Our military takes care of there own

[one-eyed-fatman]

HARTFORD, Conn. — U.S. military troops with severe psychological problems have been sent to Iraq or kept in combat, even when superiors have been aware of signs of mental illness, a newspaper reported for Sunday editions.

The Hartford Courant, citing records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act and more than 100 interviews of families and military personnel, reported numerous cases in which the military failed to follow its own regulations in screening, treating and evacuating mentally unfit troops from Iraq.

In 1997, Congress ordered the military to assess the mental health of all deploying troops. The newspaper, citing Pentagon statistics, said fewer than 1 in 300 service members were referred to a mental health professional before shipping out for Iraq as of October 2005.

Twenty-two U.S. troops committed suicide in Iraq last year, accounting for nearly one in five of all non-combat deaths and the highest suicide rate since the war started, the newspaper said.

Some service members who committed suicide in 2004 and 2005 were kept on duty despite clear signs of mental distress, sometimes after being prescribed antidepressants with little or no mental health counseling or monitoring, the Courant reported. Those findings conflict with regulations adopted last year by the Army that caution against the use of antidepressants for "extended deployments."

"I can't imagine something more irresponsible than putting a soldier suffering from stress on (antidepressants), when you know these drugs can cause people to become suicidal and homicidal," said Vera Sharav, president of the Alliance for Human Research Protection, a New York-based advocacy group. "You're creating chemically activated time bombs."

Although Defense Department standards for enlistment disqualify recruits who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, the military also is redeploying service members to Iraq who fit that criteria, the newspaper said.

"I'm concerned that people who are symptomatic are being sent back. That has not happened before in our country," said Dr. Arthur S. Blank, Jr., a Yale-trained psychiatrist who helped to get post-traumatic stress disorder recognized as a diagnosis after the Vietnam War.

The Army's top mental health expert, Col. Elspeth Ritchie, acknowledged that some deployment practices, such as sending service members diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome back into combat, have been driven in part by a troop shortage.

"The challenge for us ... is that the Army has a mission to fight. And, as you know, recruiting has been a challenge," she said. "And so we have to weigh the needs of the Army, the needs of the mission, with the soldiers' personal needs."

Ritchie insisted the military works hard to prevent suicides, but said that is a challenge because every soldier has access to a weapon.

Commanders, not medical professionals, have final say over whether a troubled soldier is retained in the war zone. Ritchie and other military officials said they believe most commanders are alert to mental health problems and are open to referring troubled soldiers for treatment.

"Your average commander doesn't want to deal with a whacked-out soldier. But on the other hand, he doesn't want to send a message to his troops that if you act up, he's willing to send you home," said Maj. Andrew Efaw, a judge advocate general officer in the Army Reserves who handled trial defense for soldiers in northern Iraq last year.

[Captain Ray]

**** OEF.. You have got to be kidding me!! If the troops are certifiably nuts.. ok.. You just can't have nuts running around with M-16s in their hands.. but you can't field an army without people who have the wide range of personal problems that people have.. Sometimes, it is handy to have some crazy person who will do a job that no sane person would do.. Welcome to the war...

Raymond

[one-eyed-fatman]

Captain Ray I new a guy who served in Vietnam. We found him in his apartment one day. He'd hung himself in a closet. Don't you dare try and tell me this is a bull**** story.

[Captain Ray]

I am not saying it's a bul**** story.. it's a sad story. Hardly indicitave of our young men out there fighting the battle though.

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day.. he is in the Gaurd.. He was telling me that those boys overseas who are fighting prefer that duty than stateside.. no inspections, no bull **** drills, no bull**** period.. just run your mission and rest up for the next one. That's what they signed up to do.

I am not saying that there are not some serious nuts who fall through the cracks... but it is hardly the norm IMO..

Raymond

[Rob6852]

It all comes down to mental toughness IMHO.
Some people's minds cannot comprehend the horrors of war and what
it entails. Drill Instructors try their best to weed out those that show
signs of being unable to handle that kind of stress. Some do slip through
though and end up on the battlefield.
Some people can handle it. some cannot.
Those that cannot need to be handled better and taken care of weather
it be physical or psycological in nature. The military and the VA try
their best to do with the resources they have at hand.
But it is limited and most of the time it isn't enough.
Some people just aren't ready or aren't compatiable with Military life.
It's those people that slip through the cracks that end up suffering
mentally.
Don't take me wrong, war scares even the toughest of people.
Even I will admit that.
Later all
Rob

[one-eyed-fatman]

Ya... I use to think I was one tough son of a bitch (mentally) then one day I cried.

[jkswiss]

I don't know if you guys ever served but there are lots of nut jobs that slip through the "extensive" screening process. I have seen quite a few people on their way out due to mental instabilities, and this was instabilities from just massive study hours. I've seen 34 year old E-6's crack under the pressure of sub life and start bawling. All this, and I haven't even been shot at once. As the article said, it would be an avalance effect if you can act a little nuts and you're able to get out of a war...so the end result is some of these guys commit suicide. Company commanders/captains are not the most sensitive bunch and I can see why even the people suffering from this stress disorder wouldn't even report it to their superiors. Theres probably a lot of self policing that goes around in these groups and you don't want to be seen as the pansy that can't carry your own weight. You don't want to let your buddies down.

[beardman2]

I've never been in the military but I don't see this as a big surprise. War causing depression? That's kind of one of those "duh" things. I hope we do as much as we can to help this guys there and when they come back. They deserve it for every freedom I enjoy.

[Mike TRT]

suicide is horrible no matter the cirumstances or where it happens. I'd take a guess that the majority of the suicides are from the younger guys n gals that miss home, their girlfriends, got dear john letters etc, rather than the horrors of war itself.

Im to lazy right now, and Im heading out to have a few beers, but if someone wants to do a search, see if you can find what occupation suffers the most suicides, the most divorces etc......stress is the killer.

[one-eyed-fatman]

see if you can find what occupation suffers the most suicides, the most divorces etc......stress is the killer.

Without any research I think I can come with a best guess. Cops.