Teague calls for PTSD help for vets

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The horrors of war are following New Mexican military men and women home. Waves of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are coming home with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M., is trying to figure out how the government can give them more help.

Teague met with the people who work directly with veterans at the New Mexico Veterans Hospital Friday to figure out how to do a better job of screening for PTSD.

New provisions to the National Defense Authorization Act were signed into law, requiring that all military men and women get a face-to-face PTSD screening before and after a deployment.

Teague said the issue needs the country’s attention.

“We wanted to go over some of the challenges we're going to have with implementing that, the personnel that we're going to need, the other assets we're going to need and how we're going to do that,” Teague said.

Kenneth Ellis III, 25, an Iraq war veteran, was shot and killed by Albuquerque police on Eubank and Constitution on Wednesday.

Investigators said Ellis was holding a gun to his head and refused to put it down, so an officer shot and killed him.

According to police, Ellis said he wanted to be shot and killed.
Ellis’s mother said he suffered from PTSD.

Teague said Ellis’s death is another tragic reminder that our veterans aren’t getting the help they need.

Teague said he’ll also visit Roswell and Carlsbad for meetings with Veterans Affairs groups there.