I use the gentle term misconceptions to describe how the general public is beginning to feel about soldiers who are returning from deployment. I will not be so kind to the press and some members of the political establishment in regard to the slowly growing belief that violence is an epidemic problem in veterans who have the diagnosis of PTSD. You are directed to an article published on CNN.com on 17 January 2012 (http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/17/us/veterans-violence/index.html?hpt=hp_c2). The reporter, Ashley Hayes, cites two cases where former soldiers committed violent crimes and assumes that they must have PTSD and were violent because they “returned home changed men after their combat experience.” Without any evidence and using only her ability to make unfounded and rabble rousing statements she speculates in this fashion: “A coincidence–two recent high-profile cases? Or a sign of an increase in hostile behavior as U.S. troops complete their withdrawal from Iraq, similar to that seen when U.S. troops returned home from the Vietnam war? ” This is scare mongering, not journalism. Ms. Hayes then does a clever thing: she quotes an “authority” and then refutes what said authority has to say by making unfounded and scurrilous statements in support of her headline. The authority states the following, if we can believe Ms. Hayes is able to quote anyone or anything with accuracy: “What we don’t want to do is stigmatize veterans by saying they’re walking time bombs.” said Elspeth Ritchie, chief clinical officer for the Washington, D. C. Department of Mental Health and a former Army Colonel. “They’re not” according the Ritchie. But her plea to not stigmatize these soldiers is exactly what this type of so called journalism does do. The ghosts of those soldiers who died in Vietnam are being stirred up once again. As the current pair of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have become the longest conflict in our nation’s history the public have become tired of hearing about it and the press and blow-hard politicians are now beginning to use veterans as fodder for their own personal agendas, despite the total lack of facts to support their allegations. Does this sound familiar. John F. Kennedy made the commitment that ultimately led to the escalation of the Vietnam conflict by Lyndon Johnson. And George W. Bush committed our troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Both these political figures left the stage and it was and is the troops who have returned from laying their lives on the line that get labeled as dangerous. There is no evidence for such statements. Of course, the Army brass stands idly bye while such a rumor begins to build. The soldier get caught in a double whammy: they get labeled as unstable and dangerous and at the same time they are shuttled into such debacles as the Warrior Transition Battalions where they receive inadequate treatment that often makes them worse. They are no more dangerous or unstable than the general population; in fact, the evidence indicates the scourge of violence including murders is far higher on the streets of New York City than any collection of crimes committed by US servicemen and women. This stigmatizing of our soldiers by the press will be a limited sojourn of the attention of this blog before looking at the total mess of the MEB (Medical Evaluation Board) system of the US ARMY. But first, lets look at the idea that PTSD is new to the conflicts mentioned above and that PTSD is limited to those who experience combat operations.