Psychiatric News has a story describing staffing problems in the military and VA medical systems. The article contains a great quote from Dan Blazer of DoD Mental Health Task Force fame:

Blazer and others cited a shortage of psychiatrists and psychologists in the armed forces as the leading obstacle to effective mental illness detection and treatment for those who serve in the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones.

His conclusion echoed the leading finding in the task force's report: "The Military Health System lacks the fiscal resources and the fully-trained personnel to fulfill its mission to support psychological health in peacetime or fulfill the enhanced requirements imposed during times of conflict." The task force urged more funding to retain existing personnel and to add more, so members of the military would have greater access to care.

This proposal will require not a one-time infusion of additional funding, Blazer said, but "sustained increased funding to shore up mental health care for our soldiers."

Comment: The bottom line is our military needs more uniformed mental health providers. Why isn't anyone talking about that?

Reference: http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/42/21/1