Seeing the Risks?

Having worked 20+ years for various veterans organizations, having numerous close friends in all branches of the Military and a very proud Army Wife, I have often wondered, why, especially today, why counseling is not yet just another mandatory step in post-deployment precedure? I think that the stigma of seeking counseling/PTSD needs to be addressed head-on. The only way you will ever truly rid the Military of that stigma is to make post-deployment counseling a mandatory step for everyone deployed, regardless of rank. This is not something they should ever feel ashamed of and you cannot single out any one person for something that everyone is doing. It should just go without saying. I've had too many friends and loved ones of all ranks who really did need it, tell me they would never seek it on their own, because of that very stigma. I think we owe it to our men and women in the Military to take the best possible care of them that we can and it's a shame that we make them have to ask for something that they so clearly deserve.

Sir,

I have been a proud member of the 10th Mountain Division for 4 years, and have deployed multiple times. My last 2 deployments were as an EOA, during these times I have worked with combat stress extensively both deployed and in garrison.

Here is what I believe it boils down to.

1ST: The stigma of seeking help. Many Soldiers believe that looking for help is giving the appearance of being weak. This needs to be looked at from the top down. I have sat in meeting with BDE Commanders and have heard them talk about using the resources available to Soldier to get back in the fight. Although some will not directly say they do not like the programs, mannerisms and body language say a lot more than direct words. When a BDE Commander puts the stigma out there, of course the BN Commanders are going to take the same mentality to there meetings and so forth.

2nd: A lot of leaders are not adequately prepared to deal with Soldier emotions. We need to seek the resources available to help our Soldiers. A lot of times Soldiers just need to know that we do listen and we do care, a simple "How are things going?" or "How is your family?" then actually sitting down and listening, is all it takes. Instead of treating it like the greeting of the day.

3rd: Some leaders need to adjust their leadership style, it doesnt always have to be, do as I say because I wear the rank. I see this leadership in a lot of NCO's that just don't understand their part as well. What happened to Be, Know, Do...I don't see us as a Army training our leaders to lead any more. We as leaders are coaches, mentors, and trainers, sometimes we need to sit our Soldiers down and let them know why things are the way they are. There are times we shouldnt have to explain ourselves, but if a Soldier understands their leader, then the Soldier trust that leader to make a decision in split second time if needed.

For some leaders, they may feel if they need to talk to their Soldiers instead of directing, they are weak. I believe the opposite it true, if you truly care for your Soldiers, your Soldiers will do anything you ask...and that will make you a strong leader.

I think you’re looking for something a little more direct than what most of these posts have supplied and the best part is that you already have access to it. PAINTBALL, I’ll explain. Some of you reading this may already be familiar with Warrior Adventure Quest (WAQ) which is embodied by MWR’s Adventure Training here on Ft Drum. The basic concept is to take soldiers returning from deployments and provide them with training in “high adrenaline” activities to allow for a positive outlet to the stresses soldiers face. Here’s why paintball is effective.

First, it more closely relates to the activities of a soldier than anything else out there. When individuals or even units take to a paintball field anyone observing them can assess many aspects of that individual or unit. I’ve seen privates take up the leadership of an entire platoon while NCO’s coward in fear and confusion. I’ve also seen our leaders prove themselves to men who have had their doubts. Paintball has a way of bringing out a person’s true essence.

The “rush” in paintball will typically last longer than any other “high adrenaline” activity and participates will burn that adrenaline during play. People who play paintball on a regular basis also talk about its calming effect. It may seem contradictory but there are studies that would support this. It’s also inherently safer than most other activities. Injury rates for paintball are lower than even common sports like golf, soccer, or even bowling.

Soldiers would rather play paintball than sit through another damned power point. Sometimes entire units pay entirely out of their own pockets to “play” and they weren’t out there just screwing around they were doing training. Movement to contact, evacuation under fire, and react to fire was just a few of the scenarios. One of the points I tried to get across at a meeting where we discussed “Battlemind”, was to bring the trainer to the paintball field and put their words into action. Not only to teach the soldiers, but also to observe them under “stress of fire”.

My last point is probably the most relevant to your question. Making paintball more available for the soldiers and units is a good way to help prevent further instances because twelve years ago I was that soldier and it helped me. When I got out we didn’t have all the tools and resources available now or at least I never saw any. Was I that former soldier who held a gun in his hands and thought about it? Yes I was. Did I go from job to job trying to find someplace my skills were actually useful and find myself unable to transfer my skills to the civilian world? Yes I did. Did I drive too fast, drink too much, and endanger others with my stupidity? Yes, yes and yes. Did I feel betrayed by the Army? Most definitely. Luckily for me a friend opened a paintball field and I became heavily involved. I won’t say that paintball was my savior, but more that it allowed me to do familiar things. To relate to civilians on “my ground”, to share my skills with others, and to simply be able talk to them about being a soldier. It put me in an environment where scanning for threats was acceptable behavior, the people around you didn’t look at you like a freak because you were always on edge, or where barking orders wasn’t just received with blank stares. I guess it allowed me to bridge the gap between my military life and my civilian one, instead of feeling like I was falling down a canyon, just waiting to hit bottom. It gave me purpose.

So in conclusion I’m just going to say that if you’re in a leadership position get your people out on the paintball field. And don’t just let them go, observe them, see what it tells you about your soldiers.

"DEEDS NOT WORDS"

I agree with a few of the posts about how a few of our soldiers are doing more harm than good and should have been put out of the Army long ago. I also agree with others that there has been a decline in the professionalism of our NCO’s. However I believe that problem stems more from the fact that these days our NCO’s have a constant foot on their throats. We’ve lost a lot of good NCO’s because of this and had to back fill with those who were just adequate enough to fill the slot. Those that have taken these slots are so busy trying to save their own necks that they don’t have time to keep tabs on their soldiers. In turn this has also caused a break down in the chain of command. When you can’t trust your subordinates to do the job then you’ve got three options, replace them, train them, or micromanage everything yourself. Unfortunately many of our senior NCO’s seem to have never taken a basic management course and chose the third option. This is where I believe the real break downs with our soldiers lie. Our low level NCO’s are the link to our EM’s. By constantly coming between them you’re severing their ability to maintain the troops. The chain of command works both ways. Not only should the NCO’s be the judge and executioner for those one step under them but also their protector from those over stepping their roles. If an NCO has a “problem child” they should be able to file for discharge. Not told he has to keep him in order to keep the numbers up. “One bad apple…” ”Plenty of fish…” These ring a bell? But if they have a damn good soldier then they should be able to protect them from all that stuff that rolls downhill. And those NCO’s in turn need to be protected from the BS by their supervisors not thrown to the wolves allowing them the time and energy to create bonds with their soldiers. Those bonds are where truth emerges. Those bonds are where you find out what your soldiers need. I not saying they have to like each other, but a soldier has to trust that what he says to his supervisor only goes that far. God knows, when I was a private I hated and/or feared most of my NCO’s but we respected them. When it came down to it we knew we could count on them and I like to believe they thought the same of us. When an NCO has to ask permission to take care of their soldiers it causes a lack of respect and trust. When a sergeant berates a subordinate with “Why’d you let him do that?” the correct response is “Because it was my decision to make, Sergeant.”

The basic premise is that if a soldier’s direct supervisor doesn’t have the trust of that soldier and the authority to do something about it. Then you’re never going to fix this problem. No matter how many “special programs” there are.

It’s time for some spring cleaning, with the unemployment rate the way it is, there’s going to be some people coming in with the skills we need. Let’s get back to promotions based on skill rather than just the need to fill a slot.

It's pretty simple to me. Don't start with thugs and you won't end with thugs. Stop accepting felons into the army and you won't have to deal with their felonious behavior.

How about this? Start holding soldiers accountable. What happened to having to pay the concequenses for our actions? There are no consequences in the army. None, zero, nada.

If I did not hold my 17 year old accountable he would turn into a thug. I used to want him to enlist in the army. Not anymore. I no longer want him to be around the people that the army enlists into its ranks there days.

I have dealt very closely with the military for 25 years, and boy have things changed. There was a time when a soldier was respectful, yes ma'am, no sir. There was a time when a soldier wasn't allowed to wear his uniform off post. There was a time when a soldier wore his Class A's during pay day activities. There used to be Seargent's time. There used to be a time when a soldier was kicked out of the army if he got a DWI or was busted for using drugs. There was a time before the BOSS program when a soldier's leader knew how he lived. There was a time when a soldier would be knocked to the ground for talking back to his commanders.

Babying these guys will not keep them alive in a combat situation. Discipline and structure will. The job of a soldier is to fight wars. That is what the army is for. Period. These soldiers, especially with repeated deploymnets, need to be toughened back up.

Where did all the discipline and structure and accountability go? WHY did it all go away?

Sir,
I have noticed and with great concern,that the chain of command at company levels tend to be more concerned with having bodies in the field for training and deployment. I have witnessed soldiers be told they can not go to appointments, or to mental health,that they must be out in the field to train. I have see soldiers turned away at sick call,or their injuries/illnesses dismissed quickly during sick call.
There is not only a "stigma" on mental health issues,but a blantent disregard by the chain of command for soldiers well being, Just so they have their numbers, long deployments, followed by 10+ hour days,days on end training less time with families or to decompress.
I have seen it and personally tried to intervene a few times only to be ignored.
When the company chain of command and NCOs start taking things seriously, the better things will get.

In response to the outgoing commander's post (specifically that which relates to the SJAs role) in the lack of discipline in his old unit, I would offer up that he assess his Sr NCOs, Jr NCOs and officers. While most are quick to toot their own horns as far as how great they are or how they care for Soldiers, often times these leaders are outthe door at the end of the day and not giving a second thought to the PVT in the barracks with nothing but time on his hands.
I would ask him to honestly assess when any of the unit leadership had stopped in the barracks during a long weekend, holiday or leave just to check on the Soldiers, talk to them and see how they were doing (especially immediately before or after a deployment).
Perhaps if these folks in his unit were doing their jobs as leaders (and not just supervising these Soldiers during "normal" duty hours) the underage drinking and lack of discipline would not have been occurring at such a high rate.
The flip side of that would that Soldiers will be Soldiers. You can only train, lead and supervise Soldiers so much. Ultimately these Soldiers will do what they want to do regardless of the policies in place or the amount of supervision or assistance provided to them.

what kept our brave soldiers in all other wars so mentally strong?
their mothers raised them to be men as opposed to today when the idea of being a man is to understand the "plight of woman" here's the truth:
women stay home and men fight wars.

Sir,
I left 10th Mountain last April. While with 1st Brigade, I deployed to Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq twice. During Afghanistan I was diagnosed with depression. But nothing was done further. After the second time to Iraq I went to mental health. I was diagnosed with PTSD and depression. I received a hanful of celexa and ambien, then sent my way to PCS with no checks or balances to see if I continue with therapy or medication.
Coming and going to deployments we fill out a "Self Health Assessment". There is no hands-on by the so called experts. If the millitary really cared about Soldiers' mental health, it would revamp the system. But instead the millitary would rather go on the defensive when someone commits suicide or goes on a killing spree.

Thank you, Sir, for asking the question, but I think it's pretty clear that the approach the Army's taking, with regards to mental health, is a big part of the problem.

I mean, as an institution, we focus almost nothing on maintining the overall wellness, or emotional well-being of our soldiers, or their families, short of 'lip-service'. We have the odd management seminar, wallet sized top-ten list of warning signs, and, of course, the current fix (ASIST) was, if I remember correctly, was initially developed to teach 5th graders how to cope with stress in the classroom. Is this the best we can do?

It's a great start, but the majority of the focus, it seems to me, continues to be on fixing problems: we have training NCOs, Legal Specialists, Chaplains, etc., but nobody at the unit level trained to provide an unbiased, focused, metric driven assessment of a soldier's wellness. I mean, if the army were serious about fixing this problem, I think it needs to start with a new MOS (or skill identifier) focused on providing support, at the unit level, in the delivery of timely assessments, and trained in the development of individual psychological profiles that gauge the over-all wellness, and mission readiness of the soldier. Support personnel trained in the development of meaningful metrics, analytics, and the reporting methodologies required to keep control structures ahead of this problem would seem to be the missing piece.

Currently, the onus seems to be placed squarely on the shoulders of the very NCOs responsible for ensuring maximum stress levels, maximum performance, maximum focus. Let's face it, though, very few NCOs apply consistent methodolgies to accomplish these objectives. How, then, can we expect a cohesive approach to problems of this level of complexity? Additionally, if one of thier charges reaches 'the edge', it may be symptomatic of a deeper problem within their chain of command, but who makes the evaluation in these cases? What is the follow-up when the unthinkable occurs? What processes exists to ensure all steps that could be taken, were taken.

I mean, many of our soldiers are in Crisis, but they are conditioned to endure, to perservere. How can we expect them to know where the edge is, and how can we expect them to know at what point they need to reach out for help.

I'll leave you with quote from Hunter S. Thompson, "The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others-the living-are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later."

I'm currently on my third deployment. I've spent more time away from home these past few years than I've been home. The Army can only do so much when it comes to taking care of the soldiers. They offer everything from counseling and medical help to Training, classes and medication. The real problem is the individual soldier. An NCO can take a soldier to counseling for help but he can't make him take it seriously. That's beyond anyones ability. As far as making others liable for others actions has always been a sore spot for me. These leaders may have pushed him along from one job to the next but they didn't put the gun in his hand. That was his decision, his choice. Everyone is so worried about laying blame on someone else and not the person who actually did the crime.

Sir it is odd that you post this question on the 14th of January, a day that started off in relative peace and ended with the news that our Fort Drum community has lost another young Soldier.

I returned with 3/10 and while this is my first deployment with 10th MTN Division it is not my first in the military. The reverse processing and mental health screenings that we received are laughable. As a personal test of the system I answered all of my "counselors" questions with borderline answers that should ave indicated possible PTSD (at the very least warranting follow on questioning and appointments) I received absolutely no feedback nor further direct questioning or follow up appointments.

A good suggestion would be to read up on Brigadier General Sutton’s presentation: "Psychological Health and Stigma: DoD's Initiatives to Help Service Members and Their Families". I think this program would be better suited for returning Soldiers and their families than the current program in place on Fort Drum.

Very Respectfully,

A concerned NCO.

(Moderator Comment: This post has been edited in accordance with the Blog Comment Policy)

Here's a thought from a 10th Mountain Soldier. With constant deployments many people feel as though they need to "live it up" while they are here because they know the time at home is short lived. This leads to acting out, especially from the younger soldiers. You've probably heard this a thousand times, and I'm not saying it's right, but I understand the feeling of getting off the plane from a deployment and being told to start getting ready for the next one. It makes you feel hopeless.

I am the wife of a soldier. I see how the stresses directly effect my husband on a daily basis. I was diagnosed with cancer this deployment. My husband was sent back to help me, I saw him twice every other week for appts. In June, my husband was a figment of my imagination. Stressers with families, in one way or another causes some soldiers to go over the edge. They feel helpless and discouraged, because they can not do anything about it.

I do not believe there are such things as open door policies. Some of the things could be avoided, others not so much. I have noticed this past deployment that when an NCO has a bad day, whether he means to or not, he takes it out on his soldiers. I have also noticed instead of taking responsibility for bad actions, NCO's push it off on to lower enlisted. I believe a soldier is only as good as the leader he follows. We need good NCO's and command to lead the soldiers. Teach them a sense of living in the real world, so they know how to properly make good choices.

While I am in no position to venture a guess at what could be done to see the issues in time to prevent "bad things" from taking place, as a civilian and former enlisted Navy man, it's nice to see the the question arise in such an open forum. If it instills stigma of weakness to ask for help, which in our world is all too true, then I fear there are far too many soldiers in need of help, but have to pass the breaking point before they receive it, if even then.