EDITOR'S NOTE: A spokesperson for the Department of Veterans' Affairs has clarified that the PTSD support group at the Carl Nunziato clinic will continue, but that discussions are underway for exactly where it will move. Possibilities include other space inside the clinic or into the Mahoning County Veterans' Services Commission. Further updates are expected in the near future. 

YOUNGSTOWN — A Youngstown veterans’ Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) support group that has been around for decades is not coming to an end, after some confusion last week. 

In a statement, a VA spokesperson said the program may move, but will continue. 

“Because of ongoing construction at the facility, we are considering holding this weekly meeting in a new location. But the Veteran PTSD mental health support group has not been disrupted and will not be disrupted.”

On Friday, members of the group reached out to 21 News worried about the future of the resource. 

“You come here and you understand that your problems are not faced alone, that these people have faced the same problems that you have, and we learn from each other,” said Dan Brown, a retired Army First Sergeant and member of the support group since 1997. “The problem that we're facing now is that the VA wants to do away with a program that's working for them.” 

Brown told 21 News the Carl Nunziato Veterans Affairs Clinic informed the group a few months ago that it would no longer be able to host their weekly sessions because of a new infusion clinic taking over their meeting space. The last meeting, Brown said, is scheduled for next week. 

The veterans told 21 News they question the VA’s reasoning, arguing it has other spaces where it could host the meetings. 

“These people here deserve something,” Brown said Friday, gesturing to the roughly one dozen veterans at his side. “Every one of them sacrificed for their country, and now their country won't sacrifice a little bit?” 

Bill Kornblum, another Army veteran, became emotional as he described the impact the PTSD support group has had on his life. 

“Let me put it this way, I'm not committing chaos anymore,” Kornblum said. “This is my grounding here, and I just can’t see this go.” 

When asked whether the veterans could continue to meet on their own after the last meeting next Friday, Brown said it is more likely the group “will just dissolve,” and Kornblum said he fears the worst. 

“There would be some guys that without this, are going to wind up getting back into isolating themselves,” Kornblum said. “It could be an increase in suicide, just for the sake that these guys, they’ve got no place to let off what they need to let off.” 

“We've been where they wouldn't go,” he added. “We've done what they couldn't do. We've seen what they shouldn't see. And ain't nobody else going to know except us.. … I don't look at it as a betrayal, as much as I look at it as being tossed away.”