Officer: Navy trying to muzzle me

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-06-24-navyofficer_N.htm?csp=34

Officer: Navy trying to muzzle me


By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY


A Navy expert in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder says the service is trying to silence him for criticizing the quality of mental health care in the military.

Cmdr. Mark Russell, 47, has filed a complaint with the Pentagon's inspector general claiming his chance for career advancement has been blocked. He says he was isolated from the media after describing in a Jan. 17 USA TODAY article a "perfect storm" looming in the military's mental health system.

"If we permit the silencing and maltreatment of military personnel that dare to care and lawfully communicate known public health concerns, what is the message sent up and down the military hierarchy?" Russell asks in his complaint, a copy of which he provided to USA TODAY. The Navy confirmed the authenticity of the complaint.

Russell, a 24-year veteran of the Navy, filed the complaint May 29. Russell says that after years of speaking out for more and better-trained mental health workers in the military, he received back-to-back negative job reviews in 2006 and 2007, which could end any chance of advancement.

"Unless objective reasonable persons (at the inspector general's office) review the ranking board results and conclude that I'm a substandard leader and performer," Russell told USA TODAY, "then I'm a martyr for giving a damn about (the) mental health of combat vets."

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