Paul Rieckhoff Quotations

The study confirms what we've heard from our members for the last two years -- that mental health issues and (post-traumatic stress disorder) are among the No. 1 issues facing Iraq veterans.

Everything's on the vet. It's on you to come forward, you to push the paper, you to seek the treatment.

People should be paying attention to it, because I think it really could be the tip of the iceberg.

They continue to downplay the severity and the real size of the problem.

to secure Iraq and help the Iraqi people.

I don't think the Army is wrong by doing this, because the Army has to ensure some level of quality.

Now I think the public opinion is starting to change, and people are understanding that the guys who've been in Washington don't seem to have a good handle on it,

We need some leadership in Washington to recognize the pending threat of PTSD to veterans and our country as a whole. George Bush doesn't talk about mental health and he doesn't talk about veterans. Veterans' issues are not a big priority for him.

The bottom line is that Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department are failing soldiers again.

People don't feel comfortable getting mental health care, necessarily, because they're worried that their friends are going to think they're unstable or they're crazy.