Scott's View: Should Criteria for Purple Heart be Expanded to Include Post Traumatic Stress?

Do you think the criteria for the Purple Heart should expand to include invisible psychological wounds suffered during war? That's the question we recently posed to members, and I must admit the current results are surprising.

It seems most are split on the subject, and we're curious to know why? The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) released a special report earlier this summer, Party for Patriots: The Mental Health Needs of Military Personnel, Veterans and their Families, calling for an expansion of the criteria for the Purple Heart to include injuries like post-traumatic stress. It could have wide-ranging ramifications, not just for who could subsequently be eligible to receive the Purple Heart, but it could also raise awareness about this increasingly critical issue in today's military.

No doubt this is a sensitive subject that has, one way or another, touched all of us in the military community.