Valley vets push for support of Sherrod Brown's proposed PTSD bill

STRUTHERS

It took Leo H. Connelly Jr. decades to talk about what he refers to as his “hidden scars of war.”

When Connelly, 67, who now serves as commissioner of the Mahoning County Veterans Service Commission and as commander of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 2, returned to the U.S. in 1968 from a yearlong tour of duty in Vietnam, talking about those things just wasn’t “fashionable,” he said.

So, into his 50s, Connelly quietly dealt with the myriad symptoms of what would eventually be diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder. He wishes that diagnosis and treatment had come earlier, though.

“It would’ve saved me from a lot,” Connelly said.

That’s why Connelly said he “100 percent” supports the Significant Event Tracker Act, a piece of legislation introduced last week by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, and presented Thursday morning to those gathered at VFW Post 3538, 157 Lowellville Road.

Brown was joined by Michael Fairman, an Ohio combat veteran who has dealt with PTSD and helped to craft the SET Act, along with Anthony Kennedy, a Youngstown State University student and a veteran who has been diagnosed with PTSD, and James Dill, the post’s commander.

Though almost 300,000 American veterans struggle with PTSD, and an additional 25,000 with mild traumatic brain injuries, many veterans face another hurdle: proving the connection between those issues and their previous military service. Doing so is essential for veterans to file compensation and disability claims, or to seek medical care.

“Veterans should be able to focus on their recovery, not proving the cause of their injury,” Brown said.

Read more about the issue and the proposed bill in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.