WASHINGTON - January 9 - Members of  Military Families Speak Out are criticizing the Pentagon's rejection earlier this week of a request to award the Purple Heart to troops suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).   The request came from a military psychologist who felt that recognizing PTSD as a battle injury would help to remove some of the stigma attached to the disorder.

Kevin and Joyce Lucey are the parents of Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey, who took his own life on June 22, 2004 shortly after being denied treatment for the PTSD he sustained while serving in Iraq with the Marine Corps Reserves.   The Luceys are members of Gold Star Families Speak Out, a national chapter of Military Families Speak Out whose members' loved ones have died as a result of the war in Iraq.

Kevin Lucey said:

"The denial of the purple heart to those warriors inflicted by the hidden wounds of PTSD reflects the limited understanding which many in the Pentagon possess - despite the claims of some that they are trying to address PTSD and the stigma usually attached to it.   "Some of these warriors suffer as much - and in some cases possibly even more - as many of those who have been physically wounds on the battlefield. Many who bear the physical wounds also carry those hidden wounds to their spirit and, after their physical wounds have healed or been addressed in some fashion, they must deal with the hemorrhaging of their infected souls -- inflicted by events experienced by answering their country's call to arms."

Joyce Lucey added:

"If anyone questions how lethal and fatal the hidden wounds of PTSD can be ( similar to those of severe physical wounds), then we invite them to visit Cpl. Jeffrey Michael Lucey's grave at Island Pond Cemetery in Ludlow, Massachusetts."

Stacy Hafley is a member of Military Families Speak Out whose husband suffers from severe PTSD sustained while serving in Iraq with the Army Reserves.  She said:

"My husband will struggle for the rest of his life with the psychological wounds he suffered in a war that should never have been fought.  Our family deals with the impacts of those wounds every day -- just as surely as the family of someone who was physically injured in combat.  This decision is a slap in the face of troops like my husband. Once again, the Pentagon has chosen to hide rather than acknowledge the suffering PTSD has caused."