BlogHer - Army hiring 25% more psych workers because of Iraq - Comments

do you think this will help?

osaya — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 06:58:39 -0500

it'd be better if we stopped this war instead.
osaya

hiring...

Morra Aarons Mele — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 17:07:27 -0500

I do think this whole sad process had changed our cultural view towards soldiers' struggles, both physical (as seen with Walter Reed) and emotional..

Thank Goodness

Creatively Belle — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 19:04:04 -0500

What a relief that action is apparently being taken to help care for the mental health and heal the traumas caused by the war. Maybe some lessons were actually learned from the Vietnam war.

Are they actually hiring (not sure if this will happen really) enough mental health workers?

Will this bring about a cultural change towards acceptance of the harm war causes to the soldiers? Will it change the cultural view within the armed forces towards seeking help and healing? Here's hoping it will.

Belinda
Earring Holders and Fashion Jewelery with Creatively Belle

This is just so sad

Kalyn Denny — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:48:42 -0500

On the one hand, I'm certainly glad they are getting help for these soldiers. But how sad that our government has created a horrible situation which is causing so much harm, and no one seems to be willing to end it.

My heart aches when I read things like the post from Penny Coleman. I was involved for many years with a man who was a Vietnam vet and refused to get counseling. He was completely screwed up by that war, and now a whole new generation of men and women are being damaged.

Recently I was visiting my father and stepmother, both in their 80's. They are Republicans and I'm sure voted for Bush, but we were discussing the war and my dad said "We have nowhere to go but up in the Presidential department" and my stepmother (usually not outspoken, especially about politics) said "All his high-minded principles didn't amount to much, did they?"

Not that it helps the soldier a single bit, but it makes me feel a little better that people are waking up.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Army hiring 25% more psych workers because of Iraq

Morra Aarons Mele — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 10:15:25 -0500

Overwhelmed by the number of soldiers returning from war with mental
problems, the Army is planning to hire more than 25 percent additional psychiatrists and other medical workers.

As Moondanzer (her son is in law is in Iraq) writes on Moon's Rants and Raves

And just think it only took our great leaders 5+ years(not counting the Viet Nam nightmare) to figure this out. I only hope to God that they are also going to supply President Bush, Cheney, and Rove with a psychiatrist. Because God knows they need something!

Must-read: this post from Penny Coleman:

It is only recently that I have come to think of myself as a war widow. When my husband Daniel came home from Vietnam in 1970, the relationship between combat-related stress and suicide was officially unrecognized. When Daniel took his own life, it never occurred to me to blame the war.

More from the AP:

A contract finalized this week but not yet announced calls for spending $33
million to add about 200 psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers to
help soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health
needs, officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. Ritchie (Col. Elspeth Ritchie, psychiatry consultant to the Army surgeon general) said long and repeat deployments caused by extended wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are causing more mental strain on troops. "At the time that the war began, I don't think anybody anticipated how long it would be going on," she said.

Surveys of troops in Iraq have shown that 15 percent to 20 percent of Army soldiers have signs and symptoms of post-traumatic stress, which can cause flashbacks of traumatic combat experiences and other severe reactions.

About 35 percent of soldiers are seeking some kind of mental health treatment a year after returning home under a program that screens returning troops for physical and mental health.

As we've been discussing on this blog for months, this issue has been brewing for years now but like Iraq, it seems unsolvable even with additional staff. The Walter Reed scandal brought like to the dire situations of many vets, but mental health continues to be a sticky discussion point in this country, even when the numbers prove soldiers' mental health cannot be ignored. NPR has not ignored the dire straits of many returning vets. Hat tip to Christy Hardin Smith for links to the exceptional reporting from Daniel Zwerdling has kept listeners informed of this terrible saga. Take a listen.