TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Vietnam veteran Mario Muniz knows about trauma. As a Marine Corps infantryman, Muniz already had two Purple Hearts when he took a bullet to the lower back in the summer of 1968.

In those days, post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, was not an accepted diagnosis for the emotional and psychological devastation many combat veterans experienced upon their return.

"The doctors called it a nervous condition," Muniz recalled.

It would be years before the Department of Veterans Affairs -- the VA -- would classify his anxiety disorder as PTSD. Yet Muniz considers himself one of the fortunate ones.

Many of his fellow veterans had to provide evidence -- dates, locations, eye-witnesses -- to receive the federal benefits PTSD sufferers were due.

So Muniz was heartened when President Obama announced over the weekend that new rules had been put in place to make the claim process easier and faster for military veterans suffering from PTSD.

"I'm happy to see these changes," Muniz said. "A lot of people saw a lot of action but it was hard for them to prove their situation."

As an employee of the Kern County Veterans Service Department, Michael Penney has assisted innumerable veterans in negotiating the bureaucratic hoops of the claims process.

Previous to the new changes, Penney said, unless the veteran was a combat medal winner or had other obvious documentation showing combat experience, VA adjudicators were required to examine military records to verify whether the veteran actually experienced the incident in question.

"I knew a Pearl Harbor survivor whose claim was denied because they couldn't place him on a ship," Penney said. "I remember a Korean War veteran who was denied when they couldn't identify his stressor.

"At least now this guy's got hope," he said.

Those veterans who ultimately are classified as PTSD sufferers become eligible for a monthly payment, depending on the level, or percentage, of their disability. Medical help is also made available from the VA in the form of support groups, occasional one-on-one visits with a psychologist and prescription medications when called for.

More than 2 million service members have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. It is estimated that 20 percent of these service members will develop PTSD, which is not uncommon among war veterans.

"If it's what they say it is, it's certainly going to open up the door to benefits for a lot of veterans who have been stymied by the requirements," said Chuck Bikakis, director of Kern County Veterans Service.

Bikakis recalled a veteran who had hitched a ride with a convoy that was later shelled by enemy artillery. The vet couldn't prove he was there that day because there was no documentation of it. His claim was denied.

"For guys like that, this rule change should help," he said.

But there may be a downside as well.

"It's going to open up the system to fraud," Penney warned.

As long as the claimed trauma is consistent with the circumstances of the veteran's service, and a psychiatrist or psychologist confirms that the stress described was adequate to support a PTSD diagnosis, the claim should be granted, according to the new rules.

But for PTSD sufferer Simba Roberts, who fought in the Battle of Ben Het in Vietnam, streamlining the rules for PTSD is like painting the facade of a burned-out building.

"I appreciate what Obama is trying to do, but system he inherited is flawed," Roberts said.

Roberts said he won't go to the VA for help if he has access to a private physician or hospital. He mourned the thousands of veterans who have died from suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness and neglect.

"The service is so bad, no righteous man would want to have anything to do with the VA," he said. "I haven't talked to a doctor who knows anything about Vietnam in 20 years."