Post-traumatic Stress Disorder was not formally recognized as a psychological condition until the 1980s — a decade after servicemen and servicewomen returned from service in Vietnam and more than a century after the end of the Civil War. PTSD has been around as long as war’s been around, and it’s now getting the attention it deserves.

Now that the medical community recognizes PTSD for what it is, there should be no delay in getting returning military members the help and support they need upon their return from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is the result of people spending extended periods of time in a “hypervigilant” or “hyperaroused” state during war, keeping their eyes and ears constantly poised for danger and death.

When they return home, they often have nightmares, flashbacks, jumpiness, depression, guilt and more that lingers from the horrors witnessed and fears experienced in war.

The VA Medical Center in Grand Junction and the centers nationwide deserve credit for hiring more psychologists and adding resources to address the psychological issues soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan will carry with them.

Part of the $24 to $30 million expansion project at our local VAMC is earmarked for the psychiatric ward. The hospital has also increased its staff by around 100 people, and one of those new hires is a suicide prevention coordinator. Across the country, each VAMC is staffed with someone trained in suicide prevention.

Social worker Gerry Mitchell, in a meeting this week at the GJVAMC, pointed out an additional concern with the current group of servicemen and women.

“People are being redeployed again and again and again,” Mitchell said. “There’s going to be some devastating effects.”

When a country commits to going to war, it should also commit to providing members of the military the help they need upon their return — even if the commitment is for the rest of an individual’s life.

Based on the message sent at the meeting at the GJ VAMC this week and efforts being made by VAs nationwide to ramp up the services they provide, it appears the federal government has stood by that commitment to date.

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The Grand Junction Free Press Editorial Board consists of managing editor Josh Nichols, Community News Editor Tracy Dvorak, News Editor Marija Vader and Night Editor Steve Lysaker.