If Resiliency Training worked, then why are they still committing suicide?

UPDATE June 11, 2012
I ran across something that was written about what I said way back in 2009. I am no longer with the IFOC but you'll get the point. I am with Point Man Ministries now so while my "hat" has changed, what's under it is still the same.

The Burden of PTSD: An Ongoing Conversation
April 6, 2009
MATTHEW NEWTON
Writer + Reporter

Perhaps you've heard: PTSD among veterans returning from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is a huge problem and we might not have the resources to deal with its ramifications. GOOD recently ran my feature on the subject, "The Memory War," and since then, I've had many conversations on the topic-ranging from readers' personal experiences, to sprawling discussions on the multifacted challenges facing service members suffering from PTSD. One such discussion, however, really forced me to take a step back.

In an email exchange with Kathie Costos DiCesare, a Senior IFOC Chaplain, she expresses a view of the Army's Battlemind training program that I'd never heard, or even considered. For the unfamiliar, Battlemind is a training program used to try to counter the effects of war on armed forces. It's been heavily criticized as inadequate. DiCesare takes that criticism one step further.

"Battlemind and Warrior Mind both have the same problem and-it's my belief-have the most to do with the rise in suicides as well as attempted suicides," she writes. Both programs, she says, tell troops they can prepare their minds for war, implying that if they are somehow wounded by PTSD, it's their fault.
read more here

When I posted how psychiatrists are coming out against Resiliency Training it seemed too little too late but I was relieved to finally read it from a source other than my blog.

Every time I talk to someone, trying to get them to understand how much damage is done with this program, they look at me as if I'm insane. After all, most of the press on this has been positive because reporters are too lazy to look up the facts. None of them stopped to ask anyone from the DOD or Congress one simple question. If Resiliency Training, also know as Battlemind, was working, then why have the suicides and attempted suicides gone up instead of down?

It is not as if this failure was not known for a very long time. I took a look back at this blog and my older one to remind me of how long I've been talking about this.

Here's an example from 2007

DOD spreading mental illness one GI at a time
June 6, 2007
When you take a look at the "BattleMind" training the troops go through, it is not a far fetch to see how manipulating their thinking process can cause great harm. The first time I read about this program, I winced. Looks like I was right in finding this type of training very troubling.

Here's an example from 2009

Study finds ‘Battlemind’ is beneficial?

Sorry but I just choked on my coffee.

February 16, 2009
Col. Carl Castro should have known better when he developed this program. From what is said about this program and the evidence, this program does more harm than good. Not that any of these people would ever listen to me or the veterans or the BBC investigation that showed the troops arriving in Afghanistan with 11 1/2 minutes of BattleMind training crammed into two straight days of briefings. There are parts of this program that are good and should be used but they begin with telling the troops that they can "toughen" their minds, which translates to them that if they end up with PTSD, it's their fault because they didn't get their brain tough enough. Try telling that to a Marine.

They can say whatever they want, but when you see the suicide rate go up every year, see them still not wanting to seek help, still not being treated for this as if they have nothing to be ashamed of, then there is a problem. You cannot begin by telling them they can train their brain and then tell them it's ok if they failed to do it. While they may be able to prepare for combat what they cannot do is change the fact they are human, exposed to abnormal events in combat situations and have normal reactions of stress after as a normal human! No matter what the cause, people get wounded by PTSD. The difference between civilians and the troops is that the troops are exposed to it over and over and over again when they deploy into combat. Telling them they just didn't do a good enough job to toughen their minds is the wrong way to begin what could have been a really great program. Again it's just my opinion and based on 26 years of all of this. Plus add in the fact that the Montana National Guard had to come up with their own program along with a lot of other units. That should have been an alarm bell right there, but no one heard it that is in charge.

It would be wonderful if reporters on cable news would finally take a look at this instead of only doing political reports!

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

Study finds ‘Battlemind’ is beneficial?

Sorry but I just choked on my coffee.

Col. Carl Castro should have known better when he developed this program. From what is said about this program and the evidence, this program does more harm than good. Not that any of these people would ever listen to me or the veterans or the BBC investigation that showed the troops arriving in Afghanistan with 11 1/2 minutes of BattleMind training crammed into two straight days of briefings. There are parts of this program that are good and should be used but they begin with telling the troops that they can "toughen" their minds, which translates to them that if they end up with PTSD, it's their fault because they didn't get their brain tough enough. Try telling that to a Marine.

They can say whatever they want, but when you see the suicide rate go up every year, see them still not wanting to seek help, still not being treated for this as if they have nothing to be ashamed of, then there is a problem. You cannot begin by telling them they can train their brain and then tell them it's ok if they failed to do it. While they may be able to prepare for combat what they cannot do is change the fact they are human, exposed to abnormal events in combat situations and have normal reactions of stress after as a normal human! No matter what the cause, people get wounded by PTSD. The difference between civilians and the troops is that the troops are exposed to it over and over and over again when they deploy into combat. Telling them they just didn't do a good enough job to toughen their minds is the wrong way to begin what could have been a really great program. Again it's just my opinion and based on 26 years of all of this. Plus add in the fact that the Montana National Guard had to come up with their own program along with a lot of other units. That should have been an alarm bell right there, but no one heard it that is in charge.

Col. Carl Castro, Ph.D. – Fort Detrick, MD
Col. Castro was most recently appointed Director of Military Operations,
Medicine Research Program, Headquarters, US Army Medical Research and
Materiel Command, Fort Detrick, Maryland. He formerly served as the chief of
military psychiatry at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and was the
Commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Europe in Heidelberg,
Germany. In addition to serving in multiple deployments to Bosnia, he has been
chief and program manager of several different medical research programs. He
is a graduate of Wichita State University and holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in
psychology from the University of Colorado. He is the author of over 50 scientific
publications, including a major study published in the New England Journal of
Medicine. The study, which involved 6,200 soldiers and Marines and was
conducted by a team at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, is the first
attempt to understand the psychological effects of a U.S. war while it is ongoing.
Most of the participants were screened within three or four months of returning
from battle. The result, Combat Duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mental Health
Problems, and Barriers to Care (Charles W. Hoge, M.D., Carl A. Castro, Ph.D.,
Stephen C. Messer, Ph.D., Dennis McGurk, Ph.D., Dave I. Cotting, Ph.D., and
Robert L. Koffman, M.D., M.P.H.) is a seminal study in the effects of combat on
mental health.
http://www.smith.edu/ssw//admin/documents/CarlCastro.pdf

Study finds ‘Battlemind’ is beneficial
Stars and Stripes - Washington,DC,USA
Training to reduce post-combat stress has made strides
By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, February 17, 2009
HEIDELBERG, Germany — New training intended to reduce post-combat psychological distress provides "small but significant" improvements in soldiers’ mental health, according to a study.

Among soldiers who returned from Iraq and participated in "Battlemind Training," fewer reported sleep problems, and there were less-severe post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, compared with soldiers who had received either no post-deployment mental health training or a briefing about stress, according to research psychologists with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

"We’ve completed three groups of randomized trials which have demonstrated that Battlemind training has a positive impact on soldiers’ mental health months later," said Amy Adler, a lead researcher on the project. "The effects are not huge. We’re not curing disorders."

The study found that in soldiers who had seen extensive combat, Battlemind training resulted in a 14 percent reduction in severity of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.

And while 60 percent of soldiers without the training reported sleep problems, just 30 percent of those who’d had the Battlemind class said they were having trouble sleeping after returning home. click link for more

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!

Reservist's Shaken Baby Death Puts PTSD on Trial

There are many quotes that could have been used on telling the story of what happened to a family after deployment including this one.

"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.

Jerry Davich wrote Blaming war for actions at home elicits different kind of anger October 11, 2104 with this quote.

I have no pity, compassion or explanation for monstrous abusers — let’s face it, they’re accused of killing babies. That’s not acceptable anywhere and most people would agree that people convicted of that should first rot in prison and then rot in hell.

I’d be surprised if Duron’s attorney doesn’t use the PTSD claim as his lead defense strategy in court. Then again, as one full-blown PTSD sufferer told me for this column, even combat-related PTSD does not remove the ability to distinguish right from wrong.

Felix Duron is accused of shaking his baby to death

There’s a telling line that jumps off the page in the probable cause affidavit against Felix Duron, regarding how he allegedly shook to death 2-year-old Bentley Mihal.

“Duron admitted he was in a state of extreme anger and resentment and shook B.M. (Bentley Mihal) like he would ‘shake a man,’ ” the Sept. 25 affidavit states.

What is missing, perhaps the most important fact of all is what else was happening when Duron was deployed.

Such violent anger couldn’t be seen in Duron in 2011, when the then 24-year-old U.S. Army Reserve soldier returned home from a year in Afghanistan. Along with 160 other soldiers, Duron smiled broadly while cradling his infant son for the first time.

This was three years after the DOD told the entire country they were training servicemen and women to be "resilient" with their Comprehensive Soldier Fitness on the heels of Battlemind.

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.

It turned out that most did not know what they needed to know about Combat and PTSD.

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

Battlemind came with a warning that it could cause problems back home.

'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.

In other words, unlike Davich's attitude, the fault belongs to the military. What they claimed they were doing is being proven all over the country as more and more of these men and women change from being willing to die for the sake of someone else, into someone accused of harming someone else.

They don't get the help they need while in the military and they don't get what they need when they come home.

Duron needs to stand trial for what he is accused of doing. When does the DOD stand trial for what they failed to do? When does Congress stand trial for what they failed to pay attention to repeatedly? When do military families get the information they needed and were promised by the DOD?

A veteran harming someone else is rare considering there were over 2 million serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. A veteran taking their own life happens more often.

Purdue University program taking a bite on suicides into poisoned apple

Battlemind is the poisoned apple

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 31, 2019

Purdue University is planning a conference on suicides tied to military life. The problem is, the seem to think that a program that failed miserably is a good place to start!

I have been slamming this Battlemind BS since 2008

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!

This is a great example as to why this program should have been left to rot...

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................

This is what I wrote afterwards. 

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?

There are a lot of posts up on this program along with Comprehensive Soldier Fitness...another loser sold to every member of the military. On that one, I predicted in 2009 that suicides would increase..and they did. 

Both programs ended up with producing more suicides because they only became aware of bullshit instead of hearing the truth about what PTSD is and how they can heal.

If you are wondering how it is that I figured all this out way back then, but they are still living in denial, so am I. They are supposed to be the experts. All I do is pay attention like it really matters!

‘What IF We Ended Military and Veterans Suicide?’

Purdue University
Jeanne Norberg
July 29, 2019

The term “battlemind” initially was used by military to talk about the inner strength needed to face adversity, fear and hardship during combat. The application of the term then was broadened to take in psychological resiliency both during and after deployment.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The nation is grappling with service members and veterans who find it hard to cope with coming home. It affects their families and communities as well.

To address this challenge, the Military and Family Research Institute at Purdue University is hosting the 10th annual summit of "Battlemind to Home" on campus Oct. 8. Registration is open now, and early-bird pricing runs through Aug. 7. The “What IF We Ended Military and Veterans Suicide?” event is part of Purdue’s Ideas Festival, the centerpiece of the university’s Giant Leaps sesquicentennial campaign, which is a series of events that connect world-renowned speakers and Purdue expertise in a conversation on the most critical problems facing the world. One of the Ideas Festival’s themes is health, longevity and quality of life.

Legal, mental health and community leaders at the Battlemind summit will learn and share strategies to ease the transition from the battlefront to the home front for military personnel, veterans and their families. Previously held in Indianapolis attracting 340 attendees, this year the conference will take place 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Purdue Memorial Union's ballrooms. It is expected to draw participants from more than 100 organizations in Indiana and nearby states.

The opening addresses will be delivered by Conrad Washington, the deputy director of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiative, who will talk about available programs and resources. In the afternoon Oz Sanchez, a former Marine and Navy Seal will address the conference. Injured in car-motorcycle accident, Sanchez is now a five-time world champion in the sport of handcycling under the Paralympic umbrella. The emcee will be Indiana Supreme Court Justice Steven David, whose 28 years of active duty and reserve military service included two post 9-11 deployments and three commands.
read it here

Hi Matthew,
I was reading about the upcoming Battlemind event and cringed. First, I applaud the spiritual aspect of helping them heal, however, modeling anything after the failure of Battlemind is a losing battle.

After extensive research on Battlemind, when it was introduced, I came to the conclusion it would do more harm than good. It turned out, I was right as evidence has shown.

That was followed by an equally repulsive attempt called “Comprehensive Soldier Fitness” which was also slammed by me in 2009. It also looks like I was right on that one too.

I have been doing this work for 37 years as if my life depended on it. That is because it does. I am married to a Vietnam veteran with PTSD.

Please, reexamine the “cure” before it is too late to discover it was a poisoned apple.

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.

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.

Clinic Shootings Highlight Mental Health Challenges

It's no secret my heart is tugged, ok, ripped out, by what is going on with our troops and veterans but it's been like beating my head against the wall trying to get someone to finally see the obvious. Battlemind is part of the problem. How many times do I have to say it until someone hears me or the others trying to get the military to open their eyes before it's too late for a lot more?

Battle mind tells them they can train their brains, be "resilient" but when you look at the meaning of the word itself, it's easy to see what kind of damage this can do.

Main Entry: re·sil·ient

Function: adjective

Etymology: Latin resilient-, resiliens, present participle of resilire to jump back, recoil, from re- + salire to leap -- more at SALLY: characterized or marked by resilience : as

a : capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or rupture

b : tending to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change
http://cougar.eb.com/dictionary/resilient

While this may appear to be fine, it's not when the program has been adapted to "train" the troops to toughen their minds. They are told they can actually train their brains! Meaning that if they should end up with PTSD (which is an emotional wound coming from an outside force after traumatic events) it's their own fault. Then think of them facing the fact what they went thru, what they see and what they do ends up eating them alive but they feel they can't tell anyone because they went through Battlemind training and hearing that it's their fault. Nice work for a piece of "preparedness" propaganda even though the rest of the program is pretty good. The message is delivered in the first few moments of the program and that's the one they walk away with, not the rest of what they are told.

Common sense tells us that it does not work. If it did then units like the Montana National Guard wouldn't have been in a position where they had to come up with their own program to address the wounds of their own troops. It tells us that if it worked then the numbers of suicides and attempted suicides would go down instead of up. While the military wants to paint a picture of troops being stressed out by any other issue than PTSD, they miss the point that these are not your average citizen but men and women with more regard for those they serve with and the nation itself than for their own sake. Otherwise, they wouldn't have enlisted to serve. They are being pushed and pushed so hard that there is nothing to catch them when they fall if they already understand the message that it's their fault for not preparing their minds as Battlemind drills into them. While thankfully some have a lot more common sense than what Battlemind told them and they seek help, either it is not enough or the help they get is a kick in the ass by commanders still denying what PTSD is.

This will keep happening until they use their own common sense and begin to understand what works and the differnece between what they want to work.

Clinic Shootings Highlight Mental Health Challenges for Military
As Repeated Deployments Take Toll, Army Expands Prevention, Treatment Efforts.
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 17, 2009

Sgt. John M. Russell was near the end of his third tour in Iraq when he snapped and gunned down five fellow service members at a Baghdad combat stress clinic last week.

The incident cast a stark light on some of the military's biggest mental health challenges: the deepening psychological and personal toll of repeated combat deployments, the stigma that surrounds seeking help, and the growing indications that some hardened soldiers such as Russell are having trouble ever mentally departing the war zone.

Army leaders, alarmed by recent trends -- particularly a rise in suicides -- are working to provide training and care aimed at bolstering soldiers' resilience and preventing those who become distraught from harming themselves or others. But a slew of programs, including mandatory "Battlemind" training and a suicide-prevention campaign, have blunted but not reversed the decline in the Army's mental well-being.

Since 2001, nearly 1 million soldiers have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and more than 300,000 of them have served multiple combat rotations, most lasting 12 to 15 months. Currently there are 160,000 soldiers in those war zones, and of those, nearly 30,000 are on at least their third or fourth tour, Pentagon data show.
go here for more
Clinic Shootings Highlight Mental Health Challenges

While I am glad reporters are trying to do a good job with this, they are getting too much wrong as well. This last part, the numbers are wrong. It's not "nearly 1 million" but 1.7 million already. No wonder why so many people get confused about what kind of numbers we're talking about. After all these years of doing this and finding out as much as possible about them, plus living with my own husband, my fear is that we're almost to the point of no return. Within the next couple of years we're looking at 1 million with PTSD added to the older veterans already not being taken care of. All you have to do is look at the numbers from Vietnam. 500,000 by 1978 with 1.6 million in what was considered heavy combat zones. Most of Iraq and Afghanistan have been heavy combat zones with an uptick in Afghanistan. Vietnam had one tour for 12 months and for the most part, it was over. For newer veterans it's over and over again with longer tours and less time home. Each redeployment increases the risk of PTSD by 50% according to an Army study release years ago. That's why I come up with these kinds of numbers. This is not including the number of Vietnam veterans and older veterans still unaware of what PTSD is.

Even though the people with the power to do anything will not listen to me, I'll keep screaming until someone does because to see these men and women die because of this is just too much for anyone to ever be able to just accept and walk away.

This was on Army Times and addresses PTSD as well.

Military fights stigma of mental care

By Robert H. Reid - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday May 16, 2009 13:52:21 EDT

BAGHDAD — A military culture that values strength and a "can do" spirit is discouraging thousands of soldiers from seeking help to heal the emotional scars of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite top-level efforts to overcome the stigma, commanders and veterans say.

Up to one-fifth of the more than 1.7 million military members who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan are thought to have symptoms of anxiety, depression and other emotional problems. Some studies show that about half of those who need help do not seek it.

"It's a reality that for some — certainly not all, but for some — there's a stigma to stepping forward for behavioral health," Maj. David Cabrera, who runs counseling services at a military hospital in Germany, told the Associated Press.

"Our goal is to eradicate the stigma," he said. "We're not there yet."

Encouraging more soldiers to seek help, and training leaders to spot signs of trouble, have taken on new urgency since the fatal shooting last Monday of five U.S. service members at a counseling center at Baghdad's Camp Liberty.

go here for more of this

Military fights stigma of mental care

Suicide Prevention Mission Impossible Unless We Change

Preventing Veteran Suicides Mission Impossible With Same Weapons
Wounded Times
Katie Costos
February 1, 2015

We need to take a trip back in time to discover how we got to where we are on suicides tied to military service. Everyone seems to want to do something to save the lives of our troops and veterans but frankly, "You can't get there from here" unless you know how we got here.

At a family forum during the 2006 Association of the United States Army’s Annual Meeting, Col. Charles S. Milliken, MD, a research psychiatrist at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research-Psychiatry and Neuroscience, explained how “Battlemind”training addresses the stigma of PTSD and other combat-stress related symptoms. The 45-minute training program is part of a larger, comprehensive Post Deployment Health Assessment and Reassessment program that screens Soldiers for PTSD and other related mental health conditions twice after deployment.

We need to jump to 2007 when then Senator Obama was on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. He introduced bills back then addressing PTSD and military suicides. S.117 -- Lane Evans Veterans Health and Benefits Improvement Act of 2007 In the bill he had everything that folks said was necessary to honor the service and tend to those suffering for it.

(F) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), a veteran who served on active duty as described in subparagraph (D) during a period of war, or after the date, specified in that subparagraph is also eligible for-- `(i) a mental health evaluation to be provided by the Secretary not later than 30 days after the date of the request of the veteran for such evaluation; and `(ii) hospital care, medical services, nursing home care, and family and marital counseling for any mental health condition identified pursuant to such evaluation, notwithstanding that there is insufficient medical evidence to conclude that such condition is attributable to such service.'.

SEC. 102. POSTDEPLOYMENT MEDICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH SCREENINGS FOR MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.

`(2) The postdeployment examination shall be conducted not later than 30 days after the date of the return of a member to the United States from a deployment as described in subsection (a). The examination shall include a comprehensive medical and mental health assessment conducted on an individualized basis by personnel qualified to conduct such examinations.'.

"SEC. 104. ENHANCED OUTREACH TO MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVE ON AVAILABLE BENEFITS AND SERVICES" and the rest you can read from the above link

As Senator, Obama tackled a lot of the issues. Discharges for Personality Disorders among a long list of other issues and we were told the military was paying attention as well.

‘Battlemind’ Prepares Soldiers for Combat, Returning Home Jan. 3, 2008 – Every soldier headed to Iraq and Afghanistan receives “Battlemind” training designed to help them deal with combat experiences, but few know the science behind the program.

Consequently, Dr. Amy Adler, a senior research psychologist with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research’s U.S. Army Medical Research Unit Europe, in Heidelberg, Germany, visited Patch Barracks here, breaking down the program, which is a system of support and intervention.

The Battlemind system includes separate pre-deployment training modules for soldiers, unit leaders, health care providers and spouses. Psychological debriefings are given in theater and upon redeployment. There are also a post-deployment module for spouses and several post-deployment modules for soldiers.

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.

With running for Commander-in-Chief Obama took some time away from major media reporters and met with the step-brother of a young National Guardsman from Montana. Chris Dana couldn't speak for himself because he committed suicide.

Montana National Guard Spec. Chris Dana will never know the impact his life and ultimately his death may someday have on the lives of veterans nationwide.

Dana took his life in March 2007, less than two years after returning from a tour in Iraq. His family believes he was a victim of post traumatic stress disorder, brought on by his combat experience.

Since Dana’s death, his stepbrother Matt Kuntz has campaigned for more awareness of the costs of untreated post traumatic stress syndrome in Iraq war veterans. Wednesday, he was invited to meet with Sen. Barack Obama to share the message he’s been spreading statewide for more than a year. At a quiet picnic table at Riverfront Park Obama sat across from Kuntz, his wife Sandy and their infant daughter Fiona.

Kuntz was heavy with emotion, but hopeful and eager to share Dana’s story, and tell the senator about his work to ensure other Montana veterans aren’t suffering from the same condition that made his step-brother take his life.

The new Mental Health Advisory Team (MHAT 6) report, a "snapshot" of the morale and behavioral health of Soldiers deployed last spring and early summer in Iraq and Afghanistan, found the mental health of Soldiers in Iraq improved since the first survey in 2004, but several morale and mental health problems had increased in Afghanistan since the 2005 survey. Officials surveyed said that Battlemind Training has helped to improve coping skills.

By 2009 Associated Press was reporting Army suicides had reached a 3 decade high of 128 soldier suicides for 2008. The U.S. Marine Corps reports that a service member dies by suicide every two days, and one attempts suicide every two hours. Those reports came out in February but by March, the numbers were revised.

In calendar year 2008, the Army reported 140 confirmed or suspected suicides. That’s 20.2 suicides per 100,000 troops — an all-time high that is nearly twice the national average of 11.0 suicides per 100,000. The service’s suicide rate has more than doubled since 2004.

The Navy reported 41 suicides in 2008, a rate of 11.6 per 100,000. The Marine Corps lost 41 Marines last year to confirmed or suspected suicides — up from 25 two years earlier — a rate of 19.0 suicides per 100,000. The Air Force lost 38 airmen in 2008, a rate of 11.5 suicides per 100,000.

More ominously, 780 callers to a national Veterans Affairs suicide prevention hotline in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2008, identified themselves as active-duty troops, said Kathryn Power, director of the Center for Mental Health Services in the Department of Health and Human Services.

Law enforcement was already saying they had increased issues with veterans needing help struggling to adjust.

Due to the rates of mental health problems experienced by Iraq war veterans, experts say it isn't the last time a soldier will barricade himself in a house, forcing a police response that in the mind of someone suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury could seem like a battle zone.

"We are training these people to be unconsciously competent at defending themselves," said Eleanor Alden, a clinical social worker in Denver who treats PTSD in private practice. "They just do it. And then they came back and we put them in a different situation, but the same triggers will have the same kind of response. Then they end up in some sort of fugue state where they are responding the way they are trained to respond but in the wrong situation."

For local law enforcement agencies, standoffs with the suicidal or people involved in domestic disputes are intense situations, often with multiple X factors. Adding in somewhat unpredictable behavior of someone suffering from mental and physical wounds of war can heighten the situation.

After Battlemind was followed up by Comprehensive Soldier Fitness and billions of dollars spent the result has been deadly both in and out of the military.

Year after year, members of Congress have written bill after bill, spent billions and there have been more suicides in the military, more suicides as veteran, more standoffs with law enforcement and while the "solutions" they pushed wasted time, they delayed proper efforts to actually do something that would work.

All these years later, advocates have actually lost count on how many were lost to suicide. The rate of veterans committing suicide is double the civilian population and younger veterans are triple the rate of their peers. These folks managed to survive deployments into combat but not being back home? Yet it was a news story back in 2007 that actually sums up the abyss we allowed to grow.

Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans
They survived the hell that's Iraq and then they come home only to lose their life.

The latest "solution" of the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act with absolutely nothing new in it. Clay Hunt was a Marine. He committed suicide in 2011.

His suicide has shaken many Iraq and Afghanistan veterans; 'he led an exemplary life,' says his father

The 28-year-old former Marine corporal earned a Purple Heart after taking a sniper's bullet in his left wrist. He returned to combat in Afghanistan. Upon his return home, he lobbied for veterans on Capitol Hill, road-biked with wounded veterans and performed humanitarian work in Haiti and Chile. Then, on March 31, Hunt bolted himself in his Houston apartment and shot himself.

Hunt's suicide came after everything else had been done and redone included in the bill that has his name attached to it. The trouble is, if they really want to prevent more suicides, they can't get there driving in circles. They need to stop and actually ask for directions instead of running over the veterans they claim to be helping.

UPDATE Article on Business Insider takes a look at suicide.

Military veterans are especially prone to suicide. Data from 48 states suggest that 30 out of 100,000 veterans kill themselves each year — a rate far higher than among civilians. Many find it hard to overcome the trauma of combat, or to adjust to civilian life.

Editorial Board is wrong on Joint Base Lewis-McChord and PTSD

The News Tribune Editorial Board is wrong on Joint Base Lewis-McChord and PTSD
by
Chaplain Kathie

The best place to start on this is the claim that "it’s gotten more aggressive about teaching soldiers to recognize the signs that may signal a colleague is contemplating suicide" because it has been going on for years. The claims of the military doing anything that works on PTSD has been trumped by reality. If anything they were doing was actually working, there would be a decrease in suicides, attempted suicides, arrests and a lot less phone calls to the Suicide Prevention Hotline. For the editors of TNT to make this kind of claim shows one thing. They have not been paying attention. If they had, they would be just as sickened by the outcomes as everyone else.

JBLM has problems, but it’s hardly ‘on the brink’ of disaster
Post by TNT Editorial Board
The News Tribune on Dec. 28, 2011
This editorial will appear in Thursday’s print edition.

Is Joint Base Lewis-McChord “on the brink,” as claimed in a Los Angeles Times article and headline Monday? (The brink of what is never spelled out, but it’s safe to assume that it’s not “on the brink of something good.”)

The Times cites an article that appeared a year ago in Stars and Stripes that described JBLM as “the most troubled base in the military.” That billing was based on the courts martial of a group of Stryker soldiers for murdering civilians in Afghanistan, a much-publicized – and disputed – complaint by Oregon National Guardsmen of second-class treatment at Madigan Army Medical Center, and increased steroid use among soldiers.

The Times article adds to the list by citing several suicides and crimes committed by soldiers who returned to the South Sound after deploying to war zones, including the tragic case in April of a combat medic being treated for depression and other conditions. He shot his wife and himself, and their 5-year-old son was later found dead in the family’s Spanaway home. (Read about that case here.) The “base on the brink” description of JBLM came from a local veterans group that was not named in the Times article. The reporter says the group is Iraq Veterans Against the War – hardly an unbiased observer.

It’s true that the Army has been slow to recognize the mental health issues facing its soldiers, especially combat troops who have had multiple deployments. But it is starting to address those issues. At Madigan this year, it opened the $52 million “warrior transition” barracks that can accommodate more than 400 wounded or psychologically impaired soldiers and their families.

And it’s gotten more aggressive about teaching soldiers to recognize the signs that may signal a colleague is contemplating suicide.

read more here

This is the first point they missed.

It was around the same time the DOD came out with the flawed notion servicemen and women can "train their brains" to become tough enough to prevent PTSD.

1. REPORT DATE
01 NOV 2006
Methods:

“Battlemind” is the Soldier’s inner strength to face fear and adversity in combat with courage. The two components of Battlemind are self-confidence and mental toughness; strengths that all Soldiers must have to successfully perform in combat.

The key precept in Battlemind Training is that all Soldiers have the necessary skills to successfully transition home. By building on the Soldiers’ existing skills and inner mental strengths, the transitioning home process can be enhanced.

Through Battlemind Training, Soldiers are shown how their combat skills, if not adapted for home, may interfere with their transitioning process. Battlemind training focuses on ten specific skills, using the word B-A-T-T-L-E-M- I-N-D, and emphasizing how it is possible to avoid the problems that can occur when Soldiers go, in a matter of hours, from the battlefield to the home front.
Buddies (cohesion) vs. Withdrawal
Accountability vs. Controlling
Targeted Aggression vs. Inappropriate Aggression
Tactical Awareness vs. Hypervigilance
Lethally Armed vs. “Locked and Loaded” at home
Emotional Control vs. Anger/Detachment
Mission Operational Security (OPSEC) vs. Secretiveness
Individual Responsibility vs. Guilt Non-defensive (combat)
Driving vs. Aggressive Driving
Discipline and Ordering vs. Conflict
read more here

The problem with this is it makes the soldiers believe it is their fault if they end up with PTSD, enforces the idea they are defective or mentally weak and did not train properly. Training them to face combat is what bootcamp is for. Evidently they haven't discovered that yet. Whatever else this program offers, which could be very beneficial, the rest of the message was trumped by telling them it is their fault if they end up with PTSD.

The fact is, this program doesn't work because everything it "attempted" to avoid increased, including drunk driving and minor crimes that have resulted in the necessity of communities offering Veterans Courts to get them help instead of jail time.

The common rate used by most experts on PTSD point to 1 out of 3, meaning 2 will walk away without PTSD. Some use 1 out of 5, meaning 4 will walk away from the same traumatic experience without PTSD. Any program claiming to prevent PTSD should have to prove the test subjects are among the group more likely to develop PTSD, but they didn't have to prove anything before this was put into practice in the DOD. Everything coming out of the DOD thus far has shown they don't understand what causes PTSD or makes one more apt to be suffering from it.

None of the reports coming out on combat and PTSD are new.

A copy of this hangs over my desk to remind me of what was known and when we knew it. It was a study done on Vietnam veterans. The report not only supported the need for Veterans Centers because of the reluctance of Vietnam veterans to go to the VA, but supported the need for them to be able to come together with others. Talk therapy was vital in healing these men and women, but as psychologist are being replaced by psychiatrists handing out prescriptions instead of listening, there is more numbing going on than healing.

The report also stated that there were 500,000 Vietnam veteran with PTSD along with warning the numbers would go up in the following 10 years. Two later reports put the number of suicides between 150,000 and 200,000. As you can see, the link between combat and PTSD has been studied for a very, very long time, so none of the new studies have shown any progress or we wouldn't be seeing higher negative reports.

We would be seeing more reports on the different types of PTSD being addressed. While there are many causes connected to different traumatic events, combat is in a class by itself. The duration has a lot to do with it because they do not feel safe while deployed then the fact of redeployment will not allow them to feel the threat is over. Keep in mind, most Vietnam veterans did one tour of duty. Some of the men and women of today's wars have been deployed multiple times. The number of exposures during deployment are one component to all of this but then there is the fact they are participants in them. They are not just bystanders. They are not responders showing up after the fact but we seem to be able to understand emergency responders with PTSD better. In New York they studied responders after 9-11 with PTSD even though they were not there when the planes hit the Twin Towers. These men and women are right there when it all happens and then exposed to more attacks.

Joint Base Lewis-McChord has been using the same type of program as Battlemind under Comprehensive Soldier Fitness "program aims to equip troops mentally Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum of Gulf War fame has been deployed to lead the military's new program to prepare soldiers for the psychic trauma of war and its aftermath." This just received another $125 million in funding even though there is no proof it has done any good at all. While the reporter Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times, said it was "new" it has been around since 2009.

The article also stated "The suicide rate among our soldiers is at an all-time high. The number of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress is also high. And the stress of long separations due to combat is felt by our family members too," Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army's chief of staff, wrote in an article about the program this year. "As such, we are starting not with a blank slate but rather with the challenge of having the preponderance of our force influenced in some way — both positively and negatively — by the effects of sustained, protracted conflict."

So how can a program like this be allowed to claim it is anything "new" when the results have been so deadly for this long?

When editors and reporters do not know what they are reporting on, we end up with them defending all the wrongs that have been done to the men and women serving this country. We end up with veterans still reluctant to go to the VA or seek help for PTSD because they have been "trained" to see PTSD as their fault. We see suicides go up at the same time the Suicide Prevention Hotline phone calls flood in. Had any of these programs worked, there wouldn't be so many reaching the point where suicides seems to be their only option. We see so many veterans being arrested there is a need for a special court for them. We see employers unwilling to hire them because they don't understand what PTSD or the simple fact that unlike the general population the combat veterans are actually better employees because of what their last job was.

We see thousands of claims waiting for processing yet this simple fact never makes it into the veterans suicide reports. If they do not have an approved claim, they are not counted by the VA. If they are not active military, they are not counted by the DOD. Each branch of the military has their own numbers but they only include active duty.

One more thing reporters and editors need to understand is the fact there are over 2 million veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan but very few of them are causing any kind of trouble. They have allowed the fear of PTSD take over the minds of the general public because they will not address the reality of what PTSD is, what causes it and what these men and women are like any more than they address what they need to heal.

Where has all the money gone on Suicide Prevention?

These are just some of the grants going into PTSD and Suicide Prevention.
*editors note: If you are a reporter, I left the links out because I am tired to doing the work for you. If you want to verify them, you just have to find them on this blog.

February 2007

But in 2005 and 2006, despite telling Congress that it was setting aside an additional $300 million for expanding mental-health services, such as PTSD programs, the VA didn't get around to spending $54 million of that, according to the Government Accountability Office.”

Jan. 3, 2008

BATTLEMIND Title:Battlemind Transition Office Role:Prime Contractor Contract Number:VW81XWH-07-D-0011-0001 Contracting Agency:US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity Type:IDIQ Period of Performance: 30-SEP-2007 through 29-SEP-2010 Customer:

News American Forces Press Service ‘Battlemind’ Prepares Soldiers for Combat, Returning Home By Susan Huseman Special to American Forces Press Service STUTTGART, Germany, – Every soldier headed to Iraq and Afghanistan receives “Battlemind” training designed to help them deal with combat experiences, but few know the science behind the program. Consequently, Dr. Amy Adler, a senior research psychologist with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research’s U.S. Army Medical Research Unit Europe, in Heidelberg, Germany, visited Patch Barracks here, breaking down the program, which is a system of support and intervention.

April 2008

By 2008 another $2.7 million was handed over to a contractor to make phone calls. Yep~phone calls! 570,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan were supposed to be called to find out why they hadn’t gone to the VA.

October 2008

“The Army and the National Institute of Mental Health have begun a five-year, $50 million research program into the factors behind soldier suicides and how to prevent them, Army Secretary Pete Geren told reporters at the Pentagon.

April 2009

“The Army's alarming suicide trend continues this year, said David Rudd, the chairman of Tech's psychology department who will head the $1.97 million Defense Department study.

March 23, 2010

Dr. Thomas Insel, director of National Institute of Mental Health gave testimony to congress on March 23, 2010. “In Fiscal Year 2009, NIMH spent over $41 million in 97 grants, in 23 states, dedicated to helping veterans. We are working with DoD, VA, and academic clinicians and researchers to focus on the mental health needs of active duty, National Guard, and Reserve service personnel, as well as veterans and their families.

December 2011

The $125-million Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program requires soldiers to undergo the kind of mental pre-deployment tests and training that they have always had to undergo physically. Already, more than 1.1 million have had the mental assessments.

$11 million Department of Defense grant to test two different types of exposure therapy combined with the drug D-Cycloserine (DCS) for the treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).Emory University School of Medicine

March 2012

$3.5 million grant for a research project to more effectively treat post-traumatic stress disorder and ultimately prevent it from occurring.

May 2012

$10 million to outsource PTSD and TBI care. Congressmen Mike Thompson of California and Pete Sessions of Texas announced an amendment to create a five year “pilot program” to allow military patients to from civilian healthcare facilities. “Utilizing an array of leading-edge successful therapies to treat TBI and PTSD for the 2013 budget.

June 4, 2012

“Master Resilience Trainer” is placed into an Army unit after 10 days of training. They were “charged with equipping fellow soldiers with thinking skills and strategies intended to help them more effectively handle the physical and psychological challenges of military life, including, most especially, combat operations.” The analysis added this, “However, the public that has paid over $100 million for the CSF program and, even more, the one million soldiers who are involuntarily subjected to CSF’s resiliency training deserve much better than the misrepresentations of effectiveness aggressively promoted.”

$31 million no-bid contract to Seligman’s positive psychology center at the University of Pennsylvania for CSF development

June 12, 2012

The Pentagon has not spent much of some $8 million Congress has provided for suicide prevention because the funds are allocated only for “in-house,” or hospital, care — not education and outreach programs, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

July 2012

Army Comprehensive Soldier Fitness is a $125 million program that seeks to make troops as psychologically fit as possible. But a group of psychologists says there’s no proof that the program — or similar resilience-building efforts in the other services — works.

August 18, 2012

Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act Signed Authorization of Appropriations.--For the purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2005, $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, and $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2007.''. 108th Congress Public Law 355 The US Army has awarded a scientist at the Indiana University School of Medicine $3 million to develop a nasal spray that eclipses suicidal thoughts. Dr. Michael Kubek and his research team will have three years to ascertain whether the nasal spray is a safe and effective method of preventing suicides. US Army grants $3 million for anti-suicide nasal spray research

August 2012

UCLA School of Dentistry, has received a $3.8 million research grant to develop a salivary-biomarker approach for identifying individuals at future risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder and depression following a traumatic event.

Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center a five-year grant of $4.1 million to establish an Injury Control Research Center for Suicide Prevention (ICRC-S).

$2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study the effect of the Transcendental Meditation

Sept. 2012

VA, DOD to Fund $100 Million PTSD and TBI Study From a Department of Veterans Affairs News Release WASHINGTON, – The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense today announced they are investing more than $100 million in research to improve diagnosis and treatment of mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. This year, approximately 3,400 researchers will work on more than 2,300 projects with nearly $1.9 billion in funding. Specific information on the consortia, including the full description of each award, eligibility, and submission deadlines, and general application instructions, are posted on the Grants.gov and CDMRP websites.

Fort Detrick is receiving $100 million in federal grants to fund research into post-traumatic stress disorder and mild traumatic brain injury.

$7.7 million grant from the Department of Defense (DoD) to study the most effective way to implement Prolonged Exposure therapy, an effective and efficient treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), among mental health practitioners who treat soldiers suffering from this disorder.

October 31, 2012

Department of Defense Military Suicide Research Consortium decided they had $677,000 laying around and thought it would be good to spend in on finding out how 100 military families felt after the suicide loss of someone they loved and it would be worth the two years it would take thee the University of Kentucky to do it.