Ft. Hood is site of stress experiment

Sounds great. Sounds like what I've been "preaching" and screaming about for years. Still you know the saying "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't." I really hope I'm wrong.

The problem is not that taking care of the mind-body and spirit is wrong, because it is the best way to treat PTSD. Taking care of the whole person including their family has shown what can be accomplished with treating PTSD. The problem is if they go about it in the wrong way. Without fully understanding what PTSD is and does, they can do more harm than good.

There are many people working on PTSD in the military and they know a lot more than the "experts" coming up with some of these programs. It would be great if the planners would talk to them and get their input since they not only treat the soldiers, they live near them. Some even have PTSD in their own families with aging Vietnam veteran parents. What some experts lack is life knowledge and this has been made clear when the military has come out with programs in the past trying make the troops more "resilient" as if they can prevent PTSD instead of healing PTSD.

This program leaves a lot of questions just as the "experts" should have been addressing in the past. With the increase of suicides as well as attempted suicides, warning bells should have been heard loud and clear to make them understand for the most part, they are going about addressing PTSD the wrong way.

Again, I really hope I'm wrong but I've been hoping I've been wrong for a very long time only to sadly proven right.

Ft. Hood is site of stress experiment
Training soldiers how to deal with stress
Updated: Monday, 09 Nov 2009, 9:31 AM EST
Published : Monday, 09 Nov 2009, 6:49 AM EST

Kate Weidaw
FORT HOOD, Texas (KXAN) - The man accused in the deadly shooting at Fort Hood, Major Hasan treated soldiers dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The Army was also experimenting with a new program at Fort Hood to try and help soldiers learn new coping skills before they were deployed.

In September, the Army launched what they called a Resiliency Campus at Fort Hood as an experiment to see if giving soldiers skills to deal with post-traumatic stress before leaving would help them once they come back home.

Military leaders acknowledge there are serious psychiatric problems in their midst.

According to the Army, the suicide rate among soldiers in Iraq is five times that seen in the Persian Gulf War and 11 percent higher than during Vietnam.

These resiliency camps train soldiers, family members and civilians on post ways to increase their fitness in mind, body and spirit.
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Ft. Hood is site of stress experiment

Orlando shooting "It's all about the healing"

Orlando shooting: 'It's all about the healing,' CEO says as grief counselors get busy
By Walter Pacheco and Amy L. Edwards, Sentinel Staff Writers

10:04 a.m. EST, November 9, 2009
Today is a day of healing for employees and their families at RS&H, an executive with consulting firm said this morning.

RS&H Chairman and CEO Leerie Jenkins the comments during a news conference today -- four days after a shooting rampage at the company's Orlando office on the eighth floor of the Gateway Center office building.

Jenkins, whose company used to be called Reynolds, Smith & Hills, said "we are really saddened by the falling of our colleague, Otis Beckford," who was killed in the shooting. Five others were wounded.

"We are here to really begin the healing process. Inside, we are going to be going through group counseling and individual counseling starting today and moving forward as long as we need to provide that to our employees," Jenkins said. "So it's all about healing for our employees and their families."

He asked the media to respect the privacy of his employees and their families.
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Orlando shooting

Fort Hood shooting suspect conscious, talking, hospital says

Fort Hood shooting suspect conscious, talking, hospital says
November 9, 2009 10:29 a.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Nidal Malik Hasan awake, says spokesman at hospital where's he's being treated
Soldier wounded in Fort Hood attack: It's difficult to believe this could happen
Obama: Massacre and response showed worst and best of human nature
Thirteen dead, 42 wounded, according to Fort Hood's public information office
(CNN) -- Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspect in last week's mass shooting at the Fort Hood Army Post, is conscious and talking, according to a spokesman for the Army hospital where he is being treated.

Authorities have not identified a motive in Thursday's attack that left 13 dead and 42 others wounded.

Hasan, a 39-year-old licensed Army psychiatrist who worked at a hospital on the post, has been identified as the suspected shooter. He was shot several times after the attack. On Sunday, he was listed in critical but stable condition and in intensive care at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Hasan's ventilator was removed over the weekend, and he began talking afterward, hospital spokesman Dewey Mitchell said. He is speaking with hospital staff, but Mitchell was unable to say whether Hasan has been speaking with Army investigators.
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/09/fort.hood.shootings/index.html

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan wanted to be lay Muslim leader at Fort Hood

"Deeply troubled" and "almost incoherent" but Hasan was to be deployed anyway?
The FBI was watching him according to reports. But Hasan was to be deployed anyway?
He was able to get his hands on the guns he used to cause 13 deaths and over 40 wounded. Yet again, this same man was to be deployed with the troops and the military had no problem with this? Hasan's record is coming out because of all he did but what about the ones we don't know about?

Cleric said he sensed Hasan was troubled
By Angela K. Brown - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Nov 8, 2009 8:52:21 EST

FORT HOOD, Texas — An Army psychiatrist who authorities say went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood was so conflicted over what to tell fellow soldiers about fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan that a local Islamic leader was deeply troubled by it, the leader said Saturday.

Osman Danquah, co-founder of the Islamic Community of Greater Killeen, said he was disturbed by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s persistent questioning and recommended the mosque reject Hasan’s request to become a lay Muslim leader at the sprawling Army post.

Danquah said Hasan never expressed anger toward the Army or indicated any plans for violence, but during the second of two conversations they had over the summer, Hasan seemed almost incoherent, he said.
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Keep in mind this was a doctor and trained to take care of the mental health of our troops. He was trained by the military. What was he telling the troops he was supposed to be taking care of? Was he in anyway treating any of the soldiers who ended up taking their own lives or attempting to do it? Above all, keep in mind the same person described above was still allowed to be treating our troops as a psychologist. How was this allowed to happen? Was wasn't he removed from having anything to do with the mental healthcare of our soldiers? Is anyone checking on the state of the mental health of the providers they have treating the troops? Is anyone checking to see if they are trained experts on PTSD to be able to treat this wound of war? How seriously is the military taking this when this was all allowed to happen? What policies do they plan on changing? Do they plan on changing any at all?

There are so many questions when it comes to what happened last week at Fort Hood, but while the carnage is fresh, all that came before needed to be taken seriously and maybe, just maybe, it could have been prevented.

More Fort Hood stories come out

No evidence wounded hit by friendly fire at Fort Hood
November 8, 2009 2:01 a.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Official: Evidence so far indicates alleged shooter acted alone
NEW: Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan off ventilator, spokesman says
Chief of surgery: Some patients will be "physically impaired" for life
President Obama says he met with FBI director and will monitor investigation
A CNN Special Investigation drills down on the causes and the impact of the Fort Hood shootings, at 11 p.m. ET Saturday on CNN TV.

Fort Hood, Texas (CNN) -- There is no evidence of "friendly fire" during this week's deadly shooting at Fort Hood, an Army spokesman said Saturday.

Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesman Chris Grey said authorities did not believe that any of those killed or wounded were shot by anyone other than the suspect, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.

Furthermore, Grey reiterated that all evidence indicates that the suspect "acted alone." Grey said there was "no evidence to contradict that finding." He added that the investigation is continuing.

Thursday's mass shooting left 12 soldiers and one civilian dead and 42 people wounded, according to the post's public information office. It was unclear how many of those injured suffered bullet wounds.
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/07/fort.hood.shootings/index.html

November 6, 2009
CNN's Campbell Brown talks to the medic who treated the Fort Hood hero cop and the suspected shooter.


Suspect off ventilator, breathing on own

FORT HOOD, Texas — An Army spokesman says the man authorities say went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood has been taken off a ventilator