Kentucky community feels effects of recent wars

On Veterans Day 2011, Timothy Jackson, a former sailor in the U.S. Navy and the son of a man who was the same, visited a small, unfinished gravesite on a hilltop along a winding road. It belonged to Timothy Matthew Jackson, who went by Matt and had himself been a Marine.

In three generations of Jackson men to serve, Matt was the first to die in combat. He was 22.

It’s been a wrenching year for the Jackson family. And for the communities in and around London, population 7,993, it’s been a wrenching decade. A decade ago in October, America went to war – first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq.

Now, those wars are nearing their end. But for the soldiers of Kentucky and their families, the war is far from over.

In the past decade, nearly 200 men and women from these parts have left the service and are now collecting disability payments for the wounds or injuries they sustained during military service. Three soldiers from London were killed outright, a higher number than most small towns and many larger ones.

A McClatchy assessment finds that the area also has one of the highest rates in the country of veterans collecting disability payments for post-traumatic stress disorder – one of the costliest and most prevalent ailments to emerge from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

War and its consequences run deep here. At one church, five members are overseas now. American flags fly up and down Main Street.

Many London-area men and women are in the Kentucky National Guard. London’s unit is now on its second tour of duty. Its return date is uncertain.

Among veterans who left the service in 2003 or later – a rough approximation of the Iraq and Afghanistan generation – a total of 175 soldiers in the ZIP codes in and around London are on the VA’s disability roles. Combined, they have documented 917 disabilities – some mild, some severe, some mental, some physical.

Topping the list are 71 soldiers with hearing problems. Second are 56 cases of PTSD. A total of 49 soldiers have limited leg motion, while 35 have ankle problems. Such claims result in monthly checks that range from $127 to $2,769.

On a sunny Thursday last month, at the edge of town and past the Dog Patch Trading Post, dozens of veterans with PTSD packed into a corrugated metal building, Chapter 66 of the Disabled American Veterans.

Inside, Cynthia Dunn did what she’s done for 16 years: help veterans grapple with the mental disorder that often emerges from war and can last a lifetime.

Dunn, a psychologist, works for the VA medical center 90 minutes away in Lexington and comes each week for a session mostly with Vietnam vets in their 60s.

What she doesn’t have, at least yet, are many Iraq and Afghanistan vets; a tenth of her 50 participants are younger vets, often pushed there by uncles and fathers.

“That’s the first line of intervention,” she said.

Clinically, the young vets are likely going through “detachment and estrangement,” she said. Even if the community is welcoming, a veteran might retreat and refuse help.

Not all returning soldiers struggle. Buddy Butler, who served in the early parts of the war, came home to welcoming parades, open arms and an efficient demobilization process.

Last fall, the Iraq war veteran helped organize a “Welcome Home Parade” for Vietnam-era veterans. In October 2010, London’s streets were filled with townspeople and officials; it drew at least 800 veterans from throughout the region.

“I will say this for Laurel County: I don’t think I’ve ever been in a more patriotic community,” Butler said.