Donald Trump Suggests Veterans With PTSD 'Can't Handle It'

HERNDON, VA — Republican nominee Donald Trump angered American veterans on Monday when he suggested that some who come back from war with post-traumatic stress disorder "can't handle it."

Speaking to the Retired American Warriors PAC, in Herndon, Virginia, Trump said: "When you talk about the mental health problems, when people come back from war and combat and they see things that maybe a lot of folks in this room have seen many times over — and you're strong and you can handle it — but a lot of people can't handle it."

According to RAND, about 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans suffer from depression or PTSD, a condition that triggers memories of traumatic experiences. There has been a concerted effort to reduce stigma around PTSD in military veterans, who can view treatment as a sign of vulnerability.

The Department of Veterans Affairs dedicates an entire section of its website to the topic.

“If, as a consequence of the extraordinary stress and pain that you are witnessing, typically, in a battlefield, something inside you feels like it’s wounded, it’s just like a physical injury," President Obama told a CNN presidential town hall last week. "You’ve got to go get help. There’s nothing weak about that. It’s strong.”

Veterans and their families took to social media to decry Trump's suggestions that military veterans with PTSD aren't "strong" and "can't handle it."

Trump's surrogates said the nominee was taken out of context.

"Mr. Trump was highlighting the challenges veterans face when returning home after serving their country," Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn said in a statement. "He has always respected the service and sacrifice of our military men and women—proposing reforms to Veteran Affairs to adequately address the various issues veterans face when they return home."

Jon Soltz, a veteran of the Iraq War and chairman of VoteVets.org, though, wasn't buying it.

"We're talking about a person, in Trump, who believes that POWs aren't real heroes, and that he's made sacrifices akin to Gold Star Families who lost their loved ones in war," Soltz said in a statement posted on the organization's website. "The constant disrespect Donald Trump shows towards our veterans and servicemembers is sickening, and completely and totally disqualifying."

Image via Rick Uldricks, Patch Staff