Marine Corps News Room

http://www2.townonline.com/weston/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=334715&format=&page=4

By Julia Spitz/ Staff Writer
Thursday, September 29, 2005

Before his death, Marc Cowe spent most of his time in the Weston home he shared with his wife and their five young sons.
Sometimes he'd take the boys to Walden Pond. Sometimes he'd leave his house and return to Vietnam.
"As things went along, he'd go out on night missions," said Meg Cowe. "He'd come home with black stuff on his face. He wouldn't tell me where he'd been.
"He started drinking more. I had concerns. I just went from day to day and hoped things would be OK," said Cowe. "There were a lot of times it wasn't OK."
Her husband killed himself with a single shot in April 1997.
"Post-traumatic stress syndrome has been around as long as there has been war," said Lyndon Jones, a social worker and team leader at the Worcester Vet Center. "PTSD is what we call it."
There were 217,893 veterans nationwide being compensated for PTSD in September 2004, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The bulk are Vietnam veterans, 161,028, followed by World War II, 25,061, and the Gulf War, 13,524. Figures for Iraq and Afghanistan are not yet included.
"PTSD is every war's problem," said Bruce Linnell, executive director of the MetroWest Veterans Outreach Center in Marlborough.
"It is not an illness. It is an injury. It is something you incur because of combat," said Jones. "These are hidden wounds."
A highly decorated Marine from Lawrence was sent to Bridgewater State Hospital last month to determine if those wounds made him fire a shotgun at a crowd of nightclub-goers last weekend.
Sgt. Daniel Cotnoir, 33, who was named "Marine of the Year" for his service in Iraq, pleaded innocent to attempted murder.
"This incident in Lawrence is immensely tragic," said Marlborough Veterans Agent Gary Brown. "Hopefully the government, in this case the state of Massachusetts, will help him. I hated to see him go to Bridgewater."
But the Veterans Administration hospitals aren't locked facilities, he said.
"I wish someone would go in and find the fingerprints on the glass that was thrown through his window that set him off."

Witnesses said someone threw a bottle through Cotnoir's apartment window, the kind of incident that could trigger PTSD.
For Marc Cowe, the triggers were "thunder, loud noises, certain times of year," said Meg Cowe. "His best friend was killed on his birthday. For years we weren't allowed to celebrate his birthday.
"When his VA review was coming up, he got stressed out. He was afraid they'd take away his benefits. Sitting in front of a board trying to determine how disabled he was was humiliating for him. He had a lot of shame about his post-traumatic stress."

Marc Cowe joined the Army in 1965. He earned three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and other medals during his time as a sergeant in charge of a combat photo unit.
"In his first week (in Vietnam), all of his men were killed," his widow said last week.
During an attack on his base, he shot and killed two men he thought were Vietcong.
The Army exonerated him. He wasn't able to exonerate himself.
During a flashback, "he didn't usually know who I was," said Meg Cowe. "He was feeling and thinking and hearing things that didn't involve me. He was feeling cornered and scared. He was in attack mode. He seemed hyper alert. I'm guessing he was looking for the enemy.
"One time I took him to the emergency room. The emergency room physician was Asian. Marc was quite frightened and wouldn't let (the doctor) near him."
"There are many ways" PTSD shows itself, said Jones, the Worcester social worker. "They are very angry, they feel helpless, they don't trust others, except maybe another soldier. There are issues of communication. They also don't like crowds. They avoid crowds. They don't like to feel they can't get out. There's depression. There's anxiety.
"Everyone may be affected differently," he said.
"One vet might be more hyper-vigilant than another, always checking his perimeter, another might have more trouble with nightmares," said Linnell, director of the Marlborough center, but there are certain symptoms common enough to define the disorder.

They include nightmares and flashbacks, difficulty sleeping, feelings of detachment or estrangement, according to the Veterans Affairs Web site, and frequently occur with disorders such as depression, substance abuse, memory and cognitive problems.
Getting help
"What we are seeing here (at the Worcester center) is a flood of Vietnam veterans who never before sought treatment," said Jones. "We are also seeing veterans of World War II and Korea. This war has re-traumatized veterans from other wars who never sought treatment.

"I don't think the general public is aware of what these veterans are experiencing. They really don't know what the effect is on that person, their family, their friends."
There's a lot of people who don't know about PTSD, said Linnell.
"We work with the entire family, the veteran, the veteran's spouse, the veteran's children, parents of deceased veterans," said Jones. "We have an open door policy. It's a safe place to come to. They don't have to pay for it. They've already paid for it with their (service). They don't have to feel shame about coming for help.
"We will do whatever we can do to help them. They are the ones that are keeping our country together."
"The biggest problem with PTSD is stigma," said Matt Vogel, aide to U.S. Rep. Martin Meehan, D-5th.
The Pentagon has endorsed a media campaign proposal that would include senior officers talking about their experiences with stress. That's one of the keys to reducing the stigma and helping soldiers and veterans, Meehan said.
"I really believe the mental health of our servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan will be the most important issue in the coming years," said Meehan, who has filed legislation that would mandate PTSD screening for returning soldiers and increase funding for veteran services.
"Marc spent two years inpatient in Bedford VA's behavioral unit," said Meg Cowe. "They didn't understand his symptom-ology and he didn't either. Everything he'd spent two years learning in the military they tried to have him unlearn it."

Linnell agrees, saying it's a mistake "for the general public to assume the VA is doing everything they can for these guys, because they're not ... They don't have the funding. If people want to do something they should call their congressman" and push for more money for veterans' care.
"Through the VA we spend $3 billion a year on mental health," said Meehan. "We might have to double that to do it correctly, but we owe it" to our servicemen and women.
Julia Spitz can be reached at 508-626-3968 or jspitz@cnc.com<