SGT Erik Bunger (USA Ret.) and AFC Ben Koeppe (USAF Ret.) discuss Sen. John Thune's failure to support PTSD funding for returning Iraq War veterans Wednesday.SIOUX FALLS, SD--Two twenty-something Iraqi War veterans called on Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) to match his votes with his recent remarks supporting PTSD funding for Iraqi War veterans and other veterans.

Sgt Erik Bunger (Ret.), a former member of the Army's 82d Airborne from Sioux Falls, who saw combat action in both Afghanistan and Iraq and AFC Ben Koeppe (Ret.), a USAF refueler from North Sioux City who served in forward bases in Iraq and who suffers from PTSD, spoke to the press today. 

On November 11, before a gathering of veterans at the DAV in
KSFY's Shannon Stevens interviews Erik Bunger following the news conference in the Sioux Falls Public Library. Sioux Falls, Thune said, "We have more and more veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD.  And we don't want them to become psychiatric casualties of war, so to speak.  Not all the combat related wounds people return with are caused by bullets and shrapnel. . . . "

KDLT's Andrew Gibson interviews Ben Koeppe.On November 17, however, Sen. Thune voted "No" on an amendment that would have provided $500 million for each fiscal year 2006-2010 for readjustment counseling and related services for veterans with mental illness, PTSD, or substance abuse disorder.
Erik Bunger

Koeppe talked about his bad experience with video counseling to help him with his adjustment.  He said he walked out after one session, calling the "therapy" impersonal.  Bunger discussed that such help should be there for veterans after they endure the horrors of war.
Ben Koeppe

Sound bite from Ben Koeppe.  Click here (Windows Media Player):  SMOV0004.ASF

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