"One thing if we've learned from this war, we learned from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the previous wars, is not all injuries are physical." Maj. Gen. Daniel P. Bolger, commander of Multi-National Division-Baghdad.
"War is Hell!" General William Tecumseh Sherman
Recent news of five Soldiers being murdered in Iraq Monday by a fellow soldier rumbled the airwaves, however none of us were shocked.
For several years we've heard of the urgent need for change in the Military's Mental Health Treatment standards, but alas nothing was ever done about it.
Under the Bush administration substandard Mental Health Treatment for Military personnel became the norm.
After all a Soldier is not supposed to cry, not supposed to show that he or she is feeling pain, not supposed to demonstrate lost of Mental Stability. Instead Soldiers are supposed to function as obedient robots.
Duty. Honor. Country. Nothing else, right?
Well let's logically evaluate that theory.
First of all Human Beings even Soldiers, possess a Psyche or a mind. A mind able to process thoughts, imaginations and information.
A mind which regardless of the intelligence level, can become extremely fragile if it is injured, diseased, improperly stimulated or not allowed to receive proper rest.
In a combat zone the mind of a Soldier is also expected to remain a well-balanced machine. Expected to remain focused, with the ability to think quickly without hesitation because hesitation costs lives.
Thoughts of missing one's Spouse, Children, Siblings, Friends, Pets, etc., are frequently placed on a back shelf while assigned Missions of creating World Peace takes precedent over normal, everyday life.
Soldiers often fear that if they allow their minds to relax and think on close matters of the heart, they will cease functioning as a Soldier thus ending their esteemed Military careers.
The former Bush Administration decided that one solution to helping Soldiers maintain their "Military Bearing" in stressful situations was by allowing deployed, married personnel to live in the same quarters.
Pentagon officials strongly believed if deployed husbands and wives were able to sleep together each night it would help to relieve their levels of Stress.
Not such a bad idea except.....What if the husband is ordered out on a dangerous mission? Gone for two, three, four days at a time. Wouldn't that still add to their level of stress?
What about the children they left behind back in the states?
What if the husband or wife or both are killed while "serving together"?
Enough about Married Soldiers, what about Unmarried Soldiers?
They may have left behind girlfriends, boyfriends, fiance's, children, parents, homes, good jobs, businesses, etc.,
What solution did the Pentagon offer to these hardworking, lonely, active duty Military personnel?
Perhaps this explains why the number of Female Soldiers stationed in Iraq being raped and killed by Male Soldiers also stationed in Iraq, went through the roof during the Bush administration's reign.
Most of those deaths were falsely listed or Classified as "being killed by their own hands", when in fact their deaths were committed by other soldiers in cold-blood. For the record I am not referring to "Friendly Fire". Homicide would be a better description.
Such as was the case with Lavena Johnson. A Young female soldier stationed in Iraq, raped and murdered by fellow male soldiers.
I'm sure she thought those male soldiers would never bring harm to her. Now to the despair of her parents Private First Class Lavena Johnson lies dead at the age of 20, in a cold Missouri grave.
So there you have it. Young Men and Women, Married, Single, Grandmothers and Grandfathers basically thrown into combative, dangerous lions den with very little if any Positive Mental Health Coping Skills training.
Duty. Honor. Country.
When these individuals voluntarily enlisted to serve and protect our nation from further Terrorist attacks, they did so believing that the U.S. Armed Forces would protect them too.
Who knew that Pentagon officials would consider them to be so indispensable that their Mental Health welfare wouldn't be deemed of any such large importance?
How many of these Soldiers and other Military personnel begged for help but were ignored because the Mission was deemed more important?
Or....how many of them were provided Mental Health Counseling so poor and substandard, that a dog being treated by an "Animal Whisperer" receives better care.
Even worse how many of them were too afraid of asking for help because to do so would possibly mean the end of further promotions or worse being ostracized.
In a War Zone thousands of miles away from home, faced with the choice of being ostracized by your fellow soldiers versus asking for help because your feeling suicidal, which do you think is lesser of the two evils?
Less than 40% of troubled troops actually seek help, while one in five soldiers return from Iraq or Afghanistan with psychological problems ranging from insomnia to suicidal or homicidal tendencies.
Military officials are aware of the issue of serious Mental Health issues among the ranks. Yet there has been a steady rise in the number of reported Official Suicides, with more than 150 in 2008.
While I'm not defending him, left to deal with multiple deployments, callous Pentagon Officials pushing orders, Suicide Terrorism, and the lack of decent Mental Health treatment, only a Soldier in Sgt. John M. Russell's position would understand why he snapped.
Military officials claim to be working remove the stigma that soldiers may feel about seeking help. As it stands every new soldier arriving in Iraq is given a card detailing the warning signs for depression and suicide.
For some reason neither Congress nor the Pentagon wants to address the issue of Mismanagement of Military Bases especially as it relates to the safety of Female Soldiers and how screwed up the Mental Health Treatment programs are on most bases.
This year congress introduced H.R. 952, the Combat PTSD Act. The bill has 42 sponsors and addresses the difficulties veterans encounter when required to prove stressors in order to receive service-connected compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder incurred as a result of their military service.
What a wonderful way to help ensure our Military personnel receive a higher, more humane level of Mental Health Treatment. However due to more stupid Politics it has not passed, nor been signed into law by President Obama.
President Obama appears to be a good man with a kind heart, but he's getting ready to send our U.S. Armed Forces into "No Man's Land" Afghanistan and.....
he's considering repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (another War within itself). These actions may place an even higher level of stress on our Soldiers and Veterans.
My husband completed 22 years in the United States Army, serving in both the Vietnam War and Desert Storm theaters. I enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves but not being able to deal with the stress, my military career was short lived.
Do I have regrets? Of course.
I regret that the U.S. Military didn't do enough to stop Sgt. Russell from loosing his grip on reality.
I regret that our Military didn't do enough to keep Private Lavena Johnson from being raped and killed by fellow soldiers.
I further regret that based upon what I witnessed while stationed at Fort Jackson, I had to leave prematurely due to fear of also becoming another so-called "War Casualty".
The recent army shootings in Iraq which left five soldiers dead and one injured, is sad but nothing new. As society we've sadly become desensitized to such stories in the Media anyway. Besides it goes with the territory.
Call me a cynic if you may but here's a shocking prediction, regardless of how much money our government chooses to give the Pentagon for the purpose of ensuring that our Military personnel receive appropriate Mental Health treatment while engaged in active duty service, the number of dead soldiers' body bags being filmed by American Journalists and Reporters can expect to triple that of those killed during George W. Bush's reign.
War is Hell!
Charged with the shootings: Sgt. John M. Russell, 44, Sherman, Texas
Names of the victims:
Cmdr. Charles Springle, 52, Wilmington, North Carolina
Michael Edward Yates Jr., 19, Federalsburg, Maryland
Dr. Matthew Houseal, a psychiatrist from Amarillo, Texas,
Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.
Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.
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Sources: Whitehouse.gov, MSNBC, Huffington Post, NY Daily News, NY Post, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Rand Corp., Wikipedia, Salon.com, Jezebel.com, LA Times, Crooks and Liars, Military.com, Newsvine, NPR, Daily Life, Wikipedia, Flickr, Google Maps,
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