Troops deserve our help and respect

To the Editor,

As I was cleaning my desk and sorting papers, I ran into my last email my brother sent me. Needless to say, the bottom fell out. I hadn’t seen my brother since late 2006. I spoke to him on rare occasion since he moved to Panama City, Panama where he always wanted to retire, teach simulated piloting and sail. (He moved in 2007.)

He wasn’t there a year and a few months before agent orange raised its ugly head. He was already diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS) because of his background with the army, but this took him so fast it made our heads spin.

My point:

Why now after all this time has our government decided to take PTSS seriously and when are they going to learn to limit the deployment?

These women and men suffer in ways we will and can never imagine. They can’t and won’t talk of any experiences. ... We don’t appreciate them near enough and that includes our White House.

My brother was never the same after Vietnam, but in many ways he was better. He appreciated life and his loved ones. He was and is my hero! He was in a chapter in a book “The Broken Sword,” that a fellow pilot he flew with wrote. It will give you an up close view of the Vietnam War from the eyes of those who were there.

The men and women today who are in uniform need much more than a pat on the back ... though nothing can replace my brother, we can prevent this from happening to others. These wonderful heroes, they deserve our time, Mr. President. They deserve our extra medical care for PTSS as well as not being deployed more than once every five years with psychological help between.

Sheri Pherigo

Newton