Soldiers May Be Denied Mental Health Treatment

So, you a soldier, you spend you time in Iraq, fighting, building, doing whatever your told to do. Your days are long, dodging bullets mostly, and spending extra time on the front lines of war. Your free time is spent reading old letters from home and clinging to any memory you have left of that place you love the most back in whatever state it is you are from; while setting in your dirty sand filled bunk, surrounded by guys who have become your family, and who up until now you didn't even know. Finally, the time comes, it's time to go home. The circumstances are sad, and very unfortunate. You were on duty one night when you and your guys get sprayed with bullets, flying over your head, your buddy gets hit, and while helping him to safety, you get hit as well. Yours not nearly as savvier as his. You hold your friend in your arms while he takes his last breath, and he is taken away, while you are taken to the hospital, eventually you are discharged both from the hospital and also from the army.

Once you arrive home you have a hard time adjusting. You have shrapnel in your leg still, but it only give you minimal trouble. You pay your friends' family a visit, and explain to them that he loved them, and that he spoke of them often and that you were with him until the very end. Still after a few months you are having the nightmare, you can't sleep, cold sweets, shaking hands and the sound of a child dropping a toy in the groceries store sends you into what you refer to as, "battle mode." The general activities of your daily life are now altered. You wonder what you can do. A friend convinces you to see a to see a "shrink" and you agree to do so. It may help, you think to yourself. But imagine your surprise when you learn that the military's health insurance, Tricare has cut their payments to therapists. Then you decide you'll see a Military doctor, you know that the Military insurance will surely cover that. You then realize that the waiting lists are months long, how do you deal? What do you do?