Michael Olesker, The Examiner
2008-04-01 08:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

BALTIMORE -

Was that a twinkle in the old men’s eyes? They stared down from framed oil portraits at the Fifth Regiment Armory the other day, and their names were Zollinger and Burgwyn, and Gelston and Warfield and others, all lined around a big, murky second-floor room. And maybe the old ghosts were pleased at what they beheld.

For here at the armory were more than a dozen Maryland National Guard members, home from the fighting in Iraq, and they were telling Sen. Barbara Mikulski and Gov. Martin O’Malley about the troubles re-entering civilian life: The psychological shifts, the troubles slowing down, the inability to reconnect with families, the stuff that never makes headlines because we’re too busy counting the dead or confronting the politics of the moment.

Does anybody understand?

“A grateful nation,” Mikulski told them, “never forgets.”

“We’re grateful to you,” O’Malley said, “and we want to do right by you.”

They were talking about increasing mental health funding and cutting through bureaucratic walls. They were hearing about post-traumatic stress disorder and other combat-related illnesses — and how, inexplicably, the federal government doesn’t provide the same help to National Guard members as it does to active-duty enlisted personnel.

“Thank you for what you did for America,” Mikulski said. “Now America wants to stand up for you.”

That’s when you noticed the old paintings on the walls. There was Maj. Gen. George Gelston, who headed the Maryland National Guard in the late 1960s, and Maj. Gen. Edwin Warfield III, who took over from Gelston for the next decade.

And there, across the room, were Col. William P. Zollinger, who goes back to 1878, and Col. William S. Burgwyn, from 1881. Was that a twinkle in their eyes?

They went through different times, and different wars, and different ways of dealing with those who came home. Mostly, the nation didn’t deal much at all. The guys came home, and they tried to suck it up. Whatever emotional problems they had, they mostly kept to themselves. They were alive; that was supposed to be sufficient to carry them through all other considerations.

But it isn’t. And, as more veterans return from the fighting, their problems become clearer. Over the next six months, about 1,500 Guard members are expected to return to Maryland. Mikulski wants an added $45 million for reintegration programs nationwide. Maryland’s proposed budget includes $3.5 million for behavioral health problems and $800,000 for an integration program for those with post-traumatic stress disorder and other combat-related illnesses.

Despite a tight state budget, O’Malley said, “we need to step up.”

“They went off to war,” Lt. Col. Mike Gafney said. “How do we get ’em back to normalcy in civilian life?”

Gafney served in Vietnam. He remembers vets returning to a country that was, at best, indifferent and, at worst, hostile. In this war, we’ve learned to distinguish the combatants from the politics.

“I still have [adjustment] problems,” said Dan Chapman, who served in a medevac unit in Iraq. “You’re not just gonna step out of the war. Now, everything’s boring. There’s no sense of mission. Over there, we were off the ground for a year, flying into hostile territory. It’s at least a year before — well, my wife will tell you.”

Wife Sharon Chapman of Cecil County sat next to him. “It’s a challenge when your soldier comes home,” she said. “You want to create a happy world, but there are struggles.”

The Chapmans sat near Staff Sgt. John Story, who returned home to his two little girls — but not to his wife, Iris. As he came home, Iris was heading off to the war. Their children went three years without seeing both parents at the same time. “They think we went off to school,” Iris said.

Sgt. Leanna Stewart described going off to Iraq with her three children “shipped to their grandmother in Hawaii.” When she came home, “I had to get airfare for the kids to come to Maryland because I wasn’t injured or full-time military. It was December. I had to get them warm clothes. It took 60 days to get them here.” When post-traumatic symptoms appeared a year later, she had to prove they were combat-related.

“We need to break down the barriers to benefits,” Mikulski said. “You all fought the same war. The benefits are yours, they’re not a gift. If you’re in the same war, you should get the same benefits.”

That’s when you noticed the ancient portraits on the walls again. Help for returning veterans — the old men’s eyes seemed to twinkle at the thought.

Michael Olesker can be reached at olesker@baltimoreexaminer.com