Marine got redeployment orders while already deployed

California Marine deploys back to back
Regimental Combat Team 6
Story by Cpl. Ed Galo

Sergeant Izmael Loria, squad leader, Echo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 10th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 6, shouts commands to the rest of his squad while on a patrol through the Delaram District Center, Afghanistan, June 3, 2012. Loria is currently on his second deployment to Afghanistan in two years. DELARAM DISTRICT CENTER, Afghanistan — Deployments can be challenging for service members and their families.

Sgt. Izmael Loria, squad leader, Echo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 10th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 6, has faced this challenge twice in two years with back-to-back combat deployments.

“I got orders to a deploying unit while I was on my last deployment,” said Loria, of Rialto, Calif. “I love this deployment though. It’s different experience from my last (one).”

Loria, a field wireman, deployed to Afghanistan with 8th Communications Battalion, based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., in June 2011. He came home in January 2012 and then deployed again to Afghanistan in April 2012 with Echo Battery.
read more here

Britain Limits Deployment to Reduce P.T.S.D. but not the USA

Tracking reports on PTSD across the web often includes reports from other countries. It stuns me when I read about another country ahead of the game because they learned from research begun right here in the US. We've known about the increased risks of PTSD redeployments cause but have not done a thing about correcting the problem. We just keep sending them back over and over again, usually on medication, while expecting a different outcome. The reports keep getting worse on suicides, attempted suicides, crimes, domestic problems and accidents. Kudos to the UK on this one because they've learned from out mistakes.

Britain Limits Deployment to Reduce P.T.S.D.


Mark Phillips is a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a British research group focusing on defense and security issues.

MARCH 20, 2012

The Ministry of Defense tries to manage the impact operations have on its people through "harmony guidelines." For the British army, individuals should deploy for six months at a time and for no more than 12 months in every 3-year period. The guidelines also apply to other personnel deployed on land operations.

Research has shown that personnel who deploy within the guidelines show no ill-effect related to deployment length, except in relation to alcohol intake. On the other hand, spending more than six months away, or having these periods extended unexpectedly, can have adverse effects on health and well-being for both personnel and their families. These effects are even greater for deployments lasting longer than a year, resulting in cumulative stress.

It is interesting that the harmony guidelines contrast with those of the United States Army. The longer deployment of American personnel may contribute to large differences in the prevalence of mental health problems (including operational stress and post-traumatic stress disorder). One study found that personnel who deployed for 13 months or more in three years were more likely to fulfill the criteria for P.T.S.D.
read more here

"Dwell Time" for Soldiers May Lead to Increase in PTSD Diagnosis

Study Says Longer "Dwell Time" for Soldiers May Lead to Increase in PTSD Diagnosis
By Lauren Zimmerman - Web Producer
Wednesday, December 7, 2011

"Dwell time" is the term used by the military for the time at home between deployments.According to a new Pentagon study, service members who have more dwell time may have a greater chance of being diagnosed with a mental health disorder.

As the war in Iraq winds down with troops expected to be out by the end of the year, deployments continue to other places including Afghanistan.

Going to war and coming home has been a steady cycle for many who've served over the past ten years. Both are an adjustment.

"For me personally, shorter dwell time is good, just so I can get back out there," said Corporal Nick Parker, USMC.

"When you're over there, it's pretty much life and death every day, and you always have to be looking out for yourself - so dwell time is definitely important," added Corporal Jared Tittle, USMC.
read more here

Afghanistan extensions announced; some dwell time cut

Afghanistan extensions announced; some dwell time cut

By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Sep 3, 2009 19:59:53 EDT

The deployments of the 82nd Airborne Division headquarters and the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade have been extended in Afghanistan to allow follow-on units have at least one year at home before deploying next summer, the Army announced Thursday.

The 82nd Airborne Division headquarters, operating in Afghanistan as Combined Joint Task Force-82, will stay for 52 additional days and return in June. The 3rd CAB, based at Hunter Army Airfield, Ga., will be extended 14 days.

The 101st Airborne Division headquarters, which returned from Afghanistan in June this year, was slated to deploy in December 2010, but will return to Afghanistan six months earlier than expected, cutting its 18-month dwell time to 12 months. The headquarters will replace the 82nd Airborne Division headquarters in a transfer of authority scheduled for June.

The 3rd CAB will be replaced by the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade from Fort Drum, N.Y.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/09/army_division_rotation_090309w/

Soldiers Question the Defense Secretary About Long Deployments

Soldiers Question the Defense Secretary About Long Deployments
Washington Post
By Walter Pincus
Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Outside the military, not much attention is paid to the personal problems of families caught up in the endless rotational deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan that mark serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.


Last Friday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates dealt with a handful of those problems in a town hall meeting at Fort Drum, N.Y., in front of Army units that either were coming from Southwest Asia or preparing to go there.

Many of the questions focused on disparities among units when it comes to "dwell time" -- time spent at home between deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan. With 130,000 troops remaining in Iraq through the end of the year and 68,000 more scheduled to be in Afghanistan during the same period, pressures on military family life have grown.

An Army sergeant opened by pointing out that one brigade has alternated between one year at home and one year deployed over the past five years, whereas another brigade in the same division has been spending two-year stretches at home. He asked whether anything could be done to even out the dwell time.
read more here
Soldiers Question the Defense Secretary About Long Deployments