Gates Boosts Job Eligibility for Troops with PTSD

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STEVE INSKEEP, host:

Now, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is urging troops who took a risk on the battlefield for their country to take one more risk for themselves. Secretary Gates was speaking in Texas at Fort Bliss, and he encouraged soldiers with post-traumatic stress to seek treatment instead of trying to ignore the problem.

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Secretary ROBERT GATES (Defense secretary, United States): You're tough and you go into the hospital when you receive a physical wound. That doesn't mean you're weak in some way. And so why wouldn't you when you've received a psychological wound. It's the same difference. They're all wounded.

INSKEEP: To make it easier for soldiers to seek treatment, Secretary Gates announced a change in what he called the infamous question 21. That's a question on the application for a government security clearance. And that question asks: In the last seven years have you sought mental health counseling. That question will no longer be asked. Studies show that the fear of losing a security clearance is one of the biggest reasons that combat veterans do not seek mental health care.

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