International Effort Builds to Help 'Forgotten' Troops with PTSD By Daniel Zwerdling Published December 20, 2007 at 11:44 AM PST This story was published more than 16 years ago. Facebook WhatsApp Email Listen • 0:00 Daniel Zwerdling, NPR Patrick Uloth's less than honorable discharge means that he can't get important veteran's benefits. Daniel Zwerdling, NPR Uloth says that if he had benefits, he'd check himself into a psychiatric hospital because, although he can seem charming and cheerful on the surface, he says he is in deep emotional trouble. Daniel Zwerdling, NPR Matt McLauchlen, shown here holding a certificate for his Purple Heart, spent months in military hospitals after a rocket explosion in Iraq almost severed his spinal cord and caused permanent disabilities. When he told a colonel he was so depressed that he had smoked marijuana, commanders at Camp Pendleton sent him to court martial — and discharged him with only partial benefits. Effort Builds to Help 'Forgotten' Troops with PTSD Copyright 2007 NPR