“PTSD and TBI are a big problem for us,” Hastings said during his brief visit to Saipan late last week.
“The country is having trouble with it. It’s more than just a regional problem,” he added.
Hastings, who spoke during a town hall meeting at the multi-purpose center upon the invitation of Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, met with dozens of veterans and other members of the public on Friday night.
He said four years ago his office was conducting 250 PTSD examinations a month but during recent years, the number has gone up to over 1,000.
The U.S. military activated thousands of reservists from Guam, the Northern Marianas and American Samoa for deployment to Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East.
From the Northern Marianas alone, 14 servicemembers were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hastings declined to say how many soldiers from the Pacific have PTSD but he said their number is rising based on screenings they have conducted.
“I can’t tell you precisely how many. But I can tell you that when we went down to screen a unit in American Samoa after all the reservists were back, out of the 200 soldiers, 35 of them have PTSD. And it took us a year to get them all through our system and getting them all treated,” said Hastings.
PTSD was first identified as a serious psychological medical condition during the Vietnam War.
Hastings said much has to be done to help those afflicted with it.
PTSD, a severe anxiety disorder, is developed after exposure to any events that result in psychological trauma.
It can be acute, chronic or delayed in occurrence.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 11 to 20 percent of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan wars may have PTSD; 30 of those who served in the Vietnam War and as many as 10 percent of those who deployed in the Gulf War had PTSD.
