Vet Shrinks That 'Get It' Get Sacked
The murderous rampage of Army Maj. Nidal Hasan almost two weeks ago at Ft. Hood has inadvertently reopened a nasty wound and I am glad. People are again talking about the mental health of our returning soldiers, but more importantly, talking about the stigma attached to both active duty and veteran military servicemembers who seek help for their seemingly irreconcilable bouts of rage, depression, anxiety, paranoia, guilt and other symptoms of trauma related to their service overseas. There are snowballing reports of war heroes belittled and shamed by commanders and fellow comrades for daring to fix themselves. They are “set apart” as freaks by those who don’t understand, and who have bought into the institutional mindset that real warriors don’t cry — that is, until someone close to them blows their head off, or puts a bullet into somebody else.
One has to be living under a rock not to see this happening on huge military installations all over this country. Last summer in a horrifying two-part series, The Colorado Springs Gazette wrote about the incredible homicide rate among the “Lethal Warriors,” a single 500-soldier unit otherwise known as the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, stationed at Fort Carson there.
Most of the 10 Fort Carson soldiers accused of murder, manslaughter or attempted murder since 2006 were from this unit. A number of suicides and suicide attempts were also from this unit, which is part of a brigade combat team that took more casualties in Iraq of any one unit stationed at Fort Carson so far, the report claimed.
The take-home hit in the gut was that the guys profiled in the story — some were in jail, others close it — were pretty much ignored by the system. Not not only that, but in some cases they were re-deployed to the warzone despite being hopped up on pain killers and anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, and carrying rap sheets filled with violent crimes. It’s safe to say they were worse than zombies when they got back home. When they did seek help, they were kicked in the teeth by their superior officers’ scorn — a charge of course, that was denied.
full story here:
http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2009/11/16/vet-shrinks-that-get...
