June 16, 2007 (LPAC)--While much of the focus on the costs of Dick Cheney's needless war in Iraq has been on the deaths and life long injuries suffered by U.S. troops in Iraq, soldiers and Marines have also paid an equally heavy, if less visible, toll in mental illnesses, such as post traumatic stress syndrome.

On June 16, the Pentagon's Mental Health Task Force, which was mandated by Congress, last year, to do an assessment of mental health care in the military, released its report, which focuses, in large part, on two areas of concern: the lack of resources and the stigma associated with seeking help.

The report includes 95 recommendations on how the military can provide more resources for mental health services, improve access to care, and ensuring that the chain of command provides support for a culture of psychological health. Vice Admiral Donald Arthur, Navy Surgeon General and co-chair of the task force, emphasized that what the military leadership has to recognize is that stress is a normal response to combat. "Anyone who goes into combat knows that you become significantly affected by the experience and post-traumatic stress reactions are normal. We would like to not have those reactions go on to be disorders."

One of the problems highlighted in the report and discussed by those involved in mental health issues is the shortage of trained staff. Acting Army Surgeon General Gale Pollock, in a follow-up discussion on the Army's Medical Action Plan (developed, earlier this year after revelations about poor outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center) noted that the Army is taking measures to try to recruit mental health professionals to join the military. Those recruitment efforts are, however, complicated by the fact that those types of professionals are leaving the service, often for the same reasons that others leave the military: the stress of repeated deployments into the combat zone. So, the promises to make mental health services much more available to service members who need the services, are constrained by the lack of providers and will be for years to come.

Ultimately, the only way to relieve that stress on the military is to bring about an end to Cheney's war by impeaching him.