days ago. there s also rampant speculation about what caused the soldier to snap. he s a 38-year-old army staff sergeant who served three combat tours in iraq. a senior u.s. defense official tells nbc news the soldier suffered a traumatic brain injury in a vehicle rollover. you mentioned a possible emotional or mental issue. we know there s been a report that he was involved a report that he was involved in a vehicle turnover, a traumatic brain injury as a result of that. paul rykoff is the founder of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. he joins us now. paul, i want to put something up on the screen here. this was the new york daily news front cover this week. sergeant psycho. sergeant had suffered traumatic brain injury. how much do you worry about this just being turned into a stereotype that hurts all veterans coming back from iraq and afghanistan? i worry about it a great deal. and the entire veterans and
you know that s in your classroom, in your place of work, and in your neighborhood. but, paul, how do we you mentioned this. it s not just when you re in iraq and afghanistan, it s when you come home oftentimes when it s as if not more difficult. how do you let s talk about your organization. how do you go about trying to get these people the help that they need? and i ll add to that, mental illness, maybe not traumatic brain injury, ptsd, we are still a country that s uncomfortable, in some ways, talking about mental illness. how do you get both people afflicted by it to talk about it and speak about it and how do you get them real help that matters? you take it head on and explain to people what ptsd is and explain to many folks, this is the natural reaction your body will have to something like this. it s like a bullet hole, if you got shot in the arm, you d get it treated, do rehab, get back on your feet. you ve got to treat pstd and traumatic bain injury the other way. we
have connection and hope. that s what veterans need more than anything else, to be around people who know where they re coming from. it can be a very isolating situation, to come home from combat, not have anyone around who knows where you re coming from. very aggressively, we ve been trying to connect veterans with other veterans and resources that need to be increased. if americans want to help, help support those critical organizations that are providing mental health support, critical support in your communities and nationwide. the supply there is definitely not keeping up with the demand. paul, thanks for what you to. thank you, chris. appreciate the time. up next, the politico brio f briefing. this is andrea mitchell reports. who s the your business entrepreneur of the week? ana barber opened scribble press in los angeles in 2008. it s a place where kids can turn their art and writing into books. the company s success prompted her to open another location in new york
military community worries about it a great deal. i think what we want people to understand is this event in afghanistan is tragic and it s absolutely terrible, it s bad for everybody involved, but it s not representative of the larger population of troops and veterans who have served honorably in iraq and afghanistan, almost 2.3 million of them. so we ve got to resist the urge to stereotype, to rush to judgment, to oversimplify this situation. the daily news should really be ashamed of themselves. that s bad journalism. that s bad media responsibility, to put out sergeant psycho, which folds into the pre-existing stereotypes that people have is just not doing anyone any good. most folks with posttraumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury are doing well, are not violent. if you think about someone like bob woodruff who has been very high profile, who has a brain injury. there s not a link between ptsd and this kind of outrageous, really crazy behavior. paul, let s talk a
plus a 30-percent solar tax credit with a lennox system with sunsource. lennox. innovation never felt so good. every day we have been bringing you new details as we get them about sunday s raid on osama bin laden s compound in pakistan. one group interested in these developments is iraq in afghanistan war veterans. always good to talk to paul