What happens when you deploy troops who have seen high intensity combat time and time again with inadequate dwell time between tours? You see skyrocketing mental health issues.
After months of investigative work, talking to our troops and veterans, we released a report on the situation at Fort Drum in Watertown, New York. Since 9/11, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team has been deployed for more than forty months, more than any other brigade in the Army, and we are seeing what is nothing short of a cry for help from the men and women on the base; a cry we will answer on the Air Force, National Guard and Reserve bases here in Massachusetts as well.
A cry for help that is also coming from the leadership on the base. In a New York Times article today about our report, Major General Michael Oates, commander of the 10th Mountain Division, says: “We recognize that there is stress on our force and their families from this conflict, but until recently, we have not fully appreciated the extent of some of the mental stresses and injuries or how to best identify them.” Please read the rest of the article here.
What is happening at Fort Drum — with Soldiers still on active duty suffering from PTSD, with Soldiers and their families in need of counseling, with Soldiers literally dying while still on duty — is going to happen all around America unless we begin to address some of the basic issues of this war. As our report explains, DoD itself has stated that the likelihood of troops having mental health problems increases by 60% with every tour of duty. So, in short, through ourdeployment policies, we are consciously compounding the wounds of war.
This is unacceptable to us. Veterans for America’s Wounded Warrior Outreach Program will continue to address these problems from the bottom up.
We are going to go to as many bases as we can afford to go to, see what is happening on those bases and see how we can help. If you can help us, we would greatly appreciate it.
We are going to continue our Wounded Warrior Registry Outreach — if you or someone you know needs help getting help with PTSD or TBI, please click here.
And above all, we are going to continue to serve and help those that serve and have served us with the same level of dedication and courage they have shown. Click here to learn more about what we are doing.
A friend of my son’s, with mental health issues, was accepted into the military and sent to Fort Drum because a recruiter looked the other way. He came apart, before even being deployed, due to events at Fort Drum itself and received a general discharge. Another issue, unfortunately, is that the military is not meeting recruitment goals, and vulnerable recruits who cannot actually function in the modern military are being enlisted and washing out – in this case with PTSD & full blown depressive illness due to really not being capable of functioning under pressure, and being treated in ways that made the very problems present at enlistment blossom into full fledged mental illness. The good news is that this very fragile young man did not put anyone else at risk by coming apart in the field and was discharged before deployment, but it did require hospitalization and JAG involvement to resolve.
..is that no one even cared about this issue and over the years I have seen the drawn out effects on my generation.
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p>My hat is off to you for this courageous work on behalf of those who have been asked to serve too much.
http://www.johnmccain.com/Info…
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p>”Increasing U.S. troop levels will expose more brave Americans to danger and increase the number of American casualties. When Congress authorized this war, we committed America to a mission that entails the greatest sacrifice a country can make, one that falls disproportionately on those Americans who love their country so much that they volunteer to risk their lives to accomplish that mission. And when we authorized this war, we accepted the responsibility to make sure those men and women could prevail. Extending combat tours and accelerating the deployment of additional troops is a terrible sacrifice to impose on the best patriots among us, and they will understandably be disappointed when they are given that order. Then they will shoulder their weapons and do everything they can to protect our country’s vital interests in Iraq.”
There is no limit to the horrors once the dogs of war are unleashed.
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p>Whenever I read about the awful stories of those thrown in as canon fodder, I can’t help but think of the children of those who started this war. Sending them to war would be unfair, but would prevent the greater unfairness visited upon millions on both sides of the conflict.
Sadly, post-traumatic stress disorder, which is nothing new, has been observed in many more of our soldiers, and is getting worse. Those who get the proper treatment and help are lucky. Others don’t. Some have been driven to suicide due to their PTSD. What’s more, this post underscores the fact that this situation has gotten far worse, and GWB and his Administration really don’t care.