Sailors go solo on stressful Army, USMC tours

[unhappycamper]

Sailors go solo on stressful Army, USMC tours
By Melissa Nelson - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Oct 31, 2008 14:52:28 EDT

PENSACOLA NAVAL AIR STATION, Fla. — Chief Warrant Officer Bob Turner spent most of the last year at an Army base in Afghanistan, far from his fellow sailors and the sea. The 28-year veteran was one of thousands of sailors attached by themselves to Army and Marine units, groups that trained together stateside — without them.

These solo sailors and their families lack the usual support groups for deployed personnel, and the costs of that can be considerable.

The stress for “individual augmentees,” as they’re called, can be greater than shipboard assignments because sailors deploy alone for six months to a year and are doing entirely different jobs than they’ve had throughout their careers, said Cmdr. Tracy Skipton, a psychiatrist at Pensacola Naval Hospital. Turner, for instance, was providing electronics support for a special operations team working outside the base.

“It was a whole new life for me,” Turner said.

It wasn’t easy working his way into the unit, either. Even though Turner wore an Army uniform and worked closely with soldiers, it took him months to feel that he was part of the team.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/10/ap_navyia_103108/%2e