Rick Perry volunteers for 'Million Veteran Program' aiming to identify PTSD trends

HOUSTON – Larry Langlois dedicated 25 years of service in the Army.

"Some of my NCOs were sent over to Desert Storm and came back with Gulf War syndrome," Langlois said.

He said his son followed in his footsteps in Afghanistan.

"Sometimes, there's a little more anger," Langlois said about how his son changed when he returned home.

The problems his friends and family have are commonly associated with veterans and combat work.

Identifying who is at risk for these illnesses is the focus of a new program, a push to get one million veterans participating in a health study called the Million Veteran Program (MVP), which aims to identify trends in PTSD, suicide, heart and prostate disease.

On Monday, the United States Department of Energy and the VA hospital announced a partnership on the project.

"The Department of Energy as a whole has extraordinary computing capability," DOE Secretary Rick Perry said.

The plan is to use high-performing data analytics with the world's largest health database at the VA Hospitals from 50 cities nationwide. Together, they said they hope to better serve the men and women who serve us.

Energy secretary and veteran himself, Rick Perry, volunteered to be part of the study.

"It's the continuation of volunteering, of their giving back to their country by being a part of a substantial program that's going to be able to give the next generation of servicemen and women some good intelligence, so it's a good program," he said.

Langlois said if it helps identify health trends in veterans, maybe it can help prevent disease as well.

"It will best have us prepared for the battlefield of today and tomorrow, and bottom line is battlefield preparation," he said. "For my friends in Shreveport, Georgia and Texas, go for it!"

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