Donald Trump suggested that veterans who suffer from PTSD are not “strong” and “can’t handle” what they see during war, in a question and answer session with some of those veterans Monday morning.
The comments, which were first reported by Buzzfeed, were delivered after a speech Trump gave for the Retired American Warriors PAC in Herndon, Virginia. Trump answered several questions about the military before he answered the final question from former Staff Sgt. Chad Robichaux, who a moderator said had been deployed eight times to Afghanistan and served as a former Special Operations Force Recon Marine.
The moderator described Robichaux as “the toughest of the tough” and added he had “fully recovered from depression and PTSD.” Robichaux, who now runs the Mighty Oaks Foundation to help veterans and their families with such “unseen wounds,” then asked Trump about what he would do to support “a more holistic approach to solve the problem of veteran suicide.”
“There’s a tragic suicide epidemic among our veterans, among our military and their families,” Robichaux said, adding that the government’s efforts “continue to fall short” where faith-based programs could help. He asked Trump if he would support and fund such programs for veterans’ mental and behavioral health.
“Yes I would — we need that so badly,” he said to brief applause.
Trump continued: “When you talk about the mental health problems, when people come back from war and combat and they see maybe what a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over, and you’re strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can’t handle it.”
“They see horror stories, they see events that you couldn't see in a movie,” Trump added to a silent room. “Nobody would believe it. We need a mental health help and medical and it's one of the things that is least addressed.”
Robichaux released a statement following media outcry over Trump’s response to the veteran’s question.
“I think it’s sickening that anyone would twist Mr. Trump’s comments to me in order to pursue a political agenda. I took his comments to be thoughtful and understanding of the struggles many veterans have, and I believe he is committed to helping them,” Robichaux said. “I interpreted his answer to affirm that the system is broken and he would take the necessary steps to address it.”
During the Vietnam war, Trump received four deferments from the draft for his college education before he was diagnosed with bone spurs that medically disqualified him from serving.
“We're going to have a very, very robust level of performance having to do with mental health,” Trump promised in his response. “We are losing so many great people that can be taken care of if they have proper care... In many respects, that's going to be the number one thing we're going to do because I think it's been left behind.”