A need for understanding the warrior ethic

Military misconduct may be sign of PTSD - Washington Times:

"After his diagnosis, Sgt. Boyle was sent to North Carolina's Fort Bragg, an assignment he resented because he thought he should be fighting the war. At Fort Bragg, he was given heavy antidepressants and sleeping aids that he said caused him to oversleep and miss formation on several occasions, a major transgression in the military.

He wanted to return to Iraq to fight, but the medications barred him from more deployments and he became miserable and agitated. Sgt. Boyle went on to spar with commanding officers who, he said, were unaware of his combat experience. He drank heavily, couldn't control his rage and ended up in trouble with the law.

He reached the tipping point when he experienced a flashback while supervising a session at the firing range at Fort Bragg.

'I was supposed to be keeping an eye on [the soldiers], keep them safe and doing the right thing,' Sgt. Boyle recalled. 'At one point, I went into a flashback into a firefight, and I was in Iraq. And during that flashback, I zoned out and forgot what I was doing.

'I snapped out of it and realized I missed the whole firing sequence, and it scared the hell out of me. I can't operate as a soldier if I can't concentrate on a firing range like that. That helped me realize I had to get out.'"

When I read this portion of the aforementioned article I could not help but exclaim "Oh my god" to my computer monitor. What is the worst thing that you can do to a proud soldier with buddies fighting? Take him away from them. It was hard enough for this soldier to come forward to a field stress clinic, but then for them to take him away is harmful. I am not saying that the treatment is not some sort of removal from the fight or the theater of operations. I just know that to the soldier this action makes you useless to your fellow soldiers. In our minds it perpetuates the notion of weakness and adds to the guilt suffered. Guilt is a ruminating condition and when we get on a kick of such it only adds to our depression, which makes the PTSD worse. And as some authors have noted, such as Terrence Real in the book "I Don't Want to Talk About It", depression in men is oftentimes very covert and is displayed by other things, such as heightend aggression and violence. This fits very well with the picture we have of combat veterans and the rise of domestic violence in their homes.

Our warrior ethics propel us to pull our own weight, to not shun from the fight when others are there, to be supportive of our comrades in arms. Everything about this treatment violated this. It must have been very hard for this sergeant to feel like he had a place in the military, that he was still a warrior.

Military misconduct may be sign of PTSD - Washington Times

Military misconduct may be sign of PTSD - Washington Times

In 2007, a high-ranking Navy doctor sent a sobering warning to colleagues:
The service may be discharging soldiers for misconduct when in fact they are
merely displaying symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Post-deployment misconduct, especially in a Marine who has previously
served honorably, may indicate an unrecognized and unhealed line-of-duty stress
injury that deserves expeditious medical evaluation and, when indicated,
appropriate treatment," said the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The
Washington Times.

Sedatives may slow recovery from trauma - health - 01 October 2009 - New Scientist

Sedatives may slow recovery from trauma - health - 01 October 2009 - New Scientist

Shared via AddThis

The National Resource Directory

"The National Resource Directory (NRD) is an online tool for wounded, ill and injured Service Members, Veterans, their families, and those who support them. The NRD provides access to more than 11,000 services and resources at the national, state and local levels that support recovery, rehabilitation and community reintegration.

Maintained by the Departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs, the NRD links to federal and state government agencies; Veterans service and benefit organizations; non-profit and community-based organizations; academic institutions and professional associations who provide assistance to wounded warriors and their families."

Straightforward Transition Manual

Get your own - Open publication

Mental Stress Training Is Planned for U.S. Soldiers

D. Myles Cullen/U.S. Army

At a recent training session in Philadelphia, Sgt. First Class James Cole and other soldiers participated in role-playing and learned mental fitness techniques intended to help them in combat.

The training, the first of its kind in the military, is meant to improve performance in combat and head off the mental health problems, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide, that plague about one-fifth of troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Active-duty soldiers, reservists and members of the National Guard will receive the training, which will also be available to their family members and to civilian employees.
The new program is to be introduced at two bases in October and phased in gradually throughout the service, starting in basic training. It is modeled on techniques that have been tested mainly in middle schools. (read more)

35 Tried and True Ways to Keep Your Sanity While He’s Deployed

35 Tried and True Ways to Keep Your Sanity While He’s Deployed
posted on March 05, 2009 14:04
By Janet Farley

Maybe you’ve been there, done that and earned a number of deployment t-shirts already. Perhaps not. In any event, a little inspiration designed to see one through the long haul never hurts. Use and abuse the following tips, not listed in any particular order of importance, to help you make that the time in between the times that matter the most to you go by just a little faster.

• 
  Be a joiner in your unit’s family readiness group. There, you will not only find the support and friendship of others sharing the same experience, but you will also be among the first to learn of any noteworthy news.
  Enroll in a certificate or degree program. You will not only keep busy with the books but you will be making yourself more marketable for the future as well. Research military spouse-specific scholarships and grants to defray the cost.
  Perfect the art of rollerblading. Or quilting. Or antiquing. Try whatever you think may bring you inner happiness and do it shamelessly.
  Train to run a marathon or walk around the mall five times.
  Lose that last 10 pounds once and for all. And just in time for homecoming.
  Befriend the new girl in the unit. She needs it.
  Go shopping but don’t go crazy shopping. You don’t need more debt.
  Try on a new haircut or color for a change.
  Be an everyday hero by volunteering to help out in your community.
  Email your loved one every day. Tell him how much you love him, miss him and can’t wait for him to come home.
  Avoid sequestering yourself away from the general public. It’ll just bring you down.
  Ask for help when you need it and know that everyone needs it sometimes.
  Don’t overbook yourself in the name of keeping busy. You’ll only stress yourself out more.
  Just breathe. Breathing is good. In. Out. In. Out. Lower that heart rate and repeat “this too shall pass.”
  Plan a girl’s night out and make enjoying yourself the number one priority.
  Take up that a new hobby.
  Live your life and avoid sitting by the phone in hopes of his call. He will call. You may be there, or you may not, but he will call again.
  Make a care package and send to your sweetheart. Include gifts, letters and pictures from his darling offspring.
  Read the classics or get your fill of mindless junk, whichever works for you.
  Rent and watch every chick flick you’ve ever wanted to, but haven’t seen yet.
  Resist the urge to move back home with your parents. Visit them instead. It will make everyone happier in the long run.
  Plan a trip to someplace you’ve always wanted to go and do it.
  Get a new job or get yourself promoted on your old one.
  Keep your sweetie in everyone's thoughts and conversations daily even if he can't be there in person.
  Don’t be a news junkie. It will just make you crazy.
  Save money towards a particular goal for your family or just for the two of you.
  Send him a spicy letter with a one redeemable coupon for _________ (you fill in the blank).
  Do something nice for yourself once a week without fail. Have your nails done. Get a massage. Splurge on a pedicure. Eat out a nice restaurant. You deserve it.
  Focus on your kids if you have them. They need the most now.
  Accept that some days will just suck, some worse than others, and get on with it.
  If you don’t live near an installation and think everyone around you is clueless about life in the military, clue them in.
  Start a journal and faithfully record your thoughts, feelings, fears and joys.
  Create a countdown calendar and enjoy seeing each day pass that brings you closer. This might be especially helpful for younger children who don’t quite have a grasp on the concept of time.
  Accept that he won’t always sound happy when you do hear from him.
  

Dig way down deep inside of yourself and know that you will make it through this tough time.

Janet Farley, Ed.M Freelance writer specializing in Careers & Workplace Issues Author, The Military Spouse's Complete Guide to Career Success (Impact Publications, Jan 2008) and The Military-to-Civilian Career Transition Guide (Jist Inc). Visit my website at www.janetfarley.com

The latest news on post traumatic stress disorder, American troops, effects of the war - PTSD NewsLadder

The latest news on post traumatic stress disorder, American troops, effects of the war - PTSD NewsLadder

A collection of reports and projects... good stuff here.

War is Hell

This was published in the Oregonian's Iraq War blog and it is deeply moving. As I read this tears fell down my face. My heart aches for the men and family left behind, at the great loss that they feel. It would do well for those who so casually want to commit us to a war, or to so casually throw out phrases like 'withdraw' or 'pull out' to try to imagine what it feels like to be the soldiers in this piece. Our sacrifices are so very great. Remember this on Memorial Day before you go to your shopping spree or cookout.

War is hell
Posted by Stalker15A, via Mike Francis, The Oregonian June
02, 2009 14:56PM
Categories: Iraq military operations
On Friday our patrol got hit. An insurgent threw a grenade into one of our patrol vehicles. I helped the rest of my guys carry my roommate to the CSH (Combat Support Hospital) here in Mosul in a black body bag. As we took the body out of the Stryker vehicle our uniforms and boots became stained with blood comingled with tears for our buddy. Our steps were slow and deliberate, blood seeping out the bag as we walked. No one talked. There was no need. We placed the remains on a cold metal table. I turned to my guys and I told them "Remember this feeling"..then we started filing out. The bigwigs had started arriving to have their "look see" and quite frankly I was not in the mood for their dog and pony show. Our platoon consists of thirty men. We lost three that day. My roommate was fatally wounded..the team medic will never return to military service (amputee) and the gunner will most likely not return to military service (reconstructive facial surgeries).

We walked back to the transport vehicle and began hosing down the blood. As I watched it seep into the ground, I became acutely aware that tears were streaming down all our faces although there was no audible sounds emanating from us. We have been down this road before. We are well aware of our own mortality. The putrid acrid smell of burnt human flesh permeates our vehicles and clothes. My heart bleeds and my soul hides. A Doc comes out to tell us that our gunner is conscious and alert. We race inside to see him. We are not prepared for the sight. There are tubes in various orifices. His face is unrecognizable. His jaw and multiple facial bones are broken. His eyes are almost swollen shut. Yet he manages a smilewhich exposes the carnage in his mouth. Most of his teeth are broken or completely gone. His bottom lip is split wide open exposing a few more remaining teeth. We huddle at his bedside touching whatever body part we could..telling him that we were there..that the only thing to focus on now is getting better. They give him the purple heart. The tears flow freely again mixed with a few sobs and expletives. We are asked to leave so he can rest. I inquire about our team medic. They told us he was still in surgery..that they were doing everything they could to save his leg. We return to our vehicles. The chaplain comes out and offers us water and words of consolation. I am in a daze but I clearly hear words like God and hero and sacrifice. The platoon is not in the mood to hear anything religious. We need our space to think and grieve. He prays and walks away. We sit and wait. A nurse comes out to tell us that the team medic is out of surgery and heavily sedated. They managed to keep his leg attached for now and it is covered in a mound of bandages with blood seeping through. He briefly opens his eyes, scans the room to acknowledge everyone, then closes them again. We stand in silence. He opens his eyes again and asks why we were all staring at him. We have no answers. Someone yells "It's because your nipples are exposed"..(his hospital gown had fallen down off his shoulders). The feeble attempt at humor works for a brief second. He smiles..we smile. Then he asks about the other guys. The tears flow freely once again. We tell him to rest and begin filing out of the room. We drive back to our living areas. Those that have the stomach to eat do so. Most of us huddle outside. I go into the room. His laptop is still open..unfinished letter to his Mom..on his bed...dirty laundry strewn across the room. The reality is sobering. He is gone. Members of other platoons start arriving to pay their respects and offer condolences. People started punching and kicking things. There was a lot of cussing and enough tears to fill a bucket. Someone said we should get clean. We had a ramp ceremony (where we bring the casket to the plane) in a few hours. No one moved.

A few hours later we were back at the CSH. There were two planes on the runway. One had soldiers returning from leave and new soldiers arriving to the unit. The look on their faces told us this was not the welcome they expected. The FLA (dont know the meaning of the acronym) drove the body onto the tarmac flanked by two of our guntrucks. We marched out and removed the casket. It was adorned with the bronze star, the purple heart, and the CIB. The CIB, combat infantry man's badge, is issued to an infantryman for taking and returning fire during combat operations. My roommate returned from leave on April 16. We got into a firefight the very next day, April 17, in the Ras Al Koor neighborhood. This was his first firefight and therefore made him eligible for the CIB. I wrote his recommendation after that incident and he was due to get the coveted CIB very soon. He was looking forward to pinning it on his uniform and I was now looking at it pinned on his casket. The tears flowed behind our military issued sunglasses as we carried his body slowly to the aircraft. The casket was mettalic in nature and extremely cold due to the material used to preserve the body during shipment. The airfield was a sea of people rendering final salute as we walked by. We placed him in the belly of the airplane and rendered our final salute. I ran my hand the full length of the coffin..caressing the flag..whispering that if he could hear me.. I loved him and I missed him. The chaplains and Battalion Commanders gave their speeches. We hugged and cried. We marched off that plane with the entire battalion behind us. I paused briefly to look at the lonely casket sitting on the ramp of the airplane. We drove back in silence to our living quarters.

A few hours later we were back at the airfield. We carried our team medic to his plane pretty much in the same fashion we carried the coffin a few hours earlier. He was on his way to Landstuhl Germany for treatment. We shook hands and saluted as he flew off.

We never got to see our gunner leave. Sometime during the night he was flown to Balad Iraq to catch a follow on flight back to the states. We were pissed. I guess command thought that we had a pretty long day and needed the rest. What we NEEDED was to send our boys off the right way.
Saturday we mulled around for the better part of the day. Recovery guys came and inventoried his property and took it all away in large black tote boxes. I asked them to leave the pictures up that he put on the walls. They comply. The room is much emptier. I stare at the walls and the ceiling. Sleep does not come easily but it finally does.

I am awakened a few hours later by members of the squad for a mandatory debrief. The Combat Stress Team is here asking "How does that make you feel?" type questions. They say they KNOW how we are feeling and we need to talk it out...we politely tell them to go away. When they leave..we open up to each other..we laugh..we cry..we talk about our buddies. We keep the memories between us..no one else understands the bond..the unit cohesion..the love we have for each other.

A few minutes later we get word. We are tasked with a mission. Less than 36 hours have passed since the incident. We lace up our boots, don euipment, and race to our vehicles. Work beckons...we will grieve later. The war machine grinds on..and we..we are the cogs in the wheel. I do one final check of my guys..we lock and load..and prepare to walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

For Soldiers, Stress After War May Be the Biggest Enemy

by Karen LeighJune 03, 2009
Insurgents are stealthy fighters, their attacks unexpected, startling and violent.
Combined with the stress of longer deployments, loneliness and brutal desert conditions, they are the perfect trigger for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Soldiers now returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are experiencing the highest levels of PTSD since the Vietnam War. Some just have trouble sleeping. Some find themselves emotionally numb or easily startled. In the most extreme cases, soldiers have killed themselves – and fellow soldiers. The nonprofit aid organization Veterans for Common Sense said that as of December 15, 2008, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA, had diagnosed 115,000 Iraq and Afghanistan vets with PTSD.

“These are staggering numbers,” said VCS executive director Paul Sullivan. “We can either admit that there’s a very serious problem and begin treatment, or we can ignore the problem and wait until the PTSD turns into unemployment, drug use, and suicide – very expensive social problems.”

The National Institute of Mental Health defines PTSD as “an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened,” and says military combat could be a trigger.

Tom Tarantino, legislative associate for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the largest group dedicated to veterans of conflict in the Middle East, estimated that as many as one in four returning servicemen had diagnosable PTSD.
“No one comes back from war unchanged – as many as one-third come back with some kind of PTSD, depression or traumatic brain injury,” he said.

According to IAVA, the country’s largest organization dedicated to the welfare of recent veterans, there is a total of 1.8 million alums of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Due to dwindling enlistment and troop surges, many served more than one tour of duty in the Middle East.

“There’s a very severe soldier shortage,” Sullivan said. “Soldiers deployed twice or more to the war zone have a 50 percent increase in the risk of returning home from combat with PTSD, compared with those who went just once.”

The military defends its mental health assessments and policies.

“No military in the history of the world has done more to identify, evaluate, prevent and treat the mental health needs and concerns of its personnel than the Military Services of the United States,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez.

But Sullivan disagrees. A Gulf War veteran, he says the very nature of combat in the Middle East – no set battles, but thousands of unexpected assaults at checkpoints, bases and roads by stealthy insurgents -- is the perfect breeding ground for PTSD.

“They call it ‘360/365,’” he said of the stress that comes with not knowing when the next battle will come. “They’re completely surrounded -- 360 degrees, 365 days of the year. Everyone thinks war is just you fight, then go back to the clubhouse and play video games and eat pizza.”
The military currently provides mental health support in combat theaters to respond to the mental health needs of service members in the field in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Within five days of returning home from a tour of duty, soldiers complete a Post Deployment Health Assessment and have a one-on-one review with healthcare professionals in which they discuss any health concerns, though these sessions are not tailored to mental ailments.
Three to six months after returning home, they are asked to complete the Post Deployment Health Re-Assessment, which does a follow-up check on any mental or physical health concerns.
“The DOD is actually doing a fairly decent job compared to how it used to be done. They’ve finally gotten the message,” Tarantino said. “We need to train our junior leaders to identify mental health injuries – and they are injuries. They are as a result of trauma, so it’s just like getting shot or getting blown up. We need to train our sergeants, our lieutenants, our captains and our colonels.”

Meanwhile, debate has been raging between the military and veterans’ groups who say soldiers with diagnosed PTSD are being forced to return to duty due to troop shortages.

“It’s a very serious problem,” Sullivan said. “The military had already deployed thousands who shouldn’t have been.” He referenced an “entire planeload of soldiers from Ft. Carson who were unfit,” but still taken back to war.

“One was taken out of a mental hospital, and another committed suicide in the war zone,” Sullivan said.

Some soldiers, affected by mental health stigma and a can-do attitude, may also try and hide their problems from military bosses.

“Servicemen and women aren’t being properly screened,” Tarantino said. “The stigma of mental health is so big within the military that a lot of service members just have that ‘suck it up’ mentality. These are people who do a lot of extraordinary things at an extremely young age with very little resources.”

He also noted a lack of support for veterans of the National Guard.
“Their situation is much more dire,” Tarantino said. “They can go from Baghdad to their front door in 36 hours and they don’t have access to the resources and community that the army does.”

Veterans And Ptsd

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Veterans And Ptsd

View more OpenOffice presentations from Eddie Black.

Penn State video on the veterans

This was posted by Penn State. The website itself had options to click on to look at different parts of the video, such as how did the professor do well in handling the veteran, how the administrator did well in listening to the professor, and so on. Yet the problem is that the veteran depicted here is a stereotypical one and the discussion about the realities of the changes in our veterans was not addressed. I am unsure if the psychology department was used in creating this video. If not, they should have been, and if so the department shows a complete lack of understanding. After a large outcry against the video Penn State pulled the site. But it is out on YouTube. You can also find video segments of faculty at the Office of Admissions at Penn State discussing parts of the video on YouTube as well.

The stereotype that veterans are dangerous and one step away from being the next killer in our midst is a real on that we come against often. We need to educate people that this is not who we are. One study looked at Vietnam Veterans and found that, contrary to stereotypes, they were not more likely to be criminals than non veterans. The researchers concluded that in fact they were more likely to be good citizens. What Vietnam Veterans ARE more likely to show is divorce rates, depression, suicide, and substance abuse.

Because this stereotype of the veteran exists we are sometimes robbed of our rights of being legitimately angry. We get angry when we perceive an affront to honor, justice, rights, etc... and sometimes this is warranted. Yet if coworkers, faculty, and other non veterans feel that this stereotype is true, whenever a veteran displays any anger at all (whether valid or not) they are treated as if they are one step from "going postal" (to use another stereotype that is damaging to a population... this case, postal workers).  

Military Bloopers

Anyone's who's been military and possibly deployed know the amount of boredom that sets in.  Here is a collection of funny bloopers.