The Iraq War—On Drugs (giving troops bags of meds, pills)

[donsu]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2670


Wounded U.S. soldiers are being patched up and returned to battle before they are healed. The wounds in this case are to the psyche, caused by the trauma and horror that are as integral to war as guns and death.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, when “suck it up” fails to snap a soldier out of depression or panic, the Army turns to drugs. “Soldiers I talked to were receiving bags of antidepressants and sleeping meds in Iraq, but not the trauma care they needed,” says Steve Robinson, a Defense Department intelligence analyst during the Clinton administration.

Sometimes sleeping pills, antidepressants and tranquilizers are prescribed by qualified personnel. Sometimes not. Sgt. Georg Anderas Pogany told Salon that after he broke down in Iraq, his team sergeant told him “to pull himself together, gave him two Ambien, a prescription sleep aid, and ordered him to sleep.”

Other soldiers self-medicate. “We were so junked out on Valium, we had no emotions anymore,” Iraq vet John Crawford told “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross. He and others in his unit in Iraq became addicted to Valium.
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valium ain't a nice addiction

and there is that Ambien again. pops up everywhere - from Powell's mouth to our troops and everywhere in between

also there is this:

In many cases, their problem is labeled stress. “Army docs have told me that commanders pressured them not to diagnose PTSD because it would cut into combat power—the ability to project men and women into war,” says Robinson. “The docs admit that the decision is unethical, but are unwilling to take the huge career risk of becoming a whistle blower.”


(an aside: speaking of bags of pills: was at the local waterfront market, standing in line behind two tourist couples. when a woman's voice rang out and said "need any drugs?" waving a large zip lock bag full of various pills. she just wanted to know if any of the 4 of them needed any pills before continuing their tourist day.)

[tridim]

1. I bet the pharm companies are making bank

While the top brass "support the troops" by turning them into drug addicted monsters.

[Dhalgren]

2. "we had no emotions anymore"

That makes a crime like Haditha even easier for some soldiers to commit. Zone them out on narcs and then turn them loose on the civilian pop. Great way to run a war...

[MadHound]

3. More and more like Vietnam everyday

In Vietnam it was heroin, opium and its derivatives that the soldiers were fed, today it's prescription drugs in various flavors. But the purpose is the same, to keep them doped up, docile, and performing their job, no matter what demons haunt their days and nights.