Combat stress: Iraq shock hits US troops

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Channel Four News

Combat stress: Iraq shock hits US troops
Monday 27 September 2010
Kylie Morris News Correspondent

One in five US soldiers who served in Iraq are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. Channel 4 News gained exclusive access to the major American military base at Fort Hood.

Their President always said he would bring them home. But no one planned for the scale of the problems American soldiers returning from Iraq might bring with them. Current figures suggest more than 20 per cent are reporting with mental health problems - the figure increases with every additional deployment.

And America's decade long "war on terror" has been deployment heavy, with little time at home in between.
That experience is translating into some worrying figures at America's largest military base, Fort Hood, in Texas - home to 60,000 troops, one tenth of the US army.

In the past six months at Fort Hood, soldiers have had 10,000 counselling sessions. Some 6,000 servicemen and women there are on anti-depressants, 1,400 on anti-psychotics.

Read more: http://www.channel4.com/news/combat-stress-iraq-shock-hits-us-troops

[opihimoimoi]

1. Meanwhile the Bush/Cheney dudes are sipping Coronas on a beach somewhere..the Bastids

[tuckessee]

8. And where are the Dems who enabled the war?

I suppose they are paralyzed with grief from their consciences or are actively striving to end the war/occupation and correct their mistake?

[opihimoimoi]

9. But it was Bush who fooled them into thinking its the Patriotic thing to do. Its BUSHIES WAR

built on false information...

Its BUSHIE CHENEYs WAR...period...3 trillion $$ and now more to exit....its all GOPs fault...never mind diluting

[ixion]

2. Well, duh. You don't maintain a brutal, hostile occupation and endless war without

a little PST. :sarcasm:

[Bigmack]

3. No matter what the government says...

no matter what the people say....

The US views its troops as cheap, expendable tools of Empire.

How do I know this?

The US keeps sending them on missions the country knows will kill them, maim them, or damage them psychologically.

For Empire.

[pasto76]

5. How do I know this?

because me and my soldiers were/are some of them. You are correct in your view.

SGT PASTO

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[pasto76]

6. Anti-psychotics? holy shit. One of my troops was forced out because of adderal

He was an EXEMPLARY soldier! One of the best Ive ever had the privilege of leading. He was diagnosed with ADD in high school, and took adderal/ritalin to help his schoolwork. I advocated for him for months, and he was able to provide a clear picture from his high school teachers, friends, family and college instructors that all this treated was how he put pen to paper. Without the medication his written assignments were a jumbled mess. During his 5 year physical, being an honest troop, he disclosed that he was on the lowest effective dose possible.

No discussion, no review board until I applied heavy Italian guilt to the 1SG. In the end he was drummed out. One medical officer even said "we can't have him picking up a machine gun and turning on us if he doesnt have his meds." Discharge.

I can tell you all this, the "working conditions" in the army have dramatically changed in the last 9 years. Being out a few years now, I am reminded frequently how quickly things change.

SGT PASTO

[Posteritatis]

10. That's a hard situation to say the least

I can understand the reasoning to a point - if someone requires a medication constantly and there's a break in the supply chain, that can be anywhere from inconvenient to catastrophic - but there's got to be a better way to handle it than the "off medication = fratricidal psychopath" attitude they seem to have for the soldier you mentioned.

Recruiters spent awhile after my sister - who is type I bipolar - throwing ridiculous pitches at her to the effect of "being bipolar won't get in the way of your enlistment as long as you can serve while completely unmedicated." I imagine that sounds as brilliant to you as it did to both of us at the time. I sort of love how in your case you had a soldier who could soldier just fine on or off his medication getting turfed over that, while in mine they were making a really really pushy attempt to recruit someone who actually would be in "threat to self or others" territory if unmedicated and in a stressful enough situation. Ugh.

("Italian guilt," BTW?)

[lovuian]

7. War is traumatic to the soul

not easily repaired
and no pill gets rid of it either