencing a mental health condition in service greatly increases the likelihood that a service member will be separated with a bad paper discharge. One study found that OIF Marine combat veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are 11 times more likely to be separated for misconduct and 8 times more likely to be separated for substance use than fellow Marines without a mental health condition. The Government Accountability Office found that 62 percent of service members separated for misconduct from 2011 to 2016 had been diagnosed with a mental health condition [NOTE: our experience treating TBI/PTSD wounded Veterans indicates that almost all “PTSD only” victims had underlying and undiagnosed TBI].

Net-net, hundreds of thousands of service members mentally, physically, and legally denied a Quality of Life due them through their service. And too much of it related to undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, and untreated brain wounds that can lead to disfunction, pain, suffering, stigma, homelessness, jail, depression and sometimes death. Along the way, mistreatment at the hands of military, Veteran, and medical systems obligated to do EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER to provide care to those injured in their service.

Shift back to nuclear “Costs” for a minute. The GAO estimates the cleanup costs of the full nuclear cycle — bombs, fallout, decommissioning, environmental cleanup, victim compensation — at nearly $1 Trillion. Add to that victim compensation at nearly $30Billion. Not an insignificant figure, over one trillion dollars.

Now consider: Lifetime costs of NOT TREATING the post 9/11, 877,450 brain wounded Veterans will exceed $4.7 Trillion. It will cost less than one-half of one percent of that figure to actually treat and help heal all the brain-wounded using Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

We’re fighting a war against Iran to prevent them building a nuclear weapon. We have endured 22 KIA and over 687 wounded. Veteran suicides continue their upward trend. Even as we fund an 80 year nuclear set of problems, we sleep-walk through medical and scientific evidence about an epidemic of Veteran suicide and overdose deaths that we can do something about — TODAY.

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In related news, a scientific study at the University of South Florida evaluating, yet again, the safety and efficacy of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy to help heal brain wounds has produced yet more evidence of the validity of over 29 previous scientific studies. Researchers at USF have already established that HBOT is effective for PTSD. “HBOT was also associated with reductions in depression, anxiety, somatization, sleep disturbance, impulsivity, and stress, alongside increases in resilience and positive ideation.”

More science and data and proof of safety and effectiveness will only reinforce what Senior Leadership in the White House, Congress, the VA and DoD should already know: HBOT is safe and effective against a suicide epidemic and deterioration in hundreds of thousands of brains, lives, and their families. The cost of not treating brain wounds dwarfs nuclear costs and impairs force readiness, operational effectiveness, and national security. TreatNOW.

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The TreatNOW Mission is ending service member suicides. Along the way, we have learned that we can end suicidal ideation, help end symptoms of PTSD, get patients off most of their drugs, and heal brain wounds to end the effects of Concussion, BLAST injury, mild TBI, Persistent Post Concussive Syndrome, and polytrauma from Operator Syndrome, AHI, and Burn Pits. No Veteran or civilian has ever been killed or hurt while undergoing HBOT treatment for TBI/PTSD.

Information provided by TreatNOW.org does not constitute a medical recommendation. It is intended for informational purposes only, and no claims, either real or implied, are being made.