UK researchers find rise in PTSD among Army Veterans

PTSD among army veterans on the rise finds study

News Medical

Ananya Mandal MD

October 8, 2018

A new study has found that there is a rise of post-traumatic-stress disorder (PTSD) among those who have served the army and military over the past decade. The study reveals that most of the personnel who have been witness to active combat were among those who reported with symptoms of PTSD and 17 percent of these individuals were diagnosed with PTSD.

Image Credit: Emily C. McCormick / Shutterstock

The authors say the lack of support after leaving the army and the natural course of PTSD that manifests much later after the actual events have occurred could be the probable reasons behind these rising instances. The study results were published in the latest issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.

The study by a team of researchers at the King’s College, London, included around 9,000 veterans and found that there is a rising awareness regarding PTSD and this is caused a rise in number of individuals seeking treatment for this condition. The number of diagnosed cases of PTSD was 4 percent in 2004-05 and it has risen to 6 percent in 2014-16 finds the study. The incidence of PTSD was 17 percent among those who were engaged in active combat roles in Afghanistan or Iraq and 6 percent of the cases were seen among those who were engaged in supporting roles such as aircrew and medical personnel at the battlefields.

According to lead author, Dr Sharon Stevelink, from the Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College, this is the first study that shows that the veterans who have been deployed in combat roles are at great risk of PTSD and these numbers are greater than those who are still serving. She said that one in three of the veterans have been engaged in active combat.

This study, Stevelink explained is the third phase of a major study that began since 2003. This phase looked at veterans in 2014 to 2016 and found that 62 percent of these persons were deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq and were of an average age of around 40 years. Anxiety and depressive illness rates were around 22 percent among these veterans found the study and the authors noted that alcohol abuse reduced from 15 percent to 10 percent over these years.
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Astronauts safe after booster failure on Soyuz

Rocket carrying space station crew fails in mid air, crew safe
Thomson Reuters
BY SHAMIL ZHUMATOV
Oct 11th 2018

BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A booster rocket carrying a Soyuz spacecraft with a Russian and U.S. astronaut on board headed for the International Space Station failed mid-air on Thursday, forcing the crew to make an emergency landing.

The rocket was carrying U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin. Footage from inside the Soyuz showed the two men being shaken around at the moment the failure occurred, with their arms and legs flailing.

The rocket was launched from the Soviet-era cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. A Reuters reporter who observed the launch from around 1 km away said it had gone smoothly in its initial stages and that the failure of the booster rockets must have occurred at higher altitude.
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11 year old girl killed inside house from carport room

After pummeling Florida and Georgia, deadly Michael heads to the Carolinas
CNN
By Nicole Chavez
October 11, 2018

An 11-year-old girl was killed in Seminole County, Georgia during the storm, emergency management officials said. A metal carport was picked up by the wind and crashed through the roof of a structure, hitting the girl's head, said Travis Brooks, the county's emergency management director. Brooks said several hours passed before emergency officials could reach the unincorporated area where the incident took place.

Residents rescue a couple of dogs after the storm destroyed several buildings in Panama City.

CNN) After slamming Florida and lashing Georgia, Michael is far from finished as it swirls northeast, threatening the storm-weary Carolinas.

Since making landfall on Wednesday as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, the now tropical storm has left thousands of people without power, uprooted trees, turned homes and marinas into ruins and killed at least 2 people.

"It feels like a nightmare," Linda Albrecht, a councilwoman in Mexico Beach, Florida, said of the catastrophic damage in her town. "Somebody needs to come up and shake you and wake you up." The wrath of Michael continued into Georgia, bringing possible tornadoes and winds that kept first responders away from the streets for hours --- even as the storm weakened and became a tropical storm.

On Thursday, authorities and residents will begin to discover the full extent of Michael's destruction in Florida and Georgia while the Carolinas brace for possible flooding, tornadoes and dangerous winds in many of the same areas still recovering from Hurricane Florence flooding.
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Live updates on Hurricane Michael

Motorcycle crash claimed life of soldier who survived Afghanistan and Iraq

Motorcyclist killed in Saturday crash was JBER soldier
KTVA News
By Chris Klint
October 8th 2018

The man killed last weekend in a Gambell Street motorcycle crash was an Army soldier, military officials confirmed Monday.

JBER soldier Staff Sgt. James Alcorn, 35, died in an Oct. 6, 2018 motorcycle crash on Gambell Street in Anchorage, according to Anchorage police. (Credit: From U.S. Army Alaska)

Staff Sgt. James Alcorn, 35, was a field artilleryman assigned to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson's 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division according to U.S. Army Alaska spokesman John Pennell.

Alcorn, who joined the Army in 2006, served at Fort Benning, Fort Knox and Fort Bragg in the southern U.S. before being assigned to JBER in July 2016. He had served two combat tours in Afghanistan, as well as one in Iraq.
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Veteran asked family to forgive him, before he pulled the trigger

Please find a way to forgive me!

The Greenville News
Kirk Brown,  Published 
Oct. 10, 2018

JARED JOHNS, A 24-YEAR-OLD ARMY VETERAN WHO SERVED IN AFGHANISTAN, KILLED HIMSELF ON SEPT. 11, THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY THAT CALLED HIM TO SERVE. 

Then Jared placed a 9mm handgun under his chin and pulled the trigger.

His suicide on Sept. 11 came 17 years after the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington and Pennsylvania that convinced a young boy to grow up to be a soldier.

In the last hour of his life, Jared Johns left a note on the dry-erase board in the Greenville apartment he shared with his twin brother. “I’m sorry. I messed up," he wrote. "This isn’t what I wanted." After retreating to his room and locking the door, the 24-year-old Army veteran who served in Afghanistan recorded a video on his cellphone. 

"I can't do it anymore," he said tearfully as he sat on his bed. The video included a message for his 2½-year-old son, Liam, and 18-month-old son, Jaxson. "I hate that I'm not going to get to see you grow up, but it's better this way, I promise," Jared said. He apologized to his parents. "Just please find a way to forgive me," he said.
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