Irresponsible selling of BattleMind continues

BattleMind is not new or is it worth supporting. Facts are facts. Consider this. If BattleMind worked, you'd see a reduced suicide and attempted suicide rate. You would not see both increase! You would not see the Montana National Guard come up with their own program because one of their own, Spc. Chris Dana, committed suicide. You would not see a BBC report uncovering the truth about how the troops are exposed to BattleMind. Did you know that when the troops arrive in Afghanistan and Iraq they spend two days in a meeting hall getting all kinds of information crammed into their brains and within those two days, there is 11 1/2 minutes of BattleMind presentations going on. That's all they get. Not that it would be worthless time if the program worked at all, but it doesn't. Look at the facts and when you read any kind of report like this, keep those facts in mind. I have no idea who wrote the below article but they really need to know what the hell they are talking about before they support anything that is detrimental to the troops. This program is full of holes!

I wanted to believe in this as much as anyone. I posted about this program when it first came out because it seemed so hopeful. The years ticked away and the troops continued to commit suicide and try to commit suicide out of desperation. It became obvious that BattleMind is not only not worth the hype, it's bad and worse than a waste of time. One more thing to think about. When I talked to someone working at the VA and brought up the numbers going up instead of down, this was the response, "It's better than nothing." but the truth is, it's worse than nothing.

Preventing Combat Fatigue


January 9, 2009: While the U.S. Army has done much to detect, and treat PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), it has also made a determined effort to prevent it in the first place. From the beginning of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the army took many measures to ease the impact of combat stress. That's why combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan often sleep in air conditioned quarters, have Internet access, lots of amenities, and a two week vacation (anywhere) in the middle of their combat tour.


But now there's now a more direct program to help troops avoid PTSD. It's called Battlemind, and it involves telling the troops all the army knows about the things that cause combat stress, and how to avoid them. This is all based on information obtained from thousands of combat veterans. click link for more

PTSD:BattleMind advice 60 days too late!

PTSD:BattleMind advice 60 days too late!
by Chaplain Kathie

This comment was left on my blog for a post I did on 1st Sgt. Jeff McCkinney.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The tragic story of 1st Sgt. Jeff McKinney": Hello. I read your article about the 1st Sgt. that recently committed suicide. I wanted to tell you my story. My husband was in the 278th TN National Guard and he committed suicide on May 16, 2008. Here is my story:http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/video/blog/2008/11/military_sees_rise_in_troop_su.htmlSincerely,Tracy Eiswert
Please, help me spread the word about veteran suicides! Send this link to everyone you know. P.S. The VA has denied all my appeals for a 100% rating................

Well, I watched the video in horror. At first as I listened to Tracy, I started to cry because she said, "no one told her" about PTSD. That's been the problem since Vietnam. People like me are hard to find. Let's face it, there is nothing glamorous or Google worthy when it comes to PTSD or trauma for that matter. Most of the people that need to know about all of this, need to know it well in advance of it coming into their family, but considering two thirds of the American people do not know what PTSD means, they are not about to go looking for information on it. I know what I know because my life depended on it when I met my husband 26 years ago.

Tracy's story was just one more reminder I didn't need that no matter how many hours I spend doing this, no matter how many videos, Power Points or posts I do, it does no good if people like Tracy have no idea what's available to help. Most of the emails I get come in the middle of the night from a veteran or a spouse after finding me by accident, either by a post or because of one of my videos. Yet if they were searching for sexy videos or comedies, they'd find what they were looking for right away. No matter what you Google, you can find it, but what you can't find is the miracle you're looking for when a life is on the line.

Let's face it, when it comes to PTSD, the government, as others have put it in the past, suck at what they do.

Watching the video on PBS I am even more convinced that Battle Mind is not only bad, it's dangerous. There is a Chaplain talking to a bunch of soldiers talking about getting angry, nightmares and flashbacks. His advice, based on Battle Mind, is to wait 90 days. Imagine that? After all, all the experts I've read over the last 26 years all seem to agree that if the symptoms of PTSD do not begin to fade in 30 days, they need to seek help. It appears the VA is 60 days too late along with everything else. (Is there any wonder why they won't hire me to work for them anymore?)

James Peak is also in this video. He denies that the rise in suicides is tied to combat. Isn't that remarkable considering that the news accounts of some of these suicidal veterans all have one thing in common. They all experienced combat and ended up with flashbacks, nightmares, along with all the other symptoms of PTSD but when Peak tries to tie it into nothing more than relationship problems and financial ones setting off depression, it's easy to hide it. Simply because PTSD ends up setting off depression and relationship problems and financial problems as well.

Battle Mind does not work and gives bogus advice. If it worked you'd see the number of attempted suicides and successful ones go down instead of up every year. Peak also denied that the redeployments increased the risk even though the report was released by the Army a couple of years ago, stating categorically that the risk of PTSD increased by 50% for each redeployment. At least there is a VA psychiatrist in this video saying that it has increased the risk.

As bad as we are treating the regular military, we are even worse at treating the National Guards men and women. They come home and are expected to just get back to normal life when there is nothing normal about life in combat for any of them.

The question is, how can people like me be paid attention to by the people in charge? It's impossible. Letters sent to congress go unanswered or they answer with a form letter. Even service organizations that are sent my videos ignore them. It's all backed up by research, news reports and living with it everyday plus doing the outreach work and listening to them very carefully. Some service organizations are using them and they are helping, which is a good thing, but how many accidental finds are out there searching for help right now?

The other point is that the local communities aren't paying attention either. If they think they have budget problems now, wait until they see family after family have to bury another National Guards man or woman because they didn't get the help they needed. Wait until yet another church holds a funeral for one that took their own life because the church refused to get involved in a family falling apart and a combat veteran suffered.

Service groups across the country are falling all over themselves trying to increase membership to stay active and pay their bills, but do they think of getting active when it comes to what the new generation of veterans need? Hell no! That would be too beneficial to their communities. I know. I've tried to get them to pay attention and have been ignored. It's not that I don't know people with the power to change all of this, they just won't listen.

Go to the link below and watch the video on what happened to Tracy's husband and know that everyday there are 18 more of them. We are losing over 6,000 a year to suicide and that number is expect to go up because the VA yet again is late but the veterans, well they were expected to show up on time to be sent into combat or they had to go to jail. Nice. Isn't it?

Posted on November 11, 2008
Military Sees Rise in Troop Suicides
Summary
The army reports that suicides among active duty personnel have doubled in recent years. With low recruitment levels and wars continuing in both Iraq and Afghanistan, many soldiers have had to deploy multiple times, which might be contributing to the increase.
This report tells one family's story of battling with the mental effects of going to war and struggling to get adequate therapy and tools to deal with post traumatic stress. The NewsHour's Betty Ann Bowser also talks to the Army and Department of Veterans Affairs about how they are responding to the rise, and to veterans' advocates fighting for better mental health services.
The Army has started several programs aimed at reaching soldiers suffering from depression; including hiring more mental health workers and starting a suicide hotline, but some advocates say it is not enough.

Army seeks help of AF, civilians on suicides

Army seeks help of Air Force, civilians on suicides?


A good place to start is to

GET RID OF BATTLEMIND! It does not work! How much longer do they need to see the suicide and attempted suicide rate go up instead of down to figure out it does not work. This is not a matter of "it's better than nothing" because evidence shows it's worse than nothing.

I posted how a few days ago I was at the VA hospital with my husband and met a couple of Marines back from Iraq. I had a lengthy conversation with one of them who was having a very hard time. I had on my chaplain shirt, so it was obvious to him he could talk to me freely. He apologized for crying. He said Marines are trained to be tough and strong. Battlemind enforces this ideology that any emotion was bad. They need to stop using this program. They need to do what has been working. Videos like mine help just as a lot of others on the net have been working. They are saving lives. The Montana National Guard has a program that is working.

I've done 15 posts on the Montana National Guard stepping up.

http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/search?q=Montana+National+Guard

Maj. Gen. Randy Mosley is a hero in all of this so much so that Senator Obama went there to find out more about the program and Chris Dana. Chris Dana's death started the program they have been doing. His life and suicide touched the commanders so much they knew they had to do something above what was being done and not working. They began Picking Up the Pieces.

If the DOD and the VA are serious about finding out what works, they need to talk to the people on the front lines of this to really find out and stop making the same mistakes over and over again.

Army seeks help of AF, civilians on suicides

By Dan Elliott - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Sep 11, 2008 5:49:37 EDT

DENVER — The Army’s top medical officer says commanders are looking to their counterparts in the Air Force and in civilian agencies for ways to cope with an alarming increase in suicides.

“We work real closely with the Veterans Administration, who have for many years taken the lead in this,” Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker, the Army’s surgeon general, said Wednesday in a telephone interview. “We’ve also looked across the services and at other models that have been more successful than our own.”

The Army’s suicide rate was 18.1 per 100,000 last year, the highest since the service started keeping records in 1980. It was 9.8 just five years earlier.

The U.S. civilian rate is 19.5 per 100,000.

Leading factors behind soldier suicides are troubled personal relationships; legal, financial and work problems; and repeated deployments and longer tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Army says.

Schoomaker said the Army has redoubled its prevention efforts and looked outside for new models, especially to the Air Force, which he said successfully encouraged support systems to reduce suicides.

The Army’s program includes removing the stigma from asking for help, encouraging soldiers to look after each other and a campaign called ACE, for Ask, Care and Escort.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/ap_suicides_091008/

Excuse my language but BattleMind is Bullshit!

If BattleMind worked, there would not be more suicides and more attempted suicides than before BattleMind, but do you think they would be able to figure this one out yet? It came out in 2007 and yet again today I hear word of another soldier, a young, newly married soldier, who came back from Iraq and blew his brains out in front of his new bride. Is it because they do not show it to all the troops? Is it because they only show a lousy 11 1/2 minutes to the troops in Afghanistan as the BBC reported? Is it the trainers? Or, is the answer as simple as it does not work? I don't know but you would think that since some of the finest minds in this country have been put to work on PTSD, they would have reduced suicides and attempted suicides instead of increasing them while they stick their fingers in their ears and hope the problem goes away! If they cannot cope with any of this after all this time, what's it going to be like two or three years from now when most of them have PTSD and they are still doing what does not work? Unit cohesion? Trust? How can they have any when they cannot trust what they are coming back to? How can they when some of them are National Guards and Reservists expected to go back to their civilian lives and jobs?

Army Battlemind training course aims to build unit cohesion, trust
By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, August 10, 2008



LANDSTUHL, Germany — Building unit cohesion goes a long way toward lessening combat and operational stress problems downrange, an Army trainer told a class of soldiers and airmen preparing to deploy.

The lesson came during a four-day Army Battlemind training course last week and took place on the heels of three days of Navy-run training on combat operational stress control.

A few dozen soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines participated in the training sessions, and some will soon get the chance to put their newfound knowledge to use.

If the behavioral health specialists attending the Battlemind training at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center were to take something away, it would be to take care of warriors and build unit cohesion, said Mike Hagan of the Battlemind Training Office.

"When the unit is tight and everybody trusts each other, we have found through research they actually have less behavioral health problems, less psychological issues," Hagan said.
go here for more
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56663

Is Battlemind just better than nothing?

Does it work or is it just better than nothing?

'Battlemind' is the Soldier's inner strength to face fear and adversity with courage. Key components include: - Self confidence: taking calculated risks and handling challenges. - Mental toughness: overcoming obstacles or setbacks and maintaining positive thoughts during times of adversity and challenge.

Battlemind skills helped you survive in combat, but may cause you problems if not adapted when you get home.

http://www.behavioralhealth.army.mil/battlemind/index.html

This is the warning that came with Battlemind.

It may be the key as to why they suicide and attempted suicide rate has gone up. Honestly I don't know. The numbers don't seem to support it but trying to keep an open mind here considering I found very few complaints about the program. I tried very hard to find them only because there is something here that is not making sense with this program. How can it help when troops deployed into Afghanistan arrive still jet lagged, get two days of briefings and only 11 1/2 minutes of Battlemind "training" with all of that going on?

They had to do something but is Battlemind the best they could come up with or is it just better than nothing? This term I've heard from different people. It's better than nothing but why can't they give the troops the best possible with all seriousness?

This is what they were up against.

Summary of Key Findings (2 of 2)
• 2003-2006 OIF (Iraq only) Soldier suicide rates are higher than
the average Army rate, 16.1 vs. 11.6 Soldier suicides per year
per 100,000.
• The current Army suicide prevention program is not designed for
a combat/deployed environment.
• Approximately 10% of Soldiers and Marines report mistreating
non-combatants (damaged/destroyed property when not
necessary or hit/kicked non-combatant when not necessary).
• Soldiers with high levels of combat, high levels of anger or that
screened positive for a mental health problem were twice as
likely to mistreat non-combatants.
• Transition Team Soldiers have lower rates of mental health
problems compared to Brigade Combat Team Soldiers.
• Behavioral health providers require additional Combat and
Operational Stress Control (COSC) training prior to deploying to
Iraq; very few attended the AMEDD C&S COSC Course.
• There is no standardized in-theatre joint reporting system for
monitoring mental health status and suicide surveillance of
service members in a combat/deployed environment.

OIF 05-07 Army Suicide Rates
*Poisson, p < .01 OIF Confirmed 18.8* 9.6 19.9* 17.3* Adjusted Rate OIF Pending 0 0 0 0 OIF Confirmed 25 11 22 22 SUICIDE 2003 2004 2005 2006 UPDATE OIF Soldier Suicides: 2003-2006 • There have been 80 confirmed (as of 31 DEC 06) OIF Soldier suicides since the beginning of OIF. • The 2006 OIF adjusted suicide rate is 17.3 Soldier suicides per year per 100,000 Soldiers, which is higher than the average Army rate of 11.6 (Poisson, p < .05). • Although 89% of Soldiers report receiving suicide prevention training, only 52% of Soldiers reported the training to be sufficient, indicating the need to revise the suicide prevention training so that it is applicable in a combat environment.

Conclusions
• Multiple deployments and longer deployments are
linked to more mental health and marital problems.
• Good NCO leadership is related to better Soldier/Marine
mental health and adherence to good battlefield ethics.
• Good officer leadership results in Soldiers/Marines
following ROE.
• Soldiers/Marines with mental health problems were
more likely to mistreat non-combatants, highlighting the
importance of getting them help early.
• Mental health services are most needed during the last
six months of a year-long deployment since this is when
Soldiers experience the most problems.
http://militarytimes.com/static/projects/pages/mhativ18apr07.pdf

They had to do something but wouldn't the numbers go down instead of up? How high would they have gone given what they were up against if they had done nothing? Has anyone really looked at this program to see if it is effective or not?

There are some great things going on right now. The Montana National Guard has been doing fantastic things with PTSD.

Montana National Guard, Picking Up The Pieces
Picking up the Pieces (PDHRA)
This is the link to the video the Montana National Guard is showing. I've been posting about it for a couple of days now and it is very important that it not only be seen, but duplicated across the country.
Guard stresses PTSD symptoms at meetings

By ERIC NEWHOUSE • Tribune Projects Editor • May 21, 2008
LEWISTOWN — Montana's National Guard expanded its PTSD outreach efforts this week, hosting a series of 20 public meetings in armories across the state.As part of its effort to familiarize the public — and veterans in particular — with post-traumatic stress disorder, it played a video produced at Fort Harrison entitled "Picking Up the Pieces." That had Tiffany Kolar wiping her eyes."It raised a lot of questions for me," Kolar said after Monday night's meeting.

"I have a brother who served with the Idaho National Guard and who later committed suicide. Now I'm learning a lot about what must have been happening."Kolar's husband is currently serving his second tour of duty in Iraq, and she and her mother-in-law need to understand the danger signs, she said."There were some things we didn't recognize the last time he came home, so we want to be better informed this time," said Darlene Kolar, his mother.

Only a handful of people showed up for the meeting here, but the Guard's personnel officer, Col. Jeff Ireland, said he was happy for any attention."If these meeting are able to help even one person, for all the time and effort we've expended, it's been worth it," Ireland said.The Guard has sent out personal invitations and videos to 2,000 behavioral health care specialists in Montana, as well as to all the veterans' organizations, he said. Next on the list is a mass mailing to all ministers and religious leaders in the state, he added.

The meetings are the result of the suicide of Spec. Chris Dana of Helena, who shot himself in March 2007 after returning from combat with the 163rd Infantry. He was not able to handle weekend guard drills, and was given a less-than-honorable discharge as a result.

As a direct result, Ireland said, Montana is now providing longer mental health assessments after return from combat, strengthening its family support units, creating crisis readiness teams to investigate abnormal behavior, requiring a personal investigation by the adjutant general before any soldier is discharged less than honorably, and producing and promoting its own video. go here for more
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080521/NEWS01/805210309

It seems to me that when you let people who have been there do these kinds of videos, they hold a lot more information and do a better job delivering the message.

Army Continues Fight Against Soldier Suicides

Army Continues Fight Against Soldier Suicides
May 30, 2008
BY Elizabeth M. Lorge

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, May 30, 2008) - Despite a new report showing that 2007 had the Army's highest suicide rate since record-keeping began in 1980, Army officials told Pentagon reporters Thursday that new prevention and mental-health efforts are helping Soldiers.

There were 115 suicides last year in the active Army, with two cases still pending, according to the 2007 Army Suicide Event Report, compiled by Army medical officials and force-protection reports. This was up from 102 suicides in 2006. To date, the Army has 38 confirmed suicides for 2008, with 12 pending.

The 2007 numbers include 93 active-duty Soldiers and 22 mobilized reserve-component Soldiers. When not mobilized, the National Guard and Army Reserve track suicide numbers differently, and lost an additional 53 Soldiers.

There were also 935 active-duty suicide attempts, which Col. Elspeth C. Richie, psychiatry consultant to the Army's surgeon general, said includes any self-inflicted injury that leads to hospitalization or evacuation. This number is less than half of the approximately 2,100 attempts reported in 2006.

Richie and Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum, assistant surgeon general for force protection, didn't like the upward trend of the past few years, and said the Army is making huge changes in its culture and the way it perceives mental healthcare to help Soldiers.

"Army leadership is committed to taking care of every Soldier regardless of whether they are ill, injured or have a psychological diagnosis," said Cornum. "But our responsibility really doesn't start and stop there. Just as we don't wait for Soldiers to get malaria when they deploy them, we employ the full range of prevention, mitigation and treatment strategies...We do all the things we can to prevent and reduce risk and then, if they still get the disease, we apply scientifically-tested and specific treatments to cure it, with the expectation of full recovery and return to the force.

"We need to approach the maintenance of good mental health...in the same way, by preventive education and by applying risk-mitigation strategies in order to increase resilience and hardiness in our Soldiers before they are exposed to those environments associated with a high risk for mental health issues," she said.

The majority of the Soldiers who committed suicide, Richie said, had not sought psychological intervention, so it's vital that Soldiers know it's okay to ask for help.

Part of that education is Battlemind training, which teaches Soldiers and their Families about readjustment issues and mental-health problems they could face after a deployment, danger signs and how to get help. There are also two videos to help children deal with deployment available on www.behavioralhealth.army.mil.


According to Richie, Battlemind has been particularly successful in reducing anxiety and depression. She said the fifth-annual mental health advisory team, which deployed to Iraq in the Fall, found that 12 percent of Soldiers who said they had received the training reported post-traumatic stress symptoms, versus 20 percent who had not received the training. She added that the rate of stigma attached to getting help went down on four of five markers.

The Department of Defense recently revised a question regarding mental health on national-security questionnaires, excluding noncourt-ordered, nonviolence-related marital, family and grief counseling, as well as counseling for adjustments from combat. This, Cornum said, should help alleviate concerns many Soldiers have about their security clearances or ability to work in sensitive jobs.

The Army is also working on training primary-care providers to recognize and diagnose combat-stress injuries and other mental-health problems, and has hired 180 additional behavioral-health providers in the United States, although Richie acknowledges this is not enough and the Army has requested more.

Since July 2007, more than 900,000 Soldiers have been trained under a chain-teaching program designed to educate them about post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, and the Army has formed a General Officer Steering Committee to target root causes that may lead to suicide and change the behavior of Soldiers and leaders to recognize and intervene when they see someone with risk factors.

"One of the things that I believe is happening, looking at these reports, is that the Army is very, very busy and perhaps we haven't taken care of each other as much as we'd like to. So if somebody's stressed next to you and you're stressed yourself, you might not have the energy to reach out to them...How can we take care of each other better?" Richie said.

"A good first sergeant is one of the best screeners there is," she continued, and stressed that staying connected is vital. Forty-three percent of the Soldier suicides last year took place after a deployment, and Richie said many of these took place when Soldiers changed units and lost connectivity.

Failed relationships, she said, are the biggest risk factors for suicide, and while deployments can and do contribute to relationship problems, she cautioned against blaming higher suicide numbers on deployments alone. Twenty-six percent of the Soldiers who committed suicide had never deployed. The Army's active-duty rate of 16.8 per 100,000 is also lower than the national average of 19.5, among similar age and gender demographics.

For more information, visit www.behavioralhealth.army.mil
or www.battlemind.org.


http://www.army.mil/-news/2008/05/30/9523-army-continues-fight-against-soldier-suicides/


If it worked the suicides would not have gone up since they started this. Why can't they understand this?

Battlemind should be surrendered

Battlemind should be surrendered.
by
Kathie Costos

They started to talk about Battlemind in 2005. The post I did earlier along with all the news reports of PTSD and suicides prove Battlemind does not work. They must have pulled the video to Gilgamesh . The link no longer works. Were they humiliated into removing it? The odd thing is the coding on the following links still has gilgamesh in the link. Very odd.

Clinical practice guideline has http://www.pdhealth.mil/gilgamesh/training_briefs/1.Introduction.wmv and so on. The cartoon itself seems to be gone.




DoD/VA Post-Deployment Health Clinical Practice Guideline (PDH-CPG)
Training Table of Contents
PDH-CPG Training Briefs are seven condensed (7-12 minute) training modules produced by the DoD Deployment Health Clinical Center. These modules were designed to provide clinicians with guidance on implementation of the DoD/VA Post-Deployment Health Clinical Practice Guideline (PDH-CPG).(Produced by DoD Deployment Health Clinical Center)
Introduction
Primary Care Screening
Primary Care Evaluation
Clinical Management and Follow-up
Clinical Health Risk Communication
Coding and Documentation
Post-Deployment Health Assessment (PDHA)
These are pretty good. The problem is that Battlemind is still being used on the troops as well as their families. The death rates related to PTSD have gone up and so have the divorce rates.


This is the attitude of most of the professionals in the DOD and the VA who actually treat the men and women who serve this nation instead of those who come up with crap to act as if they do.

"Therefore, the number-one thing we can do to help vets is to prevent avoidance," said Phipps, who admitted that she's not offering a magic bullet. "They don't need to hear 'Get over it,'" she said. "We should be saying, 'Get through it.'" Kelly Phipps, Ph.D.: http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/42/9/2

Operation Homefront ouit of Illinois did an online survey. The numbers are very telling of the hardships they go through.

Military Family Survey Results
Release of results from on-line survey regarding military families and deployment.Operation Homefront Illinois conducted an on-line survey from October 1 of 2007 until January 28, 2008 on our website

www.Operationhomefront.net/Illinois.

The purpose of this survey was to assess what the families of the military need and what is needed to support them. The survey was open to all members of the military and their families. The results of the survey highlighted several problems that military families have been going through for several years.

Highlights of the Survey
Forty six percent (46%) of the families felt that they were not given proper information regarding their loved ones deployment prior to them being deployed.

Forty-seven percent (47%) of the families communicated with their Servicemember via email or instant messenger on the internet.

Forty-nine percent (49%) of those surveyed were married 4 or more years.

Twenty eight percent (28%) stated that the deployment has had a significant or major impact on the child of a deployed Servicemember.

Eleven percent (11%) of the children of deployed Servicemembers required professional counseling to deal with the deployment.

Forty-seven percent (47%) of the families communicated with their deployed Servicemember via email or instant messenger on the internet.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of the families surveyed were not told about the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Ninety-two percent (92%) of the Servicemembers surveyed were not tested nor had no knowledge of being tested for PTSD.

Sixty-five percent (65%) of the Servicemembers surveyed either suffer from PTSD or are unsure if they suffer from PTSD.

Forty-one percent (41%) are not getting treatment for PTSD

Twenty-two percent (22%) were not able to find employment when coming off of Active Duty

Forty-six percent (46%) of the families surveyed find it difficult to impossible to attend a Family Assistance program.

Twenty-seven percent (27%) of the families and Servicemembers surveyed required financial assistance either during or after deployment.

Eighteen percent (18%) of deployed Servicemembers credit ratings went down as a result of being deployed.

Twenty-nine percent (29%) had issues with creditors

Comments from those who took the survey:

I believe that FRGs still exist primarily to "distract" wives and families during deployments. As such, they lose a very valuable opportunity to prepare families with knowledge and support to mitigate the effects of PTSD and other injuries. They also deny these families the valuable wisdom that a parent of a soldier may poses.

Deployment affects families very profoundly - and ways need to be found to lessen the negative impacts - and promote a positive caring environment among these groups with less emphasis on military needs and more emphasis on family needs. The military is correct in its assumption that they need to keep "strong" families behind their Servicemen and women - but they have in no way addressed what that looks like.

The "Battlemind" program dealing with PTSD and TBI is simplistic almost to the point of being insulting - dealing with two very complex issues as a simple "cause and effect" scenario. The psych care afforded to active duty military personnel is at best "sketchy" and at worst, dangerous.

Physicians are encouraged NOT to use best practices in dealing with these cases and rather than making decisions based on the best interest of a sick soldier - instead defer authority to the command making the primary interest "the mission". Unless and until these things change - I believe that our military readiness will continue to decline - as people "get out" to seek appropriate care for the seen and unseen wounds of war - that affect both our men and women in uniform and their families who love and care about them.

go here for more
http://www.polishnews.com/section,204,military-family-survey-results.html

So what good has come with programs funded with tax dollars like Gilgamesh and Battlemind produced? When will they get serious about all of this? Your guess is as good as mine and mine, is never. They know what redeployments do to the troops and the families, but they do it anyway. They know what the extended tours do to the troops and their families, but they do it anyway. They know just about everything they need to know but still have to "study" the problem instead of solving it. For all they know you'd think they would have been able to find solutions for some of this but they haven't.

Experts in their right mind know early treatment works best but as you can tell by the survey above it must be mostly lip service because it isn't being done. The press releases sound as if they are taking all of this seriously but then a few months down the road we find out that nothing has been accomplished on the kind of grand scale it was sold as. These are the reasons we are still losing more when they come back home that we do from a bullet or IED. The problem is in all likelihood we will keep burying more and more on our soil from the enemy they brought back with them then we do from the enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Marines sending mental health teams to Iraq

Mental health teams deploying to frontlines with Marines in Iraq


8:30 a.m. February 10, 2008

CAMP PENDLETON – Navy Chaplain Dick Pusateri has witnessed the stress of war on the faces of troops put in harm's way daily, in the strained relationships of families facing long deployments and the confessions of men shaken by the human cost of war.
For too long, chaplains were among the few people combat Marines felt they could turn to in a crisis.

The Navy and Marine Corps aim to change that by sending teams of mental health professionals to the frontlines this month, after studies showed a jump in the past five years in cases of combat-related mental health disorders, primarily post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Now is the time to adjust fire,” the generals wrote in a letter to the commandant. “We must shift the current direction of combat/operational stress control efforts to a more holistic, nested enabling strategy that provides a sound, unified approach.”

The Army adopted a similar approach last year, and has been deploying behavioral health specialists to patrol with its troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“What is probably new here is that we want to address it close on the frontlines, and thereby return people both back to combat and back to society healthy,” said Navy Capt. Mike Maddox, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force surgeon.

The push to make the program permanent comes after a report by the Institute of Medicine found post traumatic stress disorder is the most commonly diagnosed mental disorder among veterans. It affected an estimated 13 percent of those returning from Iraq and 6 percent from Afghanistan.

Figures released by the Marine Corps show a fourfold increase in the number of Marines diagnosed with PTSD – from 394 in 2003 to 1,669 to 2006.

“If we identify a stress and if we can treat it close to the unit, it's less likely that person will be sent back, medivaced out of there,” said Cmdr. David Oliver, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force psychiatrist.

click post title for the rest

This sounds like one of the best ways to address PTSD. So why do I read it with a lot of skepticism? Because there have been almost five years of reports like this. I hope they get it right this time and it's not just a publicity stunt some PR firm dreamed up to make them look like they care.



May 2007

Defense Department Releases Findings of Mental Health Assessment
By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA
American Forces Press Service


WASHINGTON, May 4, 2007 – The military has a robust system in place to deal with mental health issues, but longer and more frequent deployments are causing strain on servicemembers, a Defense Department study has found.

Navy Rear Adm. Richard Jeffries, medical officer of the Marine Corps, responds to a reporter's question during a May 4 Pentagon news briefing concerning the release of findings from the latest Mental Health Advisory Team survey. The survey -- the fourth conducted since 2003, assesses the mental health of deployed U.S. Army and Marine Corps troops in Iraq. Five top military doctors were on hand to explain details of the study.

The fourth Mental Health Advisory Team survey, MHAT IV as this survey was called, was conducted in August and September. For the first time, the survey included Marines in the study group. The MHAT was composed of behavioral health professionals who deployed to Iraq and surveyed soldiers, Marines, health care providers, and chaplains, Army Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock, the acting surgeon general of the Army, told reporters at the Pentagon.

The MHAT IV team found that not all soldiers and Marines deployed to Iraq are at equal risk for screening positive for a mental health symptom, and the level of combat is the main determining factor of a servicemember’s mental health status, Pollock said. For soldiers, deployment length and family separation were the top non-combat deployment issues, whereas Marines had fewer non-combat deployment issues, probably because of their shorter deployment periods, she said.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=33055

Extended tours report from April 2007

Mental health worsens as deployments lengthen

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Apr 26, 2007 17:37:50 EDT

A recently released survey of soldiers and Marines puts concrete numbers behind problems experts have worried about since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began.

Suicides are up among combat vets, mental health issues are worse among those who deploy often and for longer periods, and one out of 10 service members surveyed said they have hit or kicked non-combatant Iraqis or destroyed their property.

Only half said they would report another service member for hurting or killing an Iraqi civilian.

The survey also comes with a recommendation from mental health workers that seems to fly in the face of the recently extended deployment lengths and troop surge: “Extend the interval between deployments to 18 to 36 months or decrease deployment length to allow time for soldiers [and] Marines to mentally re-set.”

The findings come from an April 18 briefing prepared for Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway by Mental Health Advisory Team IV, operating under the auspices of Multi-National Force-Iraq, a copy of which was obtained by Military Times. MHAT IV used anonymous surveys and focus groups to analyze morale, health and well-being, and the ethical issues of deployed U.S. troops.

Soldiers and Marines who have faced the most combat situations, deployed for longer periods of time, and deployed more than once face more mental health issues, according to a survey of 1,320 soldiers and 447 Marines. Of those on a second, third or fourth deployment, 27 percent screened positive for mental health issues, compared to 17 percent of first-time deployers. And 22 percent of those in-theater for six months or more screened positive for mental health issues, compared to 15 percent of those who had been there fewer than six months.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/04/military_ptsd_survey_0426w/

The facts and time prove the Battlemind Training does not work

March, 2005
AMEDD Adapts To Needs Of Times
By Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, MC, USA

BY LT. GEN. KEVIN C. KILEY, MC, USA
Army Surgeon General
Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Command


Today, our soldiers, families, health professionals and elected leaders are more aware of mental-health needs. We are committed to ensuring all returning veterans receive the physical and behavioral health services they require. More patients are seeking behavioral health support as we offer them more opportunities to solicit assistance.

Behavioral health researchers at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research have surveyed combat units and developed data regarding mental-health needs of soldiers before, during and after deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year they published findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association that accurately described mental-health status and noted improvements in the availability of mental-health services for soldiers during and after deployment.

It is critical that we help our soldiers prepare for war, and when they return from the war zones of the world we must help them ‘reset.’ To assist in this [area], researchers developed a comprehensive program, called ‘Battlemind Training,’ to train soldiers both pre- and post-deployment about what to expect at each phase of the deployment cycle, how to look out for the mental health of themselves and fellow unit members, and about the resources that are available for them to get help if they need it. Battlemind Training has been incorporated into the Army Deployment Cycle Support Program, and is given as part of the Post Deployment Health Reassessment (PDHRA) process.

One goal is to reduce the stigma long associated with mental health issues. Also, we must deal with the needs of families, as well as soldiers.

When a unit returned to Fort Lewis, Wash., last year, every soldier saw a psychologist, regardless of any reported mental health issues. Since everyone did it, it was seen as normal...no stigma. What’s more, Madigan Army Medical Center has implemented the Family Assessment for Maintaining Excellence (FAME) program, through which spouses of deployed solders are surveyed and, if needed, interviewed by mental health professionals.

At Tripler Army Medical Center, a new Soldier and Family Assistance Center provides easy access for mental health services under one ‘umbrella.’ Three new clinics were added for soldiers, children and adult family members.

One way to reach all soldiers, without stigma and with tight resources, is a new program we call ‘Respect-mil.’ Basically, family practitioners and physician assistants in our regular clinics will act as mental health counselors. With extra training and extra time to ask the right questions, our front-line medical force can screen most soldiers during routine visits.

http://www.usmedicine.com/column.cfm?columnID=248&issueID=72

And this was very interesting.
September 2007

Division Mental Health in the New Brigade Combat Team Structure: Part II. Redeployment and Postdeployment
Military Medicine, Sep 2007 by Warner, Christopher H, Breitbach, Jill E, Appenzeller, George N, Yates, Virginia, Et al

Objective: Recent Army transformation has led to significant changes in roles and demands for division mental health staff members. This article focuses on redeployment and postdeployment.

Methods: The postdeployment health assessment behavioral health screening and referral process and redeployment plan are reviewed, and data on postdeployment rates of negative events are reported.

Results: All soldiers and many of their families participated in an aggressive education program. Of the 19,500 soldiers screened, 2,170 (11.1%) were referred for behavioral health consultation; of those referred, 219 (10.1%) were found to be at moderate or high risk for mental health issues (1.1% of total screened). Of the moderate/high-risk soldiers, 146 (71.9%) accepted follow-up mental health treatment upon return to home station. Fewer cases of driving under the influence, positive drug screens, suicidal gestures/attempts, crimes, and acts of domestic violence were seen, in comparison with rates seen after an earlier deployment of this unit to Iraq. Conclusions: A formalized approach with command support and coordination can have a positive impact on successful referral and treatment and reduce negative postdeployment events.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3912/is_200709/ai_n21033346

Battlemind has been a bust but they still use it. The numbers of suicides in Iraq have gone up as well as those who commit suicide when they come home. There have been suicides in Afghanistan as well. This does not even address any of the veterans who committed suicide after they were discharged by the DOD and before they were added to the VA records. With the numbers of troops coming back with PTSD they sure aren't preventing any of it either. Not that they could but if they addressed it as soon as trauma hit, they would have a better chance. That would mean they would have to have at least one mental health professional in every group going on patrol. They don't have enough to even come close to having one in every unit.

From Military Operational Medicine Reseach Program

Battlemind Training on New WRAIR-Psych Website
“Battlemind” is a Soldier’s inner strength to face adversity, fear, and hardship during combat with confidence and resolution; it is the will to persevere and win. Battlemind skills and strengths sustain the Soldier on the battlefield but if these skills and strengths are not adapted for the home environment problems can arise. Realistic transition training is critical to the mental health and well being of Soldiers, their units and families. New mental health tools for helping Soldiers transition through the different phases of their service careers are being made available on the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Psychiatry and Neuroscience website (http://www.wrair-psych.org/).

Department of Applied Neurobiology
Mission: Conducts research on militarily relevant brain trauma resulting from ballistic, blast or neurotoxin exposures and identifies neuroprotection strategies. Research utilizes animal models (rodent and non-human primates), neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, behavioral protocols, and cellular and molecular biology techniques.
Current and future plans include

1) establish a prototype rapid triage and diagnostic tool for combat casualty care (CCC) (titled Biomarker Assessment for Neurotrauma Diagnosis and Improved Triage System; BANDITS),

2) test advanced development neuroprotection therapeutics in several experimental models of brain trauma,

3) investigate the role of cortical spreading depression as a mechanism of secondary injury following brain trauma,

4) study the mechanisms of penetrating ballistic brain injuries in a new rodent model,

5) test experimental therapeutics in limiting and preventing sequelae of silent brain seizures,

6) test neuropsychological consequences of chemical warfare nerve agent (CWNA) exposures and development countermeasures in rodents and non-human primates.

More…

Battlemind Training materials include brochures, briefings, instructor materials, and a video to aid Soldiers with the stresses and strains of initial entry, deployment, and returning home. Currently available materials and those in development can be used for Soldiers, Leaders, National Guard/Reserves, and families.

Soldier Battlemind
Leader Battlemind
Spouse Battlemind
Helping Professional Battlemind
Soldier PDHRA Battlemind Video
Additional Resources
Unit Needs Assessment Training Materials
Unit Behaviorial Health Needs Assessment Survey (UBHNAS)
Unit Needs Assessment Manual
Unit Needs Assessment Validation
Research Reports


The goal of this training is to develop a realistic preview, in the form of a briefing, of the stresses and strains of deployment on Soldiers. Four training briefs have been developed and are available for Soldiers, Leaders, National Guard/Reserves, and families.

(http://www.battlemind.org/)

http://www.momrp.org/battlemind_announce.htm

When will they notice this did not work?

Battlemind bullshit

14. Januar 2008
Battlemind: Preparing Soldiers for combat, home life
By Susan Huseman USAG STUTTGART
STUTTGART – Today, every Soldier headed to Iraq and Afghanistan receives Battlemind training, but few know the science behind it.

Dr. Amy Adler, a senior research psychologist with the U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Europe, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, visited Patch Barracks to break down the program, which is a system of support and intervention.

Not every Soldier who deploys downrange is at risk for mental health problems. The main risk factor is the level of combat experienced, Adler explained to her audience, comprised predominantly of medical, mental health and family support professionals.

Army studies show the greater the combat exposure a Soldier encounters, the greater the risk for mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anger and relationship problems. When Soldiers first return home, they may not notice any problems; sometimes it takes a few months for problems to develop.

http://germanamericanfriendshipbracelet.blogspot.com/
2008/01/battlemind-preparing-soldiers-for.html

BULLSHIT!

http://fhp.osd.mil is the official Web site of Force Health Protection & Readiness Policy & Programs Skyline 4, Suite 901, 5113 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041 The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsements by the Force Health Protection & Readiness Programs of the linked Web sites, or the information,products or services contained therein. Privacy and Security Policy Webmaster PDHRA Outreach
PDHRA Information Site was last updated on 04/19/07.
http://fhp.osd.mil/pdhrainfo/battlemind.jsp

Battlemind started almost a year ago and has done, nothing! Since then soldiers are still being discharge under "pre-existing" conditions, TBI is still getting confused with PTSD, they are still committing suicides and yes, homicides, and still being told they have to wait to have their wounded minds tended to. For all the "steps" taken to address the problem, it looks like they are still in training shoes learning to take baby steps, when they need a great pair of rocket roller blades! Give me a break!