A Flood of Troubled Soldiers is in the Offing, Experts Predict

[blue neen]

This article was front and center in today's Pittsburgh Post Gazette under the heading "Heavy Psychic Toll in Iraq War." Indeed. Bush and Co. have pushed our soldiers to the breaking point. And Rumsfeld is SOOO supportive!

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/16/national/16stress.html?hp&ex=1103259600&en=76ccd089725f8a3c&ei=5094&partner=homepage
<snip>

"There's a train coming that's packed with people who are going to need help for the next 35 years," says Stephen L. Robinson, a 20-year Army veteran who is now the executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, an advocacy group.

<snip>

"I have a very strong sense that the mental health consequences are going to be the medical story of this war," said Dr. Stephen C. Joseph, who served as the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs from 1994 to 1997.

What was planned as a short and decisive intervention in Iraq has become a grueling counterinsurgency that has put American troops into sustained close-quarters combat on a scale not seen since the Vietnam War. Psychiatrists say the kind of fighting seen in the recent retaking of Fallujah--spooky urban settings with unlimited hiding places; the impossibility of telling Iraqi friend from Iraqi foe; the knowledge that every stretch of road may conceal an explosive device--is tailored to produce the adrenaline-gone-haywire reactions that leave lasting emotional scars."

[noamnety]

1. That's not possible

Every soldier I see on CNN is happy to have his legs amputated, and would cheerfully go back again.

[justinsb]

2. Yeah, casualties are always under reported

My dad physicall came back from Veitnam, but then the flashbacks started - a helicopter would fly over or a car would backfire and he'd lose it. My parents were divorced when I was 2 and I rarely saw him at all after that - and he went through 30+ years of therapy. We've managed to become friends (but only after I was an adult). So, don't let the fact that they walk off the plane convince you that they made it home.

[pnutchuck]

15. A friend of mine was the only survivor in his team.

He spent 6 months in a military hospital in Kuwait, only to return to CA for the phsycho ward. He's been undergoing hypno therapy and has been in and out of the hospital for flipping out during his treatments. Another friend is having the same problems, but he's a career officer and has been warned not to seek treatment because the military is outing soldiers with phsych disabilies on medical discharges.

[blue neen]

19. But what happens to him if he doesn't seek treatment?

This is a medical problem. It doesn't go away on its own. Your friend needs medical treatment.

[pnutchuck]

22. He's an officer in the marines for the triage unit

if he takes the medical out, his career in the med field is ruined.

[blue neen]

24. He's between a rock and a hard place.

And Bush put him there. :(

[DeaconBlues]

3. The true cost of this war is invisible

We'll be paying it for a generation just like we did with Vietnam.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

11. More than a generation

according to this article: 35 years.
It is interesting the rise of the problem of homelessness in the 80's.
How many were Vietnam vets?
How many were just the "deinstitutionalized" of the Nixon/Ford era policy of doing so?

[keopeli]

12. Longer than that, my friend...much longer.

[Jo March]

4. We are going to start hearing about soldiers who kill their families

It happens. It's horrible but once you've gone through such a horrific event, it's hard to come back and be "normal" again. They won't be able to get the mental health care they need and they will snap.

I am beginning to despise Rummy as much as *.

[Selteri]

7. It already started 6 months ago

with a returned person going nuts and killing his girlfriend.

[pnutchuck]

17. Already happened

The government has been issuing an experimental malaria drug that has already caused the deaths of one soldier and his family. Apparently, the FDA warned of phsychotic behavior occurring with this drug and the US government completely ignored the findings. Soldiers have become suicidal and homicidal on this drug.
http://scoop.agonist.org/story/2004/6/25/9147/80892

[barb162]

5. On "Nightline" last night the whole show was on PTSD on this

war and how it is becoming way worse than others in that 1 of 6 soldiers is coming back with it. They said it was because of the no time out nature of this war, the guerilla fighters, suicide bombers, etc. Contrast that with WW2 where when you liberated a French town, then you could rest. In Iraq, the same actions mean you can get blown up by a suicide bomber the next day in the "liberated" town.

[blue neen]

10. That number could eventually climb to 1 in 3,

according to this article, which is the rate ultimately found in Vietnam veterans.

I'm glad "Nightline" did a show on PTSD. It's good that someone is paying attention. Too bad the administration isn't.

[barb162]

13. it was a pretty good show; they also had a group of soldiers

on who talked about it and how the military is so gung-ho you can't expect to advance if you say you want counselling on it. Then they had the West Point psychiatrist talk about it and how it has to be treated or else the soldier will never get well by himself, the duty the country owes to the soldiers that if we train them to kill then we have to retrain and counsel them when they get back of the unnatural nature and expectations of what we wanted them to do, etc.

[keopeli]

14. F**K Nightline...f**king panderers. Why do you listen to them?

[blue neen]

16. Do explain, please.

[saigon68]

6. THE CRAZED VET SNIPER IN A TALL BUILDING

Coming SOON to a City near YOU !!!!!!

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Drug-crazed baby-killers, all of them.

-Ex-Sp4 Jackpine
1st Cav '67-68

[saigon68]

21. Wait until the VA denies them benefits

And they get evicted from the flop-house

USED UP THROWN AWAY

THEY WILL "GET EVEN"

[catmandu57]

23. During the first Fallujah excursion

A marine sniper was interviewed, this kid had killed hundreds of people, he is good at that. This kid is going to come home someday, and I don't want to be anywhere near him.

[saigon68]

27. killing hundreds of people --- Hmmm

I'l bet he killed children by aiming lower.

The point is he will be someone's neighbor.

I sure wouldn't want to piss him off.

[catmandu57]

36. He killed anything that moved

women and children and I would'nt want to be anywhere this guy is after he comes home and discovers the world of shit that is waiting.

[tngledwebb]

9. Did 'experts' need to be consulted?

Anyone who has known war first or second or third hand would been able to predict the same.

[RuleofLaw]

18. I am wondering how this

will affect the Iraqis. I have heard that one of the big problems in the Israel-Palestine conflict is the fact that you have generations of children growing up knowing nothing but war.

That many of the children in war zones are scared for life and will never be able to live a "normal" life, whatever that means.

[tngledwebb]

20. The horrors of Iraq will be comparable to the horrors of Vietnam.

And their contempt for America may last longer.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

25. Look at Afghanistan as an example

For what a few decades of war, the decimation of the male adult population, and PTSD from birth will do to a nation.

[KingChicken]

26. The Pentagon even dismisses the psychological torment of the soldiers...

They lie about EVERYTHING, even claiming that psychological situation is ok and won't be a problem. Telling soldiers that they have no reason to be mentally fucked after the war is no way to help these guys get over their problems.

The millitary will once again turn their backs on the people who served in this war. The U.S. government could care less about the well being of the soldiers at home or abroad.

[clem_c_rock]

29. Not only do they come back f'd in the head - they are coming back homeless

http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/1141932.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=247816&page=1

Someday the rednecks and bible freaks will send Bush to hell.

Too bad it will be after their homeless, jobless, and their kids are dead....

[zulchzulu]

28. I know someone whose son is now a NUTJOB since returning from Iraq

He has been going to psychiatric session three times a day for seven days a week and will not get official military psychiatric support until February. He is suicidal, can't sleep and is half the person he was before he went over there.

All he can remember is how many dead babies were EVERYWHERE. He killed at least a few dozen people personally, saw many of his friends get maimed and a few die right in front of him.

He is in the National Guard and never knew that he would have been sent over to Hell when he signed up. He is basically fried. It's a shame and his family is utterly depressed. They liked Bush before but want to personally wring his neck now.

[clem_c_rock]

30. Unfortunately, this is what it takes for people to wake up sometimes

The good news is that there's forums like this and more people are getting their news from places like this.

Burn the TV and the NYTimes!

[blue neen]

33. I hope his family will someday be able to have their son

be whole again. This freaking Iraq scenario is a tragedy and a travesty for everyone involved.

[zulchzulu]

38. I'm afraid it will take years for the guy to recover...if ever...

Many of these soldiers didn't have the Marine training to deal with death and war. They were trained to take care of forest fires, crowd control, water disasters...not to have their targets on their backs as they drive Humvees with crappy protection in an urban warfare environment.

I sure hope he recovers as best as possible. His family and other loved ones are devastated. And to think this is just one soldier of thousands.

He is haunted by seeing Hell. I can't imagine what that would be like.

[blue neen]

39. My son is 21. He has friends in Iraq right now.

They joined the Reserves because they had no other way to pay for college. They graduated from high school in June of 2001 with wonderful futures ahead of them. Bush and Co. sure ruined that for these young people.

I am desperately afraid of a draft. I feel it is inevitable and have been urging my son to start a Conscientious Objector file.

[zulchzulu]

40. I hope your son and his friends are OK

The person I mentioned is 26.

I haven't met him, but according to my friend, he USED to be a fun-loving guy in the same situation with having to sign up to get money for college. Now, he needs to see a shrink three times a day to just deal with making it through a day alive. There is such a backlog that the military support is months away.

I'm afraid there will be a draft too. That seems pretty inevitable if you have your ear to the ground and hear rumors about invading Iran in the spring.

Chimpy won't mind that at all. Maybe the coward will get a new War jacket.

[Just Me]

31. Psychological injury ruins the quality of life as bad as physical injury.

There are studies being conducted where an attempt to literally "erase" certain memories may be possible through pinpoint electrical stimulation.

Of course, "erasing" memories is kinda' a spooky remedy as well as the electrical interference with brain function.

These psychic wounds are permanent injuries and the only treatment right now are coping skills,...coping with a permanent traumatic file in the mind,...and medication.

Very sad casualty of forced violence.

:cry:

[catzies]

37. Is it me or does"pinpoint electrical stimulation" sound like electroshock?

Absolutely tragic.

[carolinayellowdog]

32. Morning Edition had a segment on NY soldiers returning to Iraq

and the tone was decidedly critical of the administration and the stresses on the soldiers and families

http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=4230949

[fishnfla]

34. For What? History will prove this war was prosecuted on a grudge

Thats gonna grind on on the Vets, I think, Shrub is a bigger threat to our country than SH ever was.

[leesa]

35. So sad. How do they come to terms with slaughtering people

in an unprovoked invasion for oil and power?