By: Associated Press
Mild brain injuries — once considered an under-recognized problem in returning military troops — are being overdiagnosed because the government is using soft criteria instead of hard medical evidence, an Army doctor and two other officials contend.
The three are taking aim at Department of Veterans Affairs’ rule for treating such veterans and determining disability pay. They want to call many mild cases “concussions” rather than “brain injuries.” They say the latter implies an ongoing, incompletely healed problem rather than a temporary one that’s in the past.
“I think it’s fair to say there’s overdiagnosis of concussions going on,” said Dr. Charles Hoge, a top Army psychiatrist. He’s one of three authors of an article published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.
Some veterans groups applaud efforts to better diagnose traumatic brain injuries, but say it’s more likely that the military has been undertreating the problem.
“It stretches credulity to believe that all the people who have suffered traumatic brain injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan are getting the treatment they need. That’s a laughable notion,” said Jason Forrester, director of policy at Veterans for America, an advocacy group.
The military defines a concussion — or mild traumatic brain injury — as a blow or jolt to the head that caused loss of consciousness, altered consciousness or amnesia. Most are due to pressure waves from being near bomb blasts.
Flawed questionnaire
More than 300,000 U.S. veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have suffered head injuries, many of them concussions that have gone untreated, according to a Rand Corp. study released last year.
Part of that estimate stems from a questionnaire given to service members as they finish their deployment, which may be months after a blow or jolt occurred, Hoge and his colleagues wrote. Service members can’t always get a thorough medical assessment on the battlefield.
According to the authors, here’s the problem: The questionnaire asks whether the person became dazed or confused at the time of an injury or blast, and it attributes such symptoms to concussion.
But a soldier can become dazed from stress, lack of sleep, the confusion of war, or other causes, they argue. In fact, Hoge published a study last year in the New England journal showing that many brain injury symptoms were actually due to post-traumatic stress syndrome, or PTSD.
The Rand study said some troops may incorrectly blame their problems on head injuries.
Trained doctors should be able to sort out the cause of symptoms. But Hoge and his colleagues argue that a concussion diagnosis can still occur, because of subjectivity and the fuzzy concussion definition.
“The problem is we’re attempting to measure concussion many months after injury,” said Hoge, director of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md. He wrote the article with Herb Goldberg, a communications specialist at Walter Reed, and Carl Castro, a psychologist at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command at Fort Detrick, Md.
The questionnaire should be revised and questions should be asked closer to the time of the incident, the authors said, and the military should refine its definition of concussion. They feel “concussion” better reflects the mild nature of the injury and promotes an expectation of recovery.
“It’s a very, very, very mild physical injury” that often doesn’t need medical treatment, Castro said.
Disability category
The VA last year created a disability category for residual effects of traumatic brain injury that was based on subjective, poorly defined symptoms, Castro and his colleagues argued. More scientific diagnosis criteria are needed “to ensure that disability regulations do not generate disability,” the authors wrote.
Treatment of mild traumatic brain injuries can cost up to $32,000 per case, the Rand report said. But if the diagnosis is wrong, patients are exposed to drug side effects and other risks, according to Hoge.
VA officials issued a statement this week saying they are proud of their efforts to treat traumatic brain injuries. Forrester, the veterans advocate, said estimates of concussions are probably low because some service members fear that being diagnosed with a neurological or psychological problem would hamper a military career.
Better assessment is needed for a complicated problems, he added. “These are the most difficult, thorny wounds of war,” he said.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Suicide Risk Doubles with Insomnia
By: Reuters
People who suffer chronic sleep problems are more likely to think about suicide or actually try to kill themselves, researchers said on Wednesday.
The more types of sleep disturbances a person had — such as waking up too early, difficulty falling asleep or lying awake at night — upped the odds of suicidal thoughts, planning a suicide, or attempting it, researchers told a conference.
"People with two or more sleep symptoms were 2.6 times more likely to report a suicide attempt than those without any insomnia complaints," Marcin Wojnar, a researcher at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and the Medical University of Poland, who led the study, said in a statement.
"This has implications for public health as the presence of sleep problems should alert doctors to assess such patients for a heightened risk of suicide even if they don't have a psychiatric condition."
According to the World Health Organization, some 877,000 people worldwide kill themselves each year. For every suicide death, anywhere from 10 to 40 attempts are made, the U.N. agency estimates.
Scientists have linked sleep disturbances to increased suicidal risk in people with psychiatric disorders and in adolescents but it is unclear whether the association also exists in the general population, the researchers said.
In the study presented at the World Psychiatric Association International Congress in Florence, Italy, Wojnar and colleagues looked at the relationship between sleep problems and suicidal behaviors among 5,692 U.S. men and women.
About a third of the volunteers reported at least one type of sleep disturbance over the preceding year, which included either difficulty falling asleep, trouble staying asleep or waking at least two hours earlier than desired.
After adjusting for factors such as substance abuse and depression as well as for the influence of age, gender, marital and financial status, the researchers found the most consistent suicide link with waking up early.
People who reported that problem were twice as likely to have had suicidal thoughts or planned a suicide and were nearly three times more likely to have tried to kill themselves.
The researchers do not know exactly why, but said lack of sleep may affect cognitive function and lead to poorer judgment and increased hopelessness. A malfunction involving the brain chemical serotonin may also play a role, Wojnar added.
"Our findings also raise the possibility that addressing sleep problems could reduce the risk of suicidal behaviors," Wojnar said.
People who suffer chronic sleep problems are more likely to think about suicide or actually try to kill themselves, researchers said on Wednesday.
The more types of sleep disturbances a person had — such as waking up too early, difficulty falling asleep or lying awake at night — upped the odds of suicidal thoughts, planning a suicide, or attempting it, researchers told a conference.
"People with two or more sleep symptoms were 2.6 times more likely to report a suicide attempt than those without any insomnia complaints," Marcin Wojnar, a researcher at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and the Medical University of Poland, who led the study, said in a statement.
"This has implications for public health as the presence of sleep problems should alert doctors to assess such patients for a heightened risk of suicide even if they don't have a psychiatric condition."
According to the World Health Organization, some 877,000 people worldwide kill themselves each year. For every suicide death, anywhere from 10 to 40 attempts are made, the U.N. agency estimates.
Scientists have linked sleep disturbances to increased suicidal risk in people with psychiatric disorders and in adolescents but it is unclear whether the association also exists in the general population, the researchers said.
In the study presented at the World Psychiatric Association International Congress in Florence, Italy, Wojnar and colleagues looked at the relationship between sleep problems and suicidal behaviors among 5,692 U.S. men and women.
About a third of the volunteers reported at least one type of sleep disturbance over the preceding year, which included either difficulty falling asleep, trouble staying asleep or waking at least two hours earlier than desired.
After adjusting for factors such as substance abuse and depression as well as for the influence of age, gender, marital and financial status, the researchers found the most consistent suicide link with waking up early.
People who reported that problem were twice as likely to have had suicidal thoughts or planned a suicide and were nearly three times more likely to have tried to kill themselves.
The researchers do not know exactly why, but said lack of sleep may affect cognitive function and lead to poorer judgment and increased hopelessness. A malfunction involving the brain chemical serotonin may also play a role, Wojnar added.
"Our findings also raise the possibility that addressing sleep problems could reduce the risk of suicidal behaviors," Wojnar said.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Former Marine Reservist in Standoff and at Large
By: Joe Rodriguez, San Jose Mercury News
A 35-year-old man apparently slipped away before San Jose police could surround the house in which he had threatened to kill himself Saturday.
After receiving a call from the man late Saturday night, police officers entered the home on Hillsdale Avenue and found assault rifles.
The man remains at large. Police have declined to identify the man until they determine whether he committed any crimes.
The standoff "is resolved,'' Sgt. Ronnie Lopez said Sunday, but officers would continue to search for him and for evidence of criminal activity in the house.
"At this point we're not considering him armed and dangerous," Lopez said.
Neighbors were asked to evacuate and the street had been closed Saturday from about dawn to 11 p.m.
Family members told the Mercury News the man is a former Marine reservist who was distraught about losing his tile business and other financial troubles. He reportedly pointed a gun at his head early Saturday and told his fiancee and mother that he was going to "off myself,'' or force the police to kill him.
Lopez said police heard what sounded like a single shot from inside the house as they began to cordon off the area.
"We treated him like a barricade suspect,'' Lopez said, adding that officers tried to contact him several ways and deployed loud "noise flash devices.''
However, Lopez said, police now think he slipped out of the house while the police were securing the area. He called them about 9 p.m. from a phone near a local video store and gave police permission to enter the home. As many as three assault rifles were found inside.
Police rushed to the pay phone from which he had called but did not find him.
San Jose police remained patient during the standoff after last weekend's tragedy in Oakland, when a Special Weapons and Tactics team entered a house with a heavily armed suspect who had already killed two officers. Two more officers were killed in the ill-fated entry.
A 35-year-old man apparently slipped away before San Jose police could surround the house in which he had threatened to kill himself Saturday.
After receiving a call from the man late Saturday night, police officers entered the home on Hillsdale Avenue and found assault rifles.
The man remains at large. Police have declined to identify the man until they determine whether he committed any crimes.
The standoff "is resolved,'' Sgt. Ronnie Lopez said Sunday, but officers would continue to search for him and for evidence of criminal activity in the house.
"At this point we're not considering him armed and dangerous," Lopez said.
Neighbors were asked to evacuate and the street had been closed Saturday from about dawn to 11 p.m.
Family members told the Mercury News the man is a former Marine reservist who was distraught about losing his tile business and other financial troubles. He reportedly pointed a gun at his head early Saturday and told his fiancee and mother that he was going to "off myself,'' or force the police to kill him.
Lopez said police heard what sounded like a single shot from inside the house as they began to cordon off the area.
"We treated him like a barricade suspect,'' Lopez said, adding that officers tried to contact him several ways and deployed loud "noise flash devices.''
However, Lopez said, police now think he slipped out of the house while the police were securing the area. He called them about 9 p.m. from a phone near a local video store and gave police permission to enter the home. As many as three assault rifles were found inside.
Police rushed to the pay phone from which he had called but did not find him.
San Jose police remained patient during the standoff after last weekend's tragedy in Oakland, when a Special Weapons and Tactics team entered a house with a heavily armed suspect who had already killed two officers. Two more officers were killed in the ill-fated entry.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Can Ecstasy Help Soldiers with PTSD?
By: Reuters
The drug MDMA — better known as the illegal recreational drug "Ecstasy" — may help people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) recover, a Norwegian research team suggests.
They say the effect of MDMA should allow PTSD patients bond more easily with their therapists, take control of their emotions, and re-learn how to respond to past trauma.
People with PTSD "are usually running away from what they experienced as very scary, and then they never have this inhibition learning, this fear-learning," Pal-Orjan Johansen of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim commented to Reuters Health. "When the clients are getting MDMA we believe it is easier for them. It becomes more bearable, it becomes easier to regulate, to be in the situation and not run away."
A couple of small studies in which people with PTSD were given MDMA in addition to standard therapy have had promising results, Johansen and his colleague Teri Krebs, a graduate student in neuroscience at the university, note in their report in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. Meanwhile, three controlled clinical trials of MDMA plus therapy are now underway.
A minority of people will develop PTSD after surviving traumatic events, such as being raped or serving in combat. They will continually re-experience the traumatic event in an intrusive way, while trying to avoid things that will trigger these memories or remind them of the traumatic experience.
Currently, the standard treatment for PTSD is extinction-based exposure therapy, in which a therapist guides the person to revisit the traumatic memories repeatedly, until he or she is able to experience them without fear. However, more than 40% of people still have PTSD after undergoing this treatment.
In their article, the researchers describe three mechanisms for how MDMA might benefit people who aren't cured by therapy alone, and even speed up treatment and make it more effective.
'Cuddle chemical' reduces fear, boosts trust
First, they say, MDMA drug triggers the release of oxytocin, the so-called "cuddle chemical," which reduces fear while boosting trust. This could make it easier for PTSD victims to build a strong relationship with their therapist — which is key to treatment success.
Second, the drug could help re-balance the dysfunctional relationship between two brain regions seen in people with PTSD. These individuals show excessive activation of the amygdala and less activity in the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC).
"The amygdala is the most connected region of your brain, it's doing a lot of stuff, it's really important for emotional regulation and triggering emotional responses to fear," Krebs explained in an interview. In a healthy person's brain, the amygdala and vmPFC are in "constant communication," she added, but in PTSD the overactive amygdala may overpower the vmPFC, making it much more difficult for a person to control their emotional responses to traumatic memories, while making it harder for them to confront these memories.
The opposite occurs when a person takes MDMA, according to Krebs; his or her amygdala activity is dampened down, while the vmPFC becomes more active. This could help a person feel more in control and better able to revisit traumatic memories, the researchers say.
Finally, Krebs and Johansen say, MDMA boosts the release of norepinephrine and cortisol, brain chemicals that are essential for emotional learning. Sedative drugs like Valium are sometimes given to people with PTSD, the researchers note, and these may actually blunt the effectiveness of therapy by completely wiping out the stress response to fearful memories, which is needed for re-learning to occur.
The current report is meant to provide a "framework" for researchers interested in investigating how MDMA might help people with PTSD and other anxiety-related conditions, said Krebs, who with Johansen has received a grant from the Research Council of Norway to investigate the topic. "What we'd really like to see is more research in this area."
The drug MDMA — better known as the illegal recreational drug "Ecstasy" — may help people with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) recover, a Norwegian research team suggests.
They say the effect of MDMA should allow PTSD patients bond more easily with their therapists, take control of their emotions, and re-learn how to respond to past trauma.
People with PTSD "are usually running away from what they experienced as very scary, and then they never have this inhibition learning, this fear-learning," Pal-Orjan Johansen of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim commented to Reuters Health. "When the clients are getting MDMA we believe it is easier for them. It becomes more bearable, it becomes easier to regulate, to be in the situation and not run away."
A couple of small studies in which people with PTSD were given MDMA in addition to standard therapy have had promising results, Johansen and his colleague Teri Krebs, a graduate student in neuroscience at the university, note in their report in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. Meanwhile, three controlled clinical trials of MDMA plus therapy are now underway.
A minority of people will develop PTSD after surviving traumatic events, such as being raped or serving in combat. They will continually re-experience the traumatic event in an intrusive way, while trying to avoid things that will trigger these memories or remind them of the traumatic experience.
Currently, the standard treatment for PTSD is extinction-based exposure therapy, in which a therapist guides the person to revisit the traumatic memories repeatedly, until he or she is able to experience them without fear. However, more than 40% of people still have PTSD after undergoing this treatment.
In their article, the researchers describe three mechanisms for how MDMA might benefit people who aren't cured by therapy alone, and even speed up treatment and make it more effective.
'Cuddle chemical' reduces fear, boosts trust
First, they say, MDMA drug triggers the release of oxytocin, the so-called "cuddle chemical," which reduces fear while boosting trust. This could make it easier for PTSD victims to build a strong relationship with their therapist — which is key to treatment success.
Second, the drug could help re-balance the dysfunctional relationship between two brain regions seen in people with PTSD. These individuals show excessive activation of the amygdala and less activity in the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC).
"The amygdala is the most connected region of your brain, it's doing a lot of stuff, it's really important for emotional regulation and triggering emotional responses to fear," Krebs explained in an interview. In a healthy person's brain, the amygdala and vmPFC are in "constant communication," she added, but in PTSD the overactive amygdala may overpower the vmPFC, making it much more difficult for a person to control their emotional responses to traumatic memories, while making it harder for them to confront these memories.
The opposite occurs when a person takes MDMA, according to Krebs; his or her amygdala activity is dampened down, while the vmPFC becomes more active. This could help a person feel more in control and better able to revisit traumatic memories, the researchers say.
Finally, Krebs and Johansen say, MDMA boosts the release of norepinephrine and cortisol, brain chemicals that are essential for emotional learning. Sedative drugs like Valium are sometimes given to people with PTSD, the researchers note, and these may actually blunt the effectiveness of therapy by completely wiping out the stress response to fearful memories, which is needed for re-learning to occur.
The current report is meant to provide a "framework" for researchers interested in investigating how MDMA might help people with PTSD and other anxiety-related conditions, said Krebs, who with Johansen has received a grant from the Research Council of Norway to investigate the topic. "What we'd really like to see is more research in this area."
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Long Deployments to Blame for Increased Army Suicides?
By: Associated Press
A top Army commander said Wednesday the strain of long and repeated deployments was a big factor in the spike in suicides among Army personnel.
"It's a stressed and tired force," Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee. He noted that some troops remain on 15-month deployments to Iraq that won't end until later this year.
"We can do a lot, but we can't control the demand, and we expect the demand for all of 2009 and into 2010," Chiarelli said.
Last year, the Army had 140 suspected suicides among active-duty troops, an all-time high. It reported 24 suspected suicides in January, followed by 18 suspected last month. Each military branch, however, saw an increase in the number of suicides among its ranks from 2007 to 2008.
Chiarelli vowed to tackle the problem aggressively by looking for ways to mitigate the stress on soldiers and eliminate the stigma associated with getting mental health help. One thing he was doing, he said, was receiving a briefing on the circumstances leading up to every suicide, so he can better understand the problem.
He said suicide is having an impact on every segment of the Army, affecting soldiers of all ranks and both men and women. He said about two-thirds of those who had committed suicide last year were either deployed or had deployed. A vast majority, he said, were dealing with some type of relationship problem, and many had legal, financial or occupational difficulties.
Top officers from each of the other branches joined Chiarelli. Each said a shortage of mental health workers was a problem.
Sen. Ben Nelson who chaired the hearing, said the rise in suicides shows that "despite the services' best efforts, there is still more to be done to prevent military suicides."
At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Army is confronting suicides forcefully. He said repeated and long deployments take a toll.
"What I am told is that one of the principal causes of suicide among our men and women in uniform is broken relationships," Gates said during a news conference. "And it's hard not to imagine that repeated deployments don't have an impact on those relationships."
A top Army commander said Wednesday the strain of long and repeated deployments was a big factor in the spike in suicides among Army personnel.
"It's a stressed and tired force," Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee. He noted that some troops remain on 15-month deployments to Iraq that won't end until later this year.
"We can do a lot, but we can't control the demand, and we expect the demand for all of 2009 and into 2010," Chiarelli said.
Last year, the Army had 140 suspected suicides among active-duty troops, an all-time high. It reported 24 suspected suicides in January, followed by 18 suspected last month. Each military branch, however, saw an increase in the number of suicides among its ranks from 2007 to 2008.
Chiarelli vowed to tackle the problem aggressively by looking for ways to mitigate the stress on soldiers and eliminate the stigma associated with getting mental health help. One thing he was doing, he said, was receiving a briefing on the circumstances leading up to every suicide, so he can better understand the problem.
He said suicide is having an impact on every segment of the Army, affecting soldiers of all ranks and both men and women. He said about two-thirds of those who had committed suicide last year were either deployed or had deployed. A vast majority, he said, were dealing with some type of relationship problem, and many had legal, financial or occupational difficulties.
Top officers from each of the other branches joined Chiarelli. Each said a shortage of mental health workers was a problem.
Sen. Ben Nelson who chaired the hearing, said the rise in suicides shows that "despite the services' best efforts, there is still more to be done to prevent military suicides."
At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Army is confronting suicides forcefully. He said repeated and long deployments take a toll.
"What I am told is that one of the principal causes of suicide among our men and women in uniform is broken relationships," Gates said during a news conference. "And it's hard not to imagine that repeated deployments don't have an impact on those relationships."
Army Stop-Loss May Be Coming to an End
By: Associated Press
The Army this summer will start cutting back on use of the unpopular practice of holding troops beyond their enlistment dates and hopes to almost completely eliminate it in two years.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, though, it may never be possible to completely get rid of the policy called "stop-loss," under which some 13,000 soldiers whose time is already up are still being forced to continue serving.
"I felt, particularly in these numbers, that it was breaking faith," Gates told a Pentagon press conference.
Though officials have the legal power to involuntarily extend soldier's service, "I believe that when somebody's end date of service comes, to hold them against their will, if you will, is just not the right thing to do," he said.
He said that he hoped any future use after 2011 would only be in "scores, not thousands."
Critics have called "stop-loss" a backdoor draft because it keeps troops in the military beyond their retirement or re-enlistment dates. But the military has said it's a necessary tool to keep unit cohesion in times of war and to keep soldiers with certain skills needed in those units.
Soldiers and their families strongly dislike stop-loss and it was the title of a 2008 Hollywood movie in which a soldier who served in Iraq goes AWOL rather than following orders to stay longer in the service and go again.
'Victory for soldiers'
Rep. John Murtha said earlier Wednesday that the military also had agreed to begin $500 monthly payments to troops still forced to stay in service beyond their retirement or enlistment terms.
The payments are planned to soften the effects of the practice, which makes it impossible for troops to make lasting work and family plans.
"This is a victory for soldiers and their families," Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., said. "After months and often years of risking their lives, our troops deserve to know when they will return home. The military made a deal with our men and women in uniform and will now live up to that commitment."
The policy can keep a soldier in service if his or her unit deploys within 90 days of the end of the soldier's commitment. The Army has said 1 percent of the Army is affected by the forced extensions. As of January, the roughly 13,000 soldiers on stop-loss included 7,300 active-duty Army, about 4,450 in the Guard and 1,450 reservists.
Effective this month, troops will get $500-per-month payments for extending their service and it will be made retroactive for those who were on the stop-loss roles as of last Oct. 1. Payments before were not possible, officials said, because Congress did not appropriate funds for that. The costs for the payments for the budget year that began Oct. 1, 2008, are about $72 million.
Not without risks
Under the Army plan approved by Gates, the Army Reserve in August will begin mobilizing units that don't include stop-loss soldiers and the Guard in September will do the same.
The active duty Army is to deploy its first unit without stop-loss in January, he said.
Though the practice has been virtually ended in all other service branches, the Army said it still needed to use it because of the severe strain it has been under fighting the two ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Officials say it is possible to gradually reduce the number of stop-loss soldiers now because the Army has grown, retention is good, because of the drawdown in Iraq and because officials are changing the way new units rotate — something that gives units scheduled for combat more time to get the people with the skills they need as opposed to holding in service soldiers who have that skill.
Gates acknowledged that there is a risk. Though he didn't lay it out, it is that a serious deterioration of conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan could mean the Army would be short-handed again in certain skill sets.
"Our goal is to cut the number of those stop-lost by 50 percent by June 2010 and to eliminate the regular use of stop-loss across the entire Army by March 2011," Gates said. "We will retain the authority to use stop-loss under extraordinary circumstances."
The Army this summer will start cutting back on use of the unpopular practice of holding troops beyond their enlistment dates and hopes to almost completely eliminate it in two years.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, though, it may never be possible to completely get rid of the policy called "stop-loss," under which some 13,000 soldiers whose time is already up are still being forced to continue serving.
"I felt, particularly in these numbers, that it was breaking faith," Gates told a Pentagon press conference.
Though officials have the legal power to involuntarily extend soldier's service, "I believe that when somebody's end date of service comes, to hold them against their will, if you will, is just not the right thing to do," he said.
He said that he hoped any future use after 2011 would only be in "scores, not thousands."
Critics have called "stop-loss" a backdoor draft because it keeps troops in the military beyond their retirement or re-enlistment dates. But the military has said it's a necessary tool to keep unit cohesion in times of war and to keep soldiers with certain skills needed in those units.
Soldiers and their families strongly dislike stop-loss and it was the title of a 2008 Hollywood movie in which a soldier who served in Iraq goes AWOL rather than following orders to stay longer in the service and go again.
'Victory for soldiers'
Rep. John Murtha said earlier Wednesday that the military also had agreed to begin $500 monthly payments to troops still forced to stay in service beyond their retirement or enlistment terms.
The payments are planned to soften the effects of the practice, which makes it impossible for troops to make lasting work and family plans.
"This is a victory for soldiers and their families," Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., said. "After months and often years of risking their lives, our troops deserve to know when they will return home. The military made a deal with our men and women in uniform and will now live up to that commitment."
The policy can keep a soldier in service if his or her unit deploys within 90 days of the end of the soldier's commitment. The Army has said 1 percent of the Army is affected by the forced extensions. As of January, the roughly 13,000 soldiers on stop-loss included 7,300 active-duty Army, about 4,450 in the Guard and 1,450 reservists.
Effective this month, troops will get $500-per-month payments for extending their service and it will be made retroactive for those who were on the stop-loss roles as of last Oct. 1. Payments before were not possible, officials said, because Congress did not appropriate funds for that. The costs for the payments for the budget year that began Oct. 1, 2008, are about $72 million.
Not without risks
Under the Army plan approved by Gates, the Army Reserve in August will begin mobilizing units that don't include stop-loss soldiers and the Guard in September will do the same.
The active duty Army is to deploy its first unit without stop-loss in January, he said.
Though the practice has been virtually ended in all other service branches, the Army said it still needed to use it because of the severe strain it has been under fighting the two ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Officials say it is possible to gradually reduce the number of stop-loss soldiers now because the Army has grown, retention is good, because of the drawdown in Iraq and because officials are changing the way new units rotate — something that gives units scheduled for combat more time to get the people with the skills they need as opposed to holding in service soldiers who have that skill.
Gates acknowledged that there is a risk. Though he didn't lay it out, it is that a serious deterioration of conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan could mean the Army would be short-handed again in certain skill sets.
"Our goal is to cut the number of those stop-lost by 50 percent by June 2010 and to eliminate the regular use of stop-loss across the entire Army by March 2011," Gates said. "We will retain the authority to use stop-loss under extraordinary circumstances."
Monday, March 16, 2009
Killer Blue Back From Iraq
By: Associated Press
On his first morning home from Iraq, Lt. Rusty Morris woke at dawn, next to his wife, their son tucked between them. Loyal, who was just a baby when Morris deployed 15 months earlier, touched his father's face and ears as he drifted in and out of sleep.
Spc. Nathan Stopps expected to feel liberated once he arrived home safely. He didn't feel any different.
Sgt. Jon Fleenor was pinned with the Purple Heart, a medal he never wanted to earn and never wanted to wear.
Nearly six years after American troops invaded Iraq, the men of "Killer Blue" were coming home — matured, scarred, looking forward to resuming their lives, finding themselves suddenly startled by what used to be routine. Associated Press photojournalists lived with their unit for over four months, chronicling their combat and now their return home.
Men of Killer Blue are not broken
The unit's motto is "Baptized by fire, came out steel," and it fits, because the men of Killer Blue are not broken. They count themselves better soldiers now, and believe they'll be better dads, husbands and sons, masters of their fate.
Yet the struggle to be average Americans again plays out in different ways, some stark, some subtle. Stopps wonders why the sight of a fallen comrade's coffee mug brought a torrent of tears, while the death of another has left him dry-eyed. He can't explain it.
Another sees his fellow citizens back home and instinctively wonders if they can be trusted, simply because they are not in a uniform. "It's like going to the zoo," said Sgt. Cole Weih. "And it's overwhelming."
They offer insights about serving in war:
"War is the fundamental flaw of mankind." — Morris.
"War is the biggest case of denial in human history." — Stopps.
"Just a job to bring everybody home safe." — Fleenor.
And they wonder how life will be now that they've experienced excitement and fear at a higher level than they expect to encounter again. "Now I can say for the rest of my life that I walked across a tightrope," said Stopps, 24, of Deerfield, Ill.
Experience shaped future goals
Not everyone made it home. For those who did, their lives in Iraq and the deaths of men who became family have forever shaped their goals for the future and their sense of the people they want to be.
"I think I've matured and become more aware of how valuable life is and how quickly it can be taken away," said Spc. Derek Griffard, 22, of Santa Maria, Calif. "I just think I'm trying to live my life to the fullest before something else happens."
"I just don't want to waste the great opportunity that I got from Iraq," said Morris, 28, from Sumter, S.C., who served as Blue Platoon's leader with Killer Troop for half of the tour.
"I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot about what's important."
Killer Blue — a unit of the Fort Hood-based 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment's 3rd Squadron — was one of the last Army units to serve a 15-month combat tour in Iraq, in the most dangerous city in a country ravaged by war and sectarian strife. While the unit was still in Iraq, the Pentagon cut combat tours to 12 months.
It was a time when hearts were broken, blood was spilled, resolve was tested. Two of the two dozen Killer Blue soldiers died.
Time of deep camaraderie
But it was also a time of deep camaraderie and loyalty, of adventure, of growth.
"Most of the time we got attacked nothing really happened," Stopps said. "So it felt like you walked on a tightrope walk for the first time and you're on the other side and you're like, wow, I made it.
"It was really dangerous and I was scared at first and it was probably a really stupid thing to do — but I'm on the other side and I survived it and it is pretty cool."
Situated at the intersection of two of the most dangerous roads in the northern city of Mosul, Killer Blue staked its claim in the rubble of a former municipal yard that served as a joint U.S.-Iraqi base. Crafted in plywood, Combat Outpost Rabiy (Arabic for "Spring") was like a fire station.
As part of the U.S. military plan to quell violence in Iraqi cities, troops moved off of large bases and into combat outposts, living among the Iraqi people and providing security.
Some nights, they slept with their boots on when the radio calls kept coming. They could be on the scene of a bombing within seven minutes. They were hit by roadside bombs, small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades countless times, earning the platoon 13 Purple Hearts.
"There wasn't a mission we were scared to do," Morris said. "We were used to working with each other so we were very confident, I think."
Bond forged over rations and cigarettes
A plywood table outside the big room the Killer Blue men shared became their gathering place. Around that table, they forged a bond over military rations and cigarettes. They played cards and talked about the lives they left behind in America. They told war stories and hatched plans for what to do next.
"That was our chance, that was our moment to know each other," said Weih, 28, the platoon medic, from Dubuque, Iowa. "I think from that point forward we were family."
On April 30, 2008, the family started to break up. First, it was Staff Sgt. Chad Caldwell, killed by a roadside bomb. The dismount squad leader and a two-time Iraq veteran from Spokane, Wash., 24-year-old Caldwell had an iTunes playlist that ran the gamut from bubblegum pop to heavy metal. With a small, wiry build and a two-pack-a-day habit, Caldwell had the names of his two young sons, Trevor and Coen, tattooed on his forearms.
Sgt. Jose Regalado, 23, of El Sereno, Calif., was next. The two-tour Iraq veteran's first child was born while he was deployed, but he made it home on leave to meet the little girl. His wife, Sharri, wrote him a letter every day. Shortly after his return to Mosul, he was killed Nov. 12, 2008, by an Iraqi soldier who opened fire on U.S. soldiers visiting an Iraqi Army base.
"Before Sgt. Caldwell died, there was a lot of laughter," Weih said. "A lot of jokes, a lot of people having fun. After he died, it was very serious. Music wasn't played out loud much anymore. I think the seriousness of the situation came home and it never left."
Joined the Army at 25Morris, the platoon leader, was a fixture at the table as much as any of the enlisted soldiers. He joined the Army at 25 — later than most lieutenants — after leaving a job at a credit union.
Caldwell's death shaped the rest of Morris' deployment and his resolve to come home and be a better man.
"Anyone that you've fought with or bled with, you don't want to disgrace their memory," Morris said. "So I don't want to be a bad father or husband or be financially irresponsible or drink too much. For people that won't ever get to see their kids again, I'm trying to treat my kids a little better than I ever did and take care of them as best as I can."
Stopps was new to the Army. A college graduate with a degree in English Literature, he chose to be an enlisted man and talks as much of the privilege of serving in war as he does of the power of denial.
Kept a detailed journal
He kept a detailed journal of the deployment and wrote raps about his experiences. Stopps was wounded on Oct. 15, 2008, along with several other soldiers — hit in the neck by shrapnel, some of which still remains because doctors deemed that safer than trying to get all of it.
As he adjusts to life at home, Stopps is also adjusting to the idea that being a soldier might not be the only thing that defines him.
"Strangers are never going to write to me again and tell him how great I am, elementary schools aren't going to send me big packages again with stick figure drawings with big handwriting saying how I'm a hero and stuff like that," he said.
"I think I need to feel satisfied with what I've done and not trying to tell people that I met that I'm some big veteran, not being the defining thing about me."
Army was life he knew
Fleenor, 25, from Sacramento, Calif., a two-time Iraq veteran, was in Iraq when his wife gave birth to a baby girl, Alexis, in May 2008. In his last deployment to Iraq, Fleenor had seen some of the war's heaviest fighting in Tal Afar in 2004. He left the Army in 2005 in to start a tattoo studio, but eventually decided to return to the life he knew so well.
In October, Fleenor and five other soldiers were injured by a roadside bomb. The damage to his right leg was extensive and he was sent home to recover. Fleenor is facing his sixth surgery and more physical therapy.
"I'm not one for ceremonies, especially a Purple Heart," he said. "I told my unit to just mail it to me because it's not the first one. Just a regular ceremony for something you don't want."
He adds: "I'm still the same."
Griffard was also wounded on the same day Fleenor was sent home. He hopes to leave the Army next fall, and worries about the possibility of post-traumatic stress that could affect his future. The best way of handling the stress, he says, is to talk about it rather than bottling up the memories.
Surviving the blast brought Griffard out of his shell.
"I try to keep in touch with my family and friends as much as possible," he said. "Because one day you might not have your family and friends anymore."
Eventually, he plans to teach
Weih often kept to himself or carved figures out of wood. "Doc," as all medics are called, carried his grandfather's dog tags from World War II. Before joining the Army, he studied sociology.
For Weih, the deaths crystallized his goals for the future. He'll serve more time in the Army, but eventually he plans to teach.
"You have to do them honor by moving forward," he said. "Part of that process is re-evaluation of what you have to offer to yourself and to the people around you. You owe it to the person you lost, people around you, and yourself to move forward.
"With that sort of evaluation, it's impossible to not come out of it changed, to become more aware. To become more directed."
On his first morning home from Iraq, Lt. Rusty Morris woke at dawn, next to his wife, their son tucked between them. Loyal, who was just a baby when Morris deployed 15 months earlier, touched his father's face and ears as he drifted in and out of sleep.
Spc. Nathan Stopps expected to feel liberated once he arrived home safely. He didn't feel any different.
Sgt. Jon Fleenor was pinned with the Purple Heart, a medal he never wanted to earn and never wanted to wear.
Nearly six years after American troops invaded Iraq, the men of "Killer Blue" were coming home — matured, scarred, looking forward to resuming their lives, finding themselves suddenly startled by what used to be routine. Associated Press photojournalists lived with their unit for over four months, chronicling their combat and now their return home.
Men of Killer Blue are not broken
The unit's motto is "Baptized by fire, came out steel," and it fits, because the men of Killer Blue are not broken. They count themselves better soldiers now, and believe they'll be better dads, husbands and sons, masters of their fate.
Yet the struggle to be average Americans again plays out in different ways, some stark, some subtle. Stopps wonders why the sight of a fallen comrade's coffee mug brought a torrent of tears, while the death of another has left him dry-eyed. He can't explain it.
Another sees his fellow citizens back home and instinctively wonders if they can be trusted, simply because they are not in a uniform. "It's like going to the zoo," said Sgt. Cole Weih. "And it's overwhelming."
They offer insights about serving in war:
"War is the fundamental flaw of mankind." — Morris.
"War is the biggest case of denial in human history." — Stopps.
"Just a job to bring everybody home safe." — Fleenor.
And they wonder how life will be now that they've experienced excitement and fear at a higher level than they expect to encounter again. "Now I can say for the rest of my life that I walked across a tightrope," said Stopps, 24, of Deerfield, Ill.
Experience shaped future goals
Not everyone made it home. For those who did, their lives in Iraq and the deaths of men who became family have forever shaped their goals for the future and their sense of the people they want to be.
"I think I've matured and become more aware of how valuable life is and how quickly it can be taken away," said Spc. Derek Griffard, 22, of Santa Maria, Calif. "I just think I'm trying to live my life to the fullest before something else happens."
"I just don't want to waste the great opportunity that I got from Iraq," said Morris, 28, from Sumter, S.C., who served as Blue Platoon's leader with Killer Troop for half of the tour.
"I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot about what's important."
Killer Blue — a unit of the Fort Hood-based 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment's 3rd Squadron — was one of the last Army units to serve a 15-month combat tour in Iraq, in the most dangerous city in a country ravaged by war and sectarian strife. While the unit was still in Iraq, the Pentagon cut combat tours to 12 months.
It was a time when hearts were broken, blood was spilled, resolve was tested. Two of the two dozen Killer Blue soldiers died.
Time of deep camaraderie
But it was also a time of deep camaraderie and loyalty, of adventure, of growth.
"Most of the time we got attacked nothing really happened," Stopps said. "So it felt like you walked on a tightrope walk for the first time and you're on the other side and you're like, wow, I made it.
"It was really dangerous and I was scared at first and it was probably a really stupid thing to do — but I'm on the other side and I survived it and it is pretty cool."
Situated at the intersection of two of the most dangerous roads in the northern city of Mosul, Killer Blue staked its claim in the rubble of a former municipal yard that served as a joint U.S.-Iraqi base. Crafted in plywood, Combat Outpost Rabiy (Arabic for "Spring") was like a fire station.
As part of the U.S. military plan to quell violence in Iraqi cities, troops moved off of large bases and into combat outposts, living among the Iraqi people and providing security.
Some nights, they slept with their boots on when the radio calls kept coming. They could be on the scene of a bombing within seven minutes. They were hit by roadside bombs, small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades countless times, earning the platoon 13 Purple Hearts.
"There wasn't a mission we were scared to do," Morris said. "We were used to working with each other so we were very confident, I think."
Bond forged over rations and cigarettes
A plywood table outside the big room the Killer Blue men shared became their gathering place. Around that table, they forged a bond over military rations and cigarettes. They played cards and talked about the lives they left behind in America. They told war stories and hatched plans for what to do next.
"That was our chance, that was our moment to know each other," said Weih, 28, the platoon medic, from Dubuque, Iowa. "I think from that point forward we were family."
On April 30, 2008, the family started to break up. First, it was Staff Sgt. Chad Caldwell, killed by a roadside bomb. The dismount squad leader and a two-time Iraq veteran from Spokane, Wash., 24-year-old Caldwell had an iTunes playlist that ran the gamut from bubblegum pop to heavy metal. With a small, wiry build and a two-pack-a-day habit, Caldwell had the names of his two young sons, Trevor and Coen, tattooed on his forearms.
Sgt. Jose Regalado, 23, of El Sereno, Calif., was next. The two-tour Iraq veteran's first child was born while he was deployed, but he made it home on leave to meet the little girl. His wife, Sharri, wrote him a letter every day. Shortly after his return to Mosul, he was killed Nov. 12, 2008, by an Iraqi soldier who opened fire on U.S. soldiers visiting an Iraqi Army base.
"Before Sgt. Caldwell died, there was a lot of laughter," Weih said. "A lot of jokes, a lot of people having fun. After he died, it was very serious. Music wasn't played out loud much anymore. I think the seriousness of the situation came home and it never left."
Joined the Army at 25Morris, the platoon leader, was a fixture at the table as much as any of the enlisted soldiers. He joined the Army at 25 — later than most lieutenants — after leaving a job at a credit union.
Caldwell's death shaped the rest of Morris' deployment and his resolve to come home and be a better man.
"Anyone that you've fought with or bled with, you don't want to disgrace their memory," Morris said. "So I don't want to be a bad father or husband or be financially irresponsible or drink too much. For people that won't ever get to see their kids again, I'm trying to treat my kids a little better than I ever did and take care of them as best as I can."
Stopps was new to the Army. A college graduate with a degree in English Literature, he chose to be an enlisted man and talks as much of the privilege of serving in war as he does of the power of denial.
Kept a detailed journal
He kept a detailed journal of the deployment and wrote raps about his experiences. Stopps was wounded on Oct. 15, 2008, along with several other soldiers — hit in the neck by shrapnel, some of which still remains because doctors deemed that safer than trying to get all of it.
As he adjusts to life at home, Stopps is also adjusting to the idea that being a soldier might not be the only thing that defines him.
"Strangers are never going to write to me again and tell him how great I am, elementary schools aren't going to send me big packages again with stick figure drawings with big handwriting saying how I'm a hero and stuff like that," he said.
"I think I need to feel satisfied with what I've done and not trying to tell people that I met that I'm some big veteran, not being the defining thing about me."
Army was life he knew
Fleenor, 25, from Sacramento, Calif., a two-time Iraq veteran, was in Iraq when his wife gave birth to a baby girl, Alexis, in May 2008. In his last deployment to Iraq, Fleenor had seen some of the war's heaviest fighting in Tal Afar in 2004. He left the Army in 2005 in to start a tattoo studio, but eventually decided to return to the life he knew so well.
In October, Fleenor and five other soldiers were injured by a roadside bomb. The damage to his right leg was extensive and he was sent home to recover. Fleenor is facing his sixth surgery and more physical therapy.
"I'm not one for ceremonies, especially a Purple Heart," he said. "I told my unit to just mail it to me because it's not the first one. Just a regular ceremony for something you don't want."
He adds: "I'm still the same."
Griffard was also wounded on the same day Fleenor was sent home. He hopes to leave the Army next fall, and worries about the possibility of post-traumatic stress that could affect his future. The best way of handling the stress, he says, is to talk about it rather than bottling up the memories.
Surviving the blast brought Griffard out of his shell.
"I try to keep in touch with my family and friends as much as possible," he said. "Because one day you might not have your family and friends anymore."
Eventually, he plans to teach
Weih often kept to himself or carved figures out of wood. "Doc," as all medics are called, carried his grandfather's dog tags from World War II. Before joining the Army, he studied sociology.
For Weih, the deaths crystallized his goals for the future. He'll serve more time in the Army, but eventually he plans to teach.
"You have to do them honor by moving forward," he said. "Part of that process is re-evaluation of what you have to offer to yourself and to the people around you. You owe it to the person you lost, people around you, and yourself to move forward.
"With that sort of evaluation, it's impossible to not come out of it changed, to become more aware. To become more directed."
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Posting Delays
It has been a few weeks since my last post, and I have returned. I have been extremely busy with work and home. Since January 25, 2009, my husband had been enrolled in an 8 week long PTSD inpatient program in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Abruptly, he was sent home.
It has been one week now, and we continue to have trouble struggling to get him readjusted to home. This has been made difficult because he doesn't think he was appropriately sent home early.
I have been in the process of reading a book to review here, which I think will do wonders for anyone trying to learn more about the problems being faced by the new wounded warriors, but it has been a long process when you're basically a single working mom to four animals. I will bring you the review shortly.
I wanted to let everyone know I'm still here, and will continue to post interesting articles; however, the book (Faces of Combat, PTSD and TBI: One Journalists Crusade to Improve Treatment of Our Veterans: Eric Newhouse) and my own life has made me realize that posting other people's story may not be enough for my own coping mechanism and may not be enough to help bring a greater understanding of these problems.
I have gained the trust and understanding of my husband, who will now allow me to post about the day-to-day dealings with someone with PTSD and TBI. I will chronicle my struggles along with his. I hope that I can provide others a greater understanding of these two problems that many of our current veterans face. Alternatively, I want those like me to know that they are not alone.
Thank you,
Lisa
It has been one week now, and we continue to have trouble struggling to get him readjusted to home. This has been made difficult because he doesn't think he was appropriately sent home early.
I have been in the process of reading a book to review here, which I think will do wonders for anyone trying to learn more about the problems being faced by the new wounded warriors, but it has been a long process when you're basically a single working mom to four animals. I will bring you the review shortly.
I wanted to let everyone know I'm still here, and will continue to post interesting articles; however, the book (Faces of Combat, PTSD and TBI: One Journalists Crusade to Improve Treatment of Our Veterans: Eric Newhouse) and my own life has made me realize that posting other people's story may not be enough for my own coping mechanism and may not be enough to help bring a greater understanding of these problems.
I have gained the trust and understanding of my husband, who will now allow me to post about the day-to-day dealings with someone with PTSD and TBI. I will chronicle my struggles along with his. I hope that I can provide others a greater understanding of these two problems that many of our current veterans face. Alternatively, I want those like me to know that they are not alone.
Thank you,
Lisa
Iraqi Veteran Sought in Bank Robbery
Police in Sandy, Utah are investigating a bank robbery involving a suspect they believe is an Iraq War veteran.
Police describe the suspect as a white man wearing dark clothing (including gloves and a full face ski mask and back pack) who entered the branch at Washington Mutual on Monday. According to police, the suspect demanded that the teller give him money, that he had a gun and would shoot her if the money was not produced quickly. The teller gave him some cash from the till, but the robber demanded more. She was able to locate more cash which the suspect took.
Police say the suspect fled the building and ran to his getaway vehicle. Witnesses saw him leave the area in a white Dodge Durango with over sized tires and a lift with Utah license plate (A408B).
Detectives believe the suspect is a Codie Carver, 24 yrs white male 5'11" 180 lbs. Detectives are pursuing additional leads to try and determine his location.
Carver is a former U.S. Marine who served in the Iraq War. Carver's family made a plea through the media on Tuesday for him to come forward and turn himself in.
Carver’s family says he has been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress disorder and financial problems.
Police describe the suspect as a white man wearing dark clothing (including gloves and a full face ski mask and back pack) who entered the branch at Washington Mutual on Monday. According to police, the suspect demanded that the teller give him money, that he had a gun and would shoot her if the money was not produced quickly. The teller gave him some cash from the till, but the robber demanded more. She was able to locate more cash which the suspect took.
Police say the suspect fled the building and ran to his getaway vehicle. Witnesses saw him leave the area in a white Dodge Durango with over sized tires and a lift with Utah license plate (A408B).
Detectives believe the suspect is a Codie Carver, 24 yrs white male 5'11" 180 lbs. Detectives are pursuing additional leads to try and determine his location.
Carver is a former U.S. Marine who served in the Iraq War. Carver's family made a plea through the media on Tuesday for him to come forward and turn himself in.
Carver’s family says he has been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress disorder and financial problems.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Media Ban on Coffin Photos Reversed
By: Associated Press
Families of America’s war dead will be allowed to decide if news organizations can photograph the homecomings of their loved ones, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.
Gates said he decided to allow media photos of flag-draped caskets at Dover Air Force Base, Del., if the families agree. A working group will come up with details and logistics.
The new policy reverses a ban put in place in 1991 by then President George H.W. Bush. Some critics contended the government was trying to hide the human cost of war.
"We should not presume to make the decision for the families — we should actually let them make it," Gates said at a Pentagon news conference.
"We’ve seen so many families go through so much," added Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He said the goal is to meet family needs in the most dignified way possible.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama asked Gates to review the policy of media coverage of the fallen returning to Dover. He said Gates came back with a policy consistent with that used at Arlington National Cemetery.
Gibbs said it gives families the final say and "allows them to make that decision and protect their privacy if that’s what they wish to do. And the president is supportive of the secretary’s decision."
Shortly after Obama took office, Democratic Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey also asked the White House to roll back the 1991 ban.
Over the years, some exceptions to the policy were made, allowing the media to photograph coffins in some cases, until the administration of President George W. Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A leading military families group has said that the policy, enforced without exception during George W. Bush's presidency, should be changed so that survivors of the dead can decide whether photographers can record their return.
Families of America’s war dead will be allowed to decide if news organizations can photograph the homecomings of their loved ones, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.
Gates said he decided to allow media photos of flag-draped caskets at Dover Air Force Base, Del., if the families agree. A working group will come up with details and logistics.
The new policy reverses a ban put in place in 1991 by then President George H.W. Bush. Some critics contended the government was trying to hide the human cost of war.
"We should not presume to make the decision for the families — we should actually let them make it," Gates said at a Pentagon news conference.
"We’ve seen so many families go through so much," added Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He said the goal is to meet family needs in the most dignified way possible.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama asked Gates to review the policy of media coverage of the fallen returning to Dover. He said Gates came back with a policy consistent with that used at Arlington National Cemetery.
Gibbs said it gives families the final say and "allows them to make that decision and protect their privacy if that’s what they wish to do. And the president is supportive of the secretary’s decision."
Shortly after Obama took office, Democratic Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey also asked the White House to roll back the 1991 ban.
Over the years, some exceptions to the policy were made, allowing the media to photograph coffins in some cases, until the administration of President George W. Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A leading military families group has said that the policy, enforced without exception during George W. Bush's presidency, should be changed so that survivors of the dead can decide whether photographers can record their return.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Epilepsy Risk Increase for Years After Brain Injury
By: Reuters
A severe brain injury puts people at high risk of epilepsy for more than a decade after they are first hurt, a finding that suggests there may be a window to prevent the condition, researchers said on Monday.
A Danish team found that the odds of epilepsy more than doubled after mild brain injury or skull fracture and was seven times more likely in patients with serious brain injury.
The risk remained even 10 years on, more so in people older than 15, Jakob Christensen and colleagues at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark and colleagues wrote in the journal Lancet.
"Traumatic brain injury is a significant risk indicator for epilepsy many years after the injury," they wrote.
"Drug treatment after brain injury with the aim of preventing post-traumatic epilepsy has been discouraging, but our data suggest a long time interval for potential, preventive treatment of high-risk patients."
The researchers analyzed data taken from a national registry on traumatic brain injury and epilepsy of 1.6 million young people born in Denmark between 1977 and 2002.
Epilepsy, a condition in which people experience seizures, is incurable. Drugs can control seizures in most patients, although they sometimes cause severe side effects.
A severe brain injury puts people at high risk of epilepsy for more than a decade after they are first hurt, a finding that suggests there may be a window to prevent the condition, researchers said on Monday.
A Danish team found that the odds of epilepsy more than doubled after mild brain injury or skull fracture and was seven times more likely in patients with serious brain injury.
The risk remained even 10 years on, more so in people older than 15, Jakob Christensen and colleagues at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark and colleagues wrote in the journal Lancet.
"Traumatic brain injury is a significant risk indicator for epilepsy many years after the injury," they wrote.
"Drug treatment after brain injury with the aim of preventing post-traumatic epilepsy has been discouraging, but our data suggest a long time interval for potential, preventive treatment of high-risk patients."
The researchers analyzed data taken from a national registry on traumatic brain injury and epilepsy of 1.6 million young people born in Denmark between 1977 and 2002.
Epilepsy, a condition in which people experience seizures, is incurable. Drugs can control seizures in most patients, although they sometimes cause severe side effects.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Life in Prison for Medic Convicted of Murdering Four Iraqis
By: CNN
A U.S. Army medic was sentenced Friday to life in prison with the possibility of parole after being convicted of murdering four detainees in Iraq, a U.S. military spokesman in Germany said.
Sgt. Michael Leahy Jr., 28, was convicted on two counts of murder and premeditated murder for his role in the 2007 Baghdad area killings.
Leahy was downgraded to private, his pay will be forfeited and he'll get a dishonorable discharge if he is ever released from prison. The sentence was handed down Friday night.
Two other soldiers also face courts-martial in the case, said military spokesman Lt. Col. Eric Bloom.
Leahy was acquitted of murder in a separate incident involving the death of another Iraqi in January 2007.
A U.S. Army medic was sentenced Friday to life in prison with the possibility of parole after being convicted of murdering four detainees in Iraq, a U.S. military spokesman in Germany said.
Sgt. Michael Leahy Jr., 28, was convicted on two counts of murder and premeditated murder for his role in the 2007 Baghdad area killings.
Leahy was downgraded to private, his pay will be forfeited and he'll get a dishonorable discharge if he is ever released from prison. The sentence was handed down Friday night.
Two other soldiers also face courts-martial in the case, said military spokesman Lt. Col. Eric Bloom.
Leahy was acquitted of murder in a separate incident involving the death of another Iraqi in January 2007.
West Point Suicides Rattle Academy
By: Lisa Foderaro
It is called “the gloom period,” when the pewter skies seem to mirror the gray fortresslike buildings on campus, and cadets hustle from class to class to avoid the cold winds whipping off the Hudson River.
But this winter, the somber mood at the United States Military Academy has been deepened by two recent suicides among the 4,400 cadets — the first since 1999 — as well as two suicide attempts last month. Those followed two suicides last summer by staff members, and come as the Army is grappling with a record number of suicides among its members, many of whom have endured long deployments to war zones.
Last week, the academy — where the Army trains its future leaders and admission is highly prized — began a “stand down,” 30-day suicide-prevention program with an Army-wide training session that includes a new interactive video. It depicts a suicidal soldier and choices he confronts as he spirals downward: One set of choices leads to improved mental health, the other to tragedy.
For example, the soldier struggles with suicidal thoughts after receiving a “Dear John” e-mail message from his pregnant fiancée, who later tells him that the father is the soldier’s high school friend, who has also raided his bank account. The soldier debates whether to seek help, worrying that he will appear weak or invite ridicule.
“You’ve got cadets here, they don’t want anything to stand in the way of their graduation,” said Col. John Cook, West Point’s chaplain, as he tried to relate the video’s lessons to the campus. “We have got to get beyond this whole issue of stigma.”
Officials said that the number of cadets seeking psychiatric help had increased in the past few years, and that some had sought counseling in recent weeks.
“We do see people who are coming in who say they’d like to talk about what’s happened with these cadets and about what’s at stake,” said Lt. Col. Lorenzo Luckie, acting director of the academy’s Center for Personal Development. “They say, ‘I have a friend I’m worried about,’ and ask what kind of action they should take.”
Some wonder whether putting such a sustained spotlight on the issue had its own risks. The 30-day training will be followed by a two-month program in which leaders will communicate with every cadet and staff member about suicide prevention.
“There’s always a chance, especially when you’re talking about young people in this age group, that you can overglamorize it, and in your efforts to prevent it you actually make the situation worse,” said Col. Michael A. Deaton, West Point’s top doctor. “You can also talk about it so much that they stop listening.”
While the rise in overall Army suicides — at least 128 soldiers killed themselves in 2008, the highest number in three decades — is widely seen as related to the stresses of the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the roots of the problem here are less clear.
Brig. Gen. Michael Linnington, who oversees the cadets’ training, said he did not “think this has anything to do with the war in Iraq” but is more about pre-existing mental conditions “coupled with a tough academy that demands a lot from its people.”
But Colonel Cook, whose twin sons are third-year cadets here, noted that 66 West Point graduates had died in the wars since 9/11; he has presided over some of their funerals on campus.
“These young men and women know that they are going to deploy,” he said. “I don’t want to say they’re scared, but they know what they’re dealing with.”
The grim toll began last year when a systems engineering professor killed himself in early June. Later that month, an administrative noncommissioned officer committed suicide. Then, on Dec. 8, Alfred Fox, a junior, checked into a motel off campus and killed himself by inhaling helium from a tank as he slept.
“I actually knew him,” said Cristin Browne, a senior who serves as the public affairs officer for the Corps of Cadets. “I stood next to him in formation. He was normal. We’d joke around about cadet things.”
When cadets returned to campus for the spring semester, they learned that a freshman, Gordon Fein, had turned a gun on himself Jan. 2 while at home.
That was followed by two “gestures,” as West Point officials call them, because they were seemingly more cries for help than serious efforts at suicide. On Jan. 30, the Pentagon dispatched three officials to the campus to study the individual cases, as well as West Point’s suicide-prevention programs and counseling services. They ruled out “suicide contagion,” in which one case inspires another. None of the four suicide victims had ever been deployed to a combat zone, and all four had seen “somebody professionally at least once,” Colonel Cook said.
“Each one was very different, and there was no connection between them,” Colonel Cook said.
Before this month, West Point presented suicide-prevention information twice a year to cadets and once a year to staff. But as one cadet, Christina Quimby of Memphis, pointed out, “It’s a mass briefing, so you’re not going to be able to get through to every single person.”
The new training will unfold in small groups, requiring more focus.
Staff Sgt. Courtnee Torres, a military policewoman, who returned from her second tour in Iraq in July and is in charge of West Point’s traffic section, said she was confounded by the suicides on campus but encouraged that the Army was confronting the problem.
Comparing life at West Point with the war in Iraq, Ms. Torres said, “It’s hard for me to understand that it can be so bad when we’ve had so much worse.” While she was in Iraq, she said, another woman in her platoon took her own life.
But Matt Sinclair, a freshman, described West Point as a highly regimented place where cadets were judged on academic, physical and military development.
“People need to know that it’s not a normal college,” he said. “You’re going to be stressed. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming. If you have family problems, and it’s really bothering you, West Point is not the best place to try to resolve them.”
It is called “the gloom period,” when the pewter skies seem to mirror the gray fortresslike buildings on campus, and cadets hustle from class to class to avoid the cold winds whipping off the Hudson River.
But this winter, the somber mood at the United States Military Academy has been deepened by two recent suicides among the 4,400 cadets — the first since 1999 — as well as two suicide attempts last month. Those followed two suicides last summer by staff members, and come as the Army is grappling with a record number of suicides among its members, many of whom have endured long deployments to war zones.
Last week, the academy — where the Army trains its future leaders and admission is highly prized — began a “stand down,” 30-day suicide-prevention program with an Army-wide training session that includes a new interactive video. It depicts a suicidal soldier and choices he confronts as he spirals downward: One set of choices leads to improved mental health, the other to tragedy.
For example, the soldier struggles with suicidal thoughts after receiving a “Dear John” e-mail message from his pregnant fiancée, who later tells him that the father is the soldier’s high school friend, who has also raided his bank account. The soldier debates whether to seek help, worrying that he will appear weak or invite ridicule.
“You’ve got cadets here, they don’t want anything to stand in the way of their graduation,” said Col. John Cook, West Point’s chaplain, as he tried to relate the video’s lessons to the campus. “We have got to get beyond this whole issue of stigma.”
Officials said that the number of cadets seeking psychiatric help had increased in the past few years, and that some had sought counseling in recent weeks.
“We do see people who are coming in who say they’d like to talk about what’s happened with these cadets and about what’s at stake,” said Lt. Col. Lorenzo Luckie, acting director of the academy’s Center for Personal Development. “They say, ‘I have a friend I’m worried about,’ and ask what kind of action they should take.”
Some wonder whether putting such a sustained spotlight on the issue had its own risks. The 30-day training will be followed by a two-month program in which leaders will communicate with every cadet and staff member about suicide prevention.
“There’s always a chance, especially when you’re talking about young people in this age group, that you can overglamorize it, and in your efforts to prevent it you actually make the situation worse,” said Col. Michael A. Deaton, West Point’s top doctor. “You can also talk about it so much that they stop listening.”
While the rise in overall Army suicides — at least 128 soldiers killed themselves in 2008, the highest number in three decades — is widely seen as related to the stresses of the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the roots of the problem here are less clear.
Brig. Gen. Michael Linnington, who oversees the cadets’ training, said he did not “think this has anything to do with the war in Iraq” but is more about pre-existing mental conditions “coupled with a tough academy that demands a lot from its people.”
But Colonel Cook, whose twin sons are third-year cadets here, noted that 66 West Point graduates had died in the wars since 9/11; he has presided over some of their funerals on campus.
“These young men and women know that they are going to deploy,” he said. “I don’t want to say they’re scared, but they know what they’re dealing with.”
The grim toll began last year when a systems engineering professor killed himself in early June. Later that month, an administrative noncommissioned officer committed suicide. Then, on Dec. 8, Alfred Fox, a junior, checked into a motel off campus and killed himself by inhaling helium from a tank as he slept.
“I actually knew him,” said Cristin Browne, a senior who serves as the public affairs officer for the Corps of Cadets. “I stood next to him in formation. He was normal. We’d joke around about cadet things.”
When cadets returned to campus for the spring semester, they learned that a freshman, Gordon Fein, had turned a gun on himself Jan. 2 while at home.
That was followed by two “gestures,” as West Point officials call them, because they were seemingly more cries for help than serious efforts at suicide. On Jan. 30, the Pentagon dispatched three officials to the campus to study the individual cases, as well as West Point’s suicide-prevention programs and counseling services. They ruled out “suicide contagion,” in which one case inspires another. None of the four suicide victims had ever been deployed to a combat zone, and all four had seen “somebody professionally at least once,” Colonel Cook said.
“Each one was very different, and there was no connection between them,” Colonel Cook said.
Before this month, West Point presented suicide-prevention information twice a year to cadets and once a year to staff. But as one cadet, Christina Quimby of Memphis, pointed out, “It’s a mass briefing, so you’re not going to be able to get through to every single person.”
The new training will unfold in small groups, requiring more focus.
Staff Sgt. Courtnee Torres, a military policewoman, who returned from her second tour in Iraq in July and is in charge of West Point’s traffic section, said she was confounded by the suicides on campus but encouraged that the Army was confronting the problem.
Comparing life at West Point with the war in Iraq, Ms. Torres said, “It’s hard for me to understand that it can be so bad when we’ve had so much worse.” While she was in Iraq, she said, another woman in her platoon took her own life.
But Matt Sinclair, a freshman, described West Point as a highly regimented place where cadets were judged on academic, physical and military development.
“People need to know that it’s not a normal college,” he said. “You’re going to be stressed. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming. If you have family problems, and it’s really bothering you, West Point is not the best place to try to resolve them.”
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Second Soldier at Fort Leonard Wood Dies of Meningitis
By: Associated Press
A second soldier stationed at Fort Leonard Wood has died of meningitis.
Army officials said the soldier, Pvt. Randy Stabnick, 28, of South Bend, Ind., died at a hospital in Springfield.
A 23-year-old soldier from Alabama died Feb. 9. His name and hometown were not released at his family’s request.
Officials said the deaths were a result of pneumococcal meningitis, a bacterial strain. Lt. Col. John Lowery, the chief medical officer at the base, characterized the strain as non-contagious and said no one else showed signs of the disease.
A second soldier stationed at Fort Leonard Wood has died of meningitis.
Army officials said the soldier, Pvt. Randy Stabnick, 28, of South Bend, Ind., died at a hospital in Springfield.
A 23-year-old soldier from Alabama died Feb. 9. His name and hometown were not released at his family’s request.
Officials said the deaths were a result of pneumococcal meningitis, a bacterial strain. Lt. Col. John Lowery, the chief medical officer at the base, characterized the strain as non-contagious and said no one else showed signs of the disease.
Personnel at Fort Polk Cleared After Exposure to Blistering Substance
All personnel exposed to a blistering substance dug up at the Army's Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk have been medically cleared, a release from Fort Polk says.
Three glass vials were accidentally broken when a backhoe operator dug them up during construction on North Fort Polk. Preliminary tests suggested the substance was a diluted mustard and blistering agent, according to experts from Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark.
John Costa, installation safety officer, said the vials were likely from a Chemical Agent Identification Set. The sets were used to train soldiers during World War II and the Vietnam War, specifically on how to identify and decontaminate chemical agents. Vials would be detonated by blasting caps, then soldiers would walk through the cloud to become familiar with the odor. Similar training is often conducted by police and emergency personnel to better understand the effects of tear gas and other crowd control agents.
"The vials were uncovered in an area of North Fort where World War II structures are located," Costa said. "This is an area that hasn't seen any construction since the 1940s. And we all know the massive amount of training that took place on the installation during World War II and the Vietnam conflict."
Similar training also was conducted on parts of the east reservation of Barksdale Air Force Base when it was under Army control during World War II.
After the vials were uncovered, a decontamination tent was set up on site. Following decontamination, exposed personnel were taken to Bayne-Jones Community Army Hospital, where they were evaluated, cleared and released. They were also cleared during a follow-up exam.
Before Environmental Protection Agency regulations were introduced in the 1970s, burial was a standard and approved method of vial disposal.
Costa said vials have been found on Fort Polk before.
"We've had vials uncovered at the golf course in the 1990s and at one of the ranges back in the 1980s," he said. "In both cases, these were old training sets."
Three glass vials were accidentally broken when a backhoe operator dug them up during construction on North Fort Polk. Preliminary tests suggested the substance was a diluted mustard and blistering agent, according to experts from Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark.
John Costa, installation safety officer, said the vials were likely from a Chemical Agent Identification Set. The sets were used to train soldiers during World War II and the Vietnam War, specifically on how to identify and decontaminate chemical agents. Vials would be detonated by blasting caps, then soldiers would walk through the cloud to become familiar with the odor. Similar training is often conducted by police and emergency personnel to better understand the effects of tear gas and other crowd control agents.
"The vials were uncovered in an area of North Fort where World War II structures are located," Costa said. "This is an area that hasn't seen any construction since the 1940s. And we all know the massive amount of training that took place on the installation during World War II and the Vietnam conflict."
Similar training also was conducted on parts of the east reservation of Barksdale Air Force Base when it was under Army control during World War II.
After the vials were uncovered, a decontamination tent was set up on site. Following decontamination, exposed personnel were taken to Bayne-Jones Community Army Hospital, where they were evaluated, cleared and released. They were also cleared during a follow-up exam.
Before Environmental Protection Agency regulations were introduced in the 1970s, burial was a standard and approved method of vial disposal.
Costa said vials have been found on Fort Polk before.
"We've had vials uncovered at the golf course in the 1990s and at one of the ranges back in the 1980s," he said. "In both cases, these were old training sets."
Louisiana's Veterans Office Receives Criticizing Audit
The Louisiana agency that deals with benefits for veterans needs to improve its communications with the state's roughly 360,000 former soldiers, sailors and airmen, audit released this week says.
The Legislative Auditor's Office's report was critical of the Department of Veterans Affairs on two fronts: poor outreach to veterans and the scattered distribution of Veteran's Affairs offices around the state.
Auditors said the agency too often fails to communicate to veterans the benefits they're entitled to. Auditors also said the agency has too few workers in urban areas and too many in sparsely populated areas.
Lane Carson, secretary of the department and a decorated, combat-wounded Army veteran of the Vietnam War, said he agreed with some of the conclusions in the report. But defended his agency and its work on the day of the audit's release and in words more than a week ago at Barksdale Air Force Base.
"We're doing a damn good job," Carson said. "We're delivering the resources we've got."
Carson said state law requires that DVA workers be posted in every parish, with local governments partially paying for salaries and office space. And in his talk at Patrick Hall on Barksdale Feb. 7, he specifically cited his agency's activities and representatives in Bossier, Caddo, DeSoto and Webster parishes as among the most visible and most appreciated in the state, to loud applause from a crowd of hundreds of active-duty and retired military.
Carson said northwest Louisiana is one of his bragging areas in terms of the concentration of veterans, services and special facilities such as the Northwest Louisiana War Veterans Home, the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery and the federally run Overton Brooks VA Medical Center over which he has no control but that works hand-in-glove with his agency.
He said caring for the needs of veterans, who bring in well over a billion dollars to the state each year, is not just good sense, but an obligation for the sacrifices and services veterans rendered.
"How do you put a value on (that service?)" he asked the crowd at Barksdale. "How do you quantify paying back people who gave their lives, who gave their time, gave their families? You cannot, You can't quantify that, you cannot pay them back. It is a debt we owe our veterans for providing us security and freedom."
The Legislative Auditor's Office's report was critical of the Department of Veterans Affairs on two fronts: poor outreach to veterans and the scattered distribution of Veteran's Affairs offices around the state.
Auditors said the agency too often fails to communicate to veterans the benefits they're entitled to. Auditors also said the agency has too few workers in urban areas and too many in sparsely populated areas.
Lane Carson, secretary of the department and a decorated, combat-wounded Army veteran of the Vietnam War, said he agreed with some of the conclusions in the report. But defended his agency and its work on the day of the audit's release and in words more than a week ago at Barksdale Air Force Base.
"We're doing a damn good job," Carson said. "We're delivering the resources we've got."
Carson said state law requires that DVA workers be posted in every parish, with local governments partially paying for salaries and office space. And in his talk at Patrick Hall on Barksdale Feb. 7, he specifically cited his agency's activities and representatives in Bossier, Caddo, DeSoto and Webster parishes as among the most visible and most appreciated in the state, to loud applause from a crowd of hundreds of active-duty and retired military.
Carson said northwest Louisiana is one of his bragging areas in terms of the concentration of veterans, services and special facilities such as the Northwest Louisiana War Veterans Home, the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Cemetery and the federally run Overton Brooks VA Medical Center over which he has no control but that works hand-in-glove with his agency.
He said caring for the needs of veterans, who bring in well over a billion dollars to the state each year, is not just good sense, but an obligation for the sacrifices and services veterans rendered.
"How do you put a value on (that service?)" he asked the crowd at Barksdale. "How do you quantify paying back people who gave their lives, who gave their time, gave their families? You cannot, You can't quantify that, you cannot pay them back. It is a debt we owe our veterans for providing us security and freedom."
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Fort Leonard Wood Soldier Dead of Meningitis
By: Associated Press
One soldier is dead of meningitis at Fort Leonard Wood and a second is “very seriously ill,” officials at the Army base in southern Missouri said. Officials released few details and did not identify either soldier.
Both cases involved noncontagious forms of meningitis, the authorities said. The two soldiers were members of the same unit, but no connection has been found between the cases.
“Although difficult to comprehend, all clinical data show these cases are unrelated and purely coincidental,” said Lt. Col. John Lowery, deputy commander for clinical services at the base.
The first soldier died after meningitis was diagnosed on Feb. 5. The second soldier is a 28-year-old who received a diagnosis of strep pneumonia leading to meningitis on Friday.
The authorities said that although the illnesses were non-contagious forms, they were “heightening awareness” of preventive measures.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Surgeon General’s Office and the Army Medical Command are reviewing the cases. Meningitis kills about 300 people in the United States each year.
One soldier is dead of meningitis at Fort Leonard Wood and a second is “very seriously ill,” officials at the Army base in southern Missouri said. Officials released few details and did not identify either soldier.
Both cases involved noncontagious forms of meningitis, the authorities said. The two soldiers were members of the same unit, but no connection has been found between the cases.
“Although difficult to comprehend, all clinical data show these cases are unrelated and purely coincidental,” said Lt. Col. John Lowery, deputy commander for clinical services at the base.
The first soldier died after meningitis was diagnosed on Feb. 5. The second soldier is a 28-year-old who received a diagnosis of strep pneumonia leading to meningitis on Friday.
The authorities said that although the illnesses were non-contagious forms, they were “heightening awareness” of preventive measures.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Surgeon General’s Office and the Army Medical Command are reviewing the cases. Meningitis kills about 300 people in the United States each year.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
AWOL Iraq Veteran Commits Suicide
By: AP
A U.S. Marine who fatally shot himself after sneaking into Canada had served two terms in Iraq, officials said Saturday.
Timothy Scott, 22, had been wanted by the military for abandoning his unit. He turned a pistol on himself Thursday outside his mother's home in Nova Scotia after police tried to talk him out of firing the gun.
A statement released by Camp Lejeune in North Carolina said Scott had been deployed to Iraq for eight months in 2007 and for seven months in 2008.
The Marine rifleman, who was assigned to headquarters and the support battalion at Camp Lejeune, had joined the Marine Corps in 2005, the statement said.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Scott, who left his unit sometime around Feb. 10, arrived at his mother's home on Feb. 12 and initially threatened her before turning the gun on himself.
Cpl. Melissa McCoy, a Marine spokeswoman at Camp Lejeune, said Scott had been listed as leaving the unit in what the military called an "unauthorized absence," meaning he had been away from the base for less than 30 days. After that, he would be considered a deserter.
Top senators on the Veterans Affairs Committee have asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki to convene a joint oversight committee meeting to address military suicides. The U.S. Army had its highest rate of suicide on record in 2008.
A U.S. Marine who fatally shot himself after sneaking into Canada had served two terms in Iraq, officials said Saturday.
Timothy Scott, 22, had been wanted by the military for abandoning his unit. He turned a pistol on himself Thursday outside his mother's home in Nova Scotia after police tried to talk him out of firing the gun.
A statement released by Camp Lejeune in North Carolina said Scott had been deployed to Iraq for eight months in 2007 and for seven months in 2008.
The Marine rifleman, who was assigned to headquarters and the support battalion at Camp Lejeune, had joined the Marine Corps in 2005, the statement said.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Scott, who left his unit sometime around Feb. 10, arrived at his mother's home on Feb. 12 and initially threatened her before turning the gun on himself.
Cpl. Melissa McCoy, a Marine spokeswoman at Camp Lejeune, said Scott had been listed as leaving the unit in what the military called an "unauthorized absence," meaning he had been away from the base for less than 30 days. After that, he would be considered a deserter.
Top senators on the Veterans Affairs Committee have asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki to convene a joint oversight committee meeting to address military suicides. The U.S. Army had its highest rate of suicide on record in 2008.
Military to Become a Road to Citizenship
By: Julia Preston
Stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq, the American military will begin recruiting skilled immigrants who are living in this country with temporary visas, offering them the chance to become United States citizens in as little as six months.
Immigrants who are permanent residents, with documents commonly known as green cards, have long been eligible to enlist. But the new effort, for the first time since the Vietnam War, will open the arm d forces to temporary immigrants if they have lived in the United States for a minimum of two years, according to military officials familiar with the plan.
Recruiters expect that the temporary immigrants will have more education, foreign language skills and prof ssional expertise than many Americans who enlist, helping the military to fill shortages in medical care, language interpretation and field intelligence analysis.
“The American Army finds itself in a lot of different countries where cultural awareness is critical,” said Lt. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, the top recruitment officer for the Army, which is leading the pilot program. “There will be some very talented folks in this group.”
The program will begin small — limited to 1,000 enlistees nationwide in its first year, most for the Army and some for other branches. If the pilot program succeeds as Pentagon officials anticipate, it will expand for all branches of the military. For the Army, it could eventually provide as many as 14,000 volunteers a year, or about one in six recruits.
About 8,000 permanent immigrants with green cards join the armed forces annually, the Pentagon reports, and about 29,000 foreign-born people currently serving are not American citizens.
Although the Pentagon has had wartime authority to recruit immigrants since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, military officials have moved cautiously to lay the legal groundwork for the temporary immigrant program to avoid controversy within the ranks and among veterans over the prospect of large numbers of immigrants in the armed forces.
A preliminary Pentagon announcement of the program last year drew a stream of angry comments from officers and veterans on Military.com, a Web site they frequent.
Marty Justis, executive director of the national headquarters of the American Legion, the veterans’ organization, said that while the group opposes “any great influx of immigrants” to the United States, it would not object to recruiting temporary immigrants as long as they passed tough background checks. But he said the immigrants’ allegiance to the United States “must take precedence over and above any ties they may have with their native country.”
The military does not allow illegal immigrants to enlist, and that policy would not change, officers said. Recruiting officials pointed out that volunteers with temporary visas would have already passed a security screening and would have shown that they had no criminal record.
“The Army will gain in its strength in human capital,” General Freakley said, “and the immigrants will gain their citizenship and get on a ramp to the American dream.”
In recent years, as American forces faced combat in two wars and recruiters struggled to meet their goals for the all-volunteer military, thousands of legal immigrants with temporary visas who tried to enlist were turned away because they lacked permanent green cards, recruiting officers said.
Recruiters’ work became easier in the last few months as unemployment soared and more Americans sought to join the military. But the Pentagon, facing a new deployment of 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, still has difficulties in attracting doctors, specialized nurses and language experts.
Several types of temporary work visas require college or advanced degrees or professional expertise, and immigrants who are working as doctors and nurses in the United States have already been certified by American medical boards.
Military figures show that only 82 percent of about 80,000 Army recruits last year had high school diplomas. According to new figures, the Army provided waivers to 18 percent of active-duty recruits in the final four months of last year, allowing them to enlist despite medical conditions or criminal records.
Military officials want to attract immigrants who have native knowledge of languages and cultures that the Pentagon considers strategically vital. The program will also be open to students and refugees.
The Army’s one-year pilot program will begin in New York City to recruit about 550 temporary immigrants who speak one or more of 35 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Igbo (a tongue spoken in Nigeria), Kurdish, Nepalese, Pashto, Russian and Tamil. Spanish speakers are not eligible. The Army’s program will also include about 300 medical professionals to be recruited nationwide. Recruiting will start after Department of Homeland Security officials update an immigration rule in coming days.
Pentagon officials expect that the lure of accelerated citizenship will be powerful. Under a statute invoked in 2002 by the Bush administration, immigrants who serve in the military can apply to become citizens on the first day of active service, and they can take the oath in as little as six months.
For foreigners who come to work or study in the United States on temporary visas, the path to citizenship is uncertain and at best agonizingly long, often lasting more than a decade. The military also waives naturalization fees, which are at least $675.
To enlist, temporary immigrants will have to prove that they have lived in the United States for two years and have not been out of the country for longer than 90 days during that time. They will have to pass an English test.
Language experts will have to serve four years of active duty, and health care professionals will serve three years of active duty or six years in the Reserves. If the immigrants do not complete their service honorably, they could lose their citizenship.
Commenters who vented their suspicions of the program on Military.com said it could be used by terrorists to penetrate the armed forces.
At a street corner recruiting station in Bay Ridge in Brooklyn, Staff Sgt. Alejandro Campos of the Army said he had already fielded calls from temporary immigrants who heard rumors about the program.
“We’re going to give people the opportunity to be part of the United States who are dying to be part of this country and they weren’t able to before now,” said Sergeant Campos, who was born in the Dominican Republic and became a United States citizen after he joined the Army.
Sergeant Campos said he saw how useful it was to have soldiers who were native Arabic speakers during two tours in Iraq.
“The first time around we didn’t have soldier translators,” he said. “But now that we have soldiers as translators, we are able to trust more, we are able to accomplish the mission with more accuracy.”
Stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq, the American military will begin recruiting skilled immigrants who are living in this country with temporary visas, offering them the chance to become United States citizens in as little as six months.
Immigrants who are permanent residents, with documents commonly known as green cards, have long been eligible to enlist. But the new effort, for the first time since the Vietnam War, will open the arm d forces to temporary immigrants if they have lived in the United States for a minimum of two years, according to military officials familiar with the plan.
Recruiters expect that the temporary immigrants will have more education, foreign language skills and prof ssional expertise than many Americans who enlist, helping the military to fill shortages in medical care, language interpretation and field intelligence analysis.
“The American Army finds itself in a lot of different countries where cultural awareness is critical,” said Lt. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, the top recruitment officer for the Army, which is leading the pilot program. “There will be some very talented folks in this group.”
The program will begin small — limited to 1,000 enlistees nationwide in its first year, most for the Army and some for other branches. If the pilot program succeeds as Pentagon officials anticipate, it will expand for all branches of the military. For the Army, it could eventually provide as many as 14,000 volunteers a year, or about one in six recruits.
About 8,000 permanent immigrants with green cards join the armed forces annually, the Pentagon reports, and about 29,000 foreign-born people currently serving are not American citizens.
Although the Pentagon has had wartime authority to recruit immigrants since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, military officials have moved cautiously to lay the legal groundwork for the temporary immigrant program to avoid controversy within the ranks and among veterans over the prospect of large numbers of immigrants in the armed forces.
A preliminary Pentagon announcement of the program last year drew a stream of angry comments from officers and veterans on Military.com, a Web site they frequent.
Marty Justis, executive director of the national headquarters of the American Legion, the veterans’ organization, said that while the group opposes “any great influx of immigrants” to the United States, it would not object to recruiting temporary immigrants as long as they passed tough background checks. But he said the immigrants’ allegiance to the United States “must take precedence over and above any ties they may have with their native country.”
The military does not allow illegal immigrants to enlist, and that policy would not change, officers said. Recruiting officials pointed out that volunteers with temporary visas would have already passed a security screening and would have shown that they had no criminal record.
“The Army will gain in its strength in human capital,” General Freakley said, “and the immigrants will gain their citizenship and get on a ramp to the American dream.”
In recent years, as American forces faced combat in two wars and recruiters struggled to meet their goals for the all-volunteer military, thousands of legal immigrants with temporary visas who tried to enlist were turned away because they lacked permanent green cards, recruiting officers said.
Recruiters’ work became easier in the last few months as unemployment soared and more Americans sought to join the military. But the Pentagon, facing a new deployment of 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, still has difficulties in attracting doctors, specialized nurses and language experts.
Several types of temporary work visas require college or advanced degrees or professional expertise, and immigrants who are working as doctors and nurses in the United States have already been certified by American medical boards.
Military figures show that only 82 percent of about 80,000 Army recruits last year had high school diplomas. According to new figures, the Army provided waivers to 18 percent of active-duty recruits in the final four months of last year, allowing them to enlist despite medical conditions or criminal records.
Military officials want to attract immigrants who have native knowledge of languages and cultures that the Pentagon considers strategically vital. The program will also be open to students and refugees.
The Army’s one-year pilot program will begin in New York City to recruit about 550 temporary immigrants who speak one or more of 35 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Igbo (a tongue spoken in Nigeria), Kurdish, Nepalese, Pashto, Russian and Tamil. Spanish speakers are not eligible. The Army’s program will also include about 300 medical professionals to be recruited nationwide. Recruiting will start after Department of Homeland Security officials update an immigration rule in coming days.
Pentagon officials expect that the lure of accelerated citizenship will be powerful. Under a statute invoked in 2002 by the Bush administration, immigrants who serve in the military can apply to become citizens on the first day of active service, and they can take the oath in as little as six months.
For foreigners who come to work or study in the United States on temporary visas, the path to citizenship is uncertain and at best agonizingly long, often lasting more than a decade. The military also waives naturalization fees, which are at least $675.
To enlist, temporary immigrants will have to prove that they have lived in the United States for two years and have not been out of the country for longer than 90 days during that time. They will have to pass an English test.
Language experts will have to serve four years of active duty, and health care professionals will serve three years of active duty or six years in the Reserves. If the immigrants do not complete their service honorably, they could lose their citizenship.
Commenters who vented their suspicions of the program on Military.com said it could be used by terrorists to penetrate the armed forces.
At a street corner recruiting station in Bay Ridge in Brooklyn, Staff Sgt. Alejandro Campos of the Army said he had already fielded calls from temporary immigrants who heard rumors about the program.
“We’re going to give people the opportunity to be part of the United States who are dying to be part of this country and they weren’t able to before now,” said Sergeant Campos, who was born in the Dominican Republic and became a United States citizen after he joined the Army.
Sergeant Campos said he saw how useful it was to have soldiers who were native Arabic speakers during two tours in Iraq.
“The first time around we didn’t have soldier translators,” he said. “But now that we have soldiers as translators, we are able to trust more, we are able to accomplish the mission with more accuracy.”
Saturday, February 14, 2009
74 Year Old Army Doctor Headed to Afghanistan
By: Associated Press
Dr. John Burson balked when a skeptical Army staffer asked him to undergo a three-day physical exam to make sure he was fit to deploy as a field surgeon to Afghanistan.
"Look, I'm training to run a half-marathon," replied Burson, 74, a retired lieutenant colonel. "You come down and check to see if I can make it."
Burson won the debate and was declared fit for duty. The ear, nose and throat specialist from northwest Georgia wrapped up a weeklong training course this week at Fort Benning before his scheduled deployment Friday for a 90-day rotation with a unit of the 101st Airborne Division.
The first of two stints in Iraq proved unforgettable back in 2005, he said. Burson was among several doctors assigned to keep watch over an imprisoned Saddam Hussein.
The fallen dictator, who was three years younger than Burson, told him: "I'm glad they sent me one with gray hair this time."
Several of Burson's uncles and cousins enlisted during World War II, inspiring him to seek an Army officer's commission in the 1950s. But it would be five decades before he went to war.
By the time Burson was trained as a young officer, the Korean War was winding down. Years later, after he left active duty to join the Army Reserve, his unit was told to prepare for a tour in Vietnam. But the call never came.
Burson retired from military service in 1985 and thought he'd hung up his uniform for good. Then an e-mail came a few years ago from the Army's surgeon general, who was seeking retired military doctors to volunteer for rotations in Iraq.
'He enjoys doing it'Burson, then 70, sent a reply asking if he was too old. The answer led to his first war tour.
"He likes to say, 'Where else can a 74-year-old go and have fun?'" said Barbara Burson, his wife of 53 years. "I don't know if I see it as fun, but he enjoys doing it. And anyone would feel good about being able to contribute."
Burson isn't the oldest service member to deploy since the U.S. went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, but he's certainly atypical.
It's not clear how many others in their 70s have volunteered, or who's the oldest, said Wayne Hall, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon. Retired Army Reserve Col. William Bernhard, a Maryland physician, was 75 when he served in Afghanistan in 2006.
Burson keeps a steady exercise regimen, working out four to five times a week lifting weights, playing racquetball and occasionally mountain biking. Burson runs on an elliptical machine at home, which is easier on his knees. He used it to run the 12-mile half-marathon to sway the Army from requiring a new physical exam.
However, all deploying soldiers must answer questions about their overall health during a screening. Army doctors can order a physical if there are concerns, said Master Sgt. Keith O'Donnell, a spokesman for the Army's Human Resources Command.
Before his first rotation to Iraq four years ago, Burson had to pass a physical exam and the Army fitness test. Soldiers 62 and older have to do 16 push-ups and 26 sit-ups, and run 2 miles in 20 minutes. The youngest recruits must do twice as many push-ups and sit-ups, and run 2 miles in less than 16 minutes.
These days, Burson said, his preparation involves more paperwork than physical training, though he does have to go to the firing range to qualify with a 9mm handgun — the only weapon he'll carry.
"I'm not really a very good shot," Burson said. "I could probably do better throwing the pistol at a target."
'He doesn't look 74'
In Afghanistan, Burson will oversee a medical staff treating about 1,000 soldiers. He'll likely spend much of his time working in a base clinic, but could be called to treat soldiers wounded during combat patrols. When he served in Iraq, it wasn't unusual for him to work through mortar rounds being fired at his base camp.
"There's an element of risk," Burson said. "But statistically it's probably not any more hazardous than driving to work."
Lt. Col. Twanda Young said about 400 soldiers, reservists and civilian contractors go through the Fort Benning training center she commands each week, preparing to join units already overseas. Burson isn't the only gray-haired volunteer she's seen — but she said his abilities make his age irrelevant.
"He doesn't look 74," Young said. "He's very vibrant. He just wants to soldier like anybody else, which is a testament to his character."
Burson's wife said it's not surprising he wants to keep soldiering. Retiring doesn't seem to be in his blood.
Several years ago, she said, Burson planned to retire from his medical practice and turn it over to his partner. When it came time to sign the paperwork, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Could Afghanistan be her husband's last deployment?
"We can't help but hope that," Barbara Burson said. "He doesn't make any promises."
Dr. John Burson balked when a skeptical Army staffer asked him to undergo a three-day physical exam to make sure he was fit to deploy as a field surgeon to Afghanistan.
"Look, I'm training to run a half-marathon," replied Burson, 74, a retired lieutenant colonel. "You come down and check to see if I can make it."
Burson won the debate and was declared fit for duty. The ear, nose and throat specialist from northwest Georgia wrapped up a weeklong training course this week at Fort Benning before his scheduled deployment Friday for a 90-day rotation with a unit of the 101st Airborne Division.
The first of two stints in Iraq proved unforgettable back in 2005, he said. Burson was among several doctors assigned to keep watch over an imprisoned Saddam Hussein.
The fallen dictator, who was three years younger than Burson, told him: "I'm glad they sent me one with gray hair this time."
Several of Burson's uncles and cousins enlisted during World War II, inspiring him to seek an Army officer's commission in the 1950s. But it would be five decades before he went to war.
By the time Burson was trained as a young officer, the Korean War was winding down. Years later, after he left active duty to join the Army Reserve, his unit was told to prepare for a tour in Vietnam. But the call never came.
Burson retired from military service in 1985 and thought he'd hung up his uniform for good. Then an e-mail came a few years ago from the Army's surgeon general, who was seeking retired military doctors to volunteer for rotations in Iraq.
'He enjoys doing it'Burson, then 70, sent a reply asking if he was too old. The answer led to his first war tour.
"He likes to say, 'Where else can a 74-year-old go and have fun?'" said Barbara Burson, his wife of 53 years. "I don't know if I see it as fun, but he enjoys doing it. And anyone would feel good about being able to contribute."
Burson isn't the oldest service member to deploy since the U.S. went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, but he's certainly atypical.
It's not clear how many others in their 70s have volunteered, or who's the oldest, said Wayne Hall, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon. Retired Army Reserve Col. William Bernhard, a Maryland physician, was 75 when he served in Afghanistan in 2006.
Burson keeps a steady exercise regimen, working out four to five times a week lifting weights, playing racquetball and occasionally mountain biking. Burson runs on an elliptical machine at home, which is easier on his knees. He used it to run the 12-mile half-marathon to sway the Army from requiring a new physical exam.
However, all deploying soldiers must answer questions about their overall health during a screening. Army doctors can order a physical if there are concerns, said Master Sgt. Keith O'Donnell, a spokesman for the Army's Human Resources Command.
Before his first rotation to Iraq four years ago, Burson had to pass a physical exam and the Army fitness test. Soldiers 62 and older have to do 16 push-ups and 26 sit-ups, and run 2 miles in 20 minutes. The youngest recruits must do twice as many push-ups and sit-ups, and run 2 miles in less than 16 minutes.
These days, Burson said, his preparation involves more paperwork than physical training, though he does have to go to the firing range to qualify with a 9mm handgun — the only weapon he'll carry.
"I'm not really a very good shot," Burson said. "I could probably do better throwing the pistol at a target."
'He doesn't look 74'
In Afghanistan, Burson will oversee a medical staff treating about 1,000 soldiers. He'll likely spend much of his time working in a base clinic, but could be called to treat soldiers wounded during combat patrols. When he served in Iraq, it wasn't unusual for him to work through mortar rounds being fired at his base camp.
"There's an element of risk," Burson said. "But statistically it's probably not any more hazardous than driving to work."
Lt. Col. Twanda Young said about 400 soldiers, reservists and civilian contractors go through the Fort Benning training center she commands each week, preparing to join units already overseas. Burson isn't the only gray-haired volunteer she's seen — but she said his abilities make his age irrelevant.
"He doesn't look 74," Young said. "He's very vibrant. He just wants to soldier like anybody else, which is a testament to his character."
Burson's wife said it's not surprising he wants to keep soldiering. Retiring doesn't seem to be in his blood.
Several years ago, she said, Burson planned to retire from his medical practice and turn it over to his partner. When it came time to sign the paperwork, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Could Afghanistan be her husband's last deployment?
"We can't help but hope that," Barbara Burson said. "He doesn't make any promises."
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Coincidence? Third Soldier Who Signed Critical Column Against Iraq War Dies
By: CNN
A third soldier who signed on to a 2007 newspaper column criticizing the war in Iraq has died.
His peers are mourning their friend as an "outstanding soldier" with "a thirst for knowledge and intellectual curiosity."
Spc. Jeremy Roebuck, 23, of Splendora, Texas, died from injuries after a January 28 automobile accident near Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
The paratrooper was an assistant team leader with 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, according to a news release issued by the military.
A relative confirmed that he was one of the people to sign an August 19, 2007, opinion article in The New York Times that called the prospects of U.S. success in Iraq "far-fetched" and said the progress being reported was offset by failures elsewhere.
Seven soldiers, members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, signed the column.
In September 2007, two of the other U.S. soldiers who signed the piece were killed in a truck accident outside Baghdad, Staff Sgt. Yance Gray and Sgt. Omar Mora.
As for Roebuck, he reported to Fort Bragg in November 2004 and was initially assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team before being assigned to 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment as an assistant team leader in November 2005. He deployed to Iraq in 2006, the military said.
"Spc. Roebuck was an outstanding soldier who was respected by both his peers and his superiors alike. He had proven himself in combat on the front lines in Iraq and had established himself as an upcoming leader in the unit. He was a good man and will be profoundly missed by the men of C Troop," said Capt. Jon Hartsock, commander of C Troop, 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment.
Named as a sergeant in The Times article, Roebuck was listed at the lower rank of specialist when he died. A military spokesman would not elaborate on the circumstances involving his rank.
The Times column said, "Four years into our occupation, we have failed on every promise, while we have substituted Baath Party tyranny with a tyranny of Islamist, militia and criminal violence.
"When the primary preoccupation of average Iraqis is when and how they are likely to be killed, we can hardly feel smug as we hand out care packages," it said.
Another of the soldiers who signed the article, Staff Sgt. Jeremy Murphy, was shot in the head a week before the article appeared, but survived.
The military, in its news release on the death, said Roebuck's friends remember him as "a rare and gifted soldier." He received many awards and decorations.
"Spc. Roebuck is known throughout the troop for his consistent displays of courage and determination in 16 months of combat," Sgt. Buddhika Jayamaha said, "but he is also known for his thirst for knowledge and intellectual curiosity."
Sgt. Buddhika Jayamaha is one of the seven names on The Times article.
A third soldier who signed on to a 2007 newspaper column criticizing the war in Iraq has died.
His peers are mourning their friend as an "outstanding soldier" with "a thirst for knowledge and intellectual curiosity."
Spc. Jeremy Roebuck, 23, of Splendora, Texas, died from injuries after a January 28 automobile accident near Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
The paratrooper was an assistant team leader with 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, according to a news release issued by the military.
A relative confirmed that he was one of the people to sign an August 19, 2007, opinion article in The New York Times that called the prospects of U.S. success in Iraq "far-fetched" and said the progress being reported was offset by failures elsewhere.
Seven soldiers, members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, signed the column.
In September 2007, two of the other U.S. soldiers who signed the piece were killed in a truck accident outside Baghdad, Staff Sgt. Yance Gray and Sgt. Omar Mora.
As for Roebuck, he reported to Fort Bragg in November 2004 and was initially assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team before being assigned to 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment as an assistant team leader in November 2005. He deployed to Iraq in 2006, the military said.
"Spc. Roebuck was an outstanding soldier who was respected by both his peers and his superiors alike. He had proven himself in combat on the front lines in Iraq and had established himself as an upcoming leader in the unit. He was a good man and will be profoundly missed by the men of C Troop," said Capt. Jon Hartsock, commander of C Troop, 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment.
Named as a sergeant in The Times article, Roebuck was listed at the lower rank of specialist when he died. A military spokesman would not elaborate on the circumstances involving his rank.
The Times column said, "Four years into our occupation, we have failed on every promise, while we have substituted Baath Party tyranny with a tyranny of Islamist, militia and criminal violence.
"When the primary preoccupation of average Iraqis is when and how they are likely to be killed, we can hardly feel smug as we hand out care packages," it said.
Another of the soldiers who signed the article, Staff Sgt. Jeremy Murphy, was shot in the head a week before the article appeared, but survived.
The military, in its news release on the death, said Roebuck's friends remember him as "a rare and gifted soldier." He received many awards and decorations.
"Spc. Roebuck is known throughout the troop for his consistent displays of courage and determination in 16 months of combat," Sgt. Buddhika Jayamaha said, "but he is also known for his thirst for knowledge and intellectual curiosity."
Sgt. Buddhika Jayamaha is one of the seven names on The Times article.
Army Suicides Increased for January
By: Associated Press
The Army is investigating what appears to be a stunning number of suicides in January — a count that could surpass all combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan last month.
According to figures obtained by The Associated Press, there were 24 suspected suicides in January, compared to only four in January of 2008, six in January of 2007 and 10 in January of 2006.
Yearly suicides have been rising steadily since 2004 amid increasing stress on the force from long and repeated tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The service has rarely, if ever, released a month-by-month update on suicides, but officials said Thursday that they wanted to re-emphasize "the urgency and seriousness necessary for preventive action at all levels" of the force.
An alarmed Army leadership also took the unusual step of briefing congressional leaders on the information Thursday morning.
The monthly count follows an annual report last week showing that soldiers killed themselves at the highest rate on record in 2008. The toll for all of last year — 128 confirmed and 15 pending investigation — was an increase for the fourth straight year and even surpassed the suicide rate among civilians.
General: Urgency heightened
"The trend and trajectory seen in January further heightens the seriousness and urgency that all of us must have in preventing suicides," Gen. Peter Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff, said of the new monthly report Thursday.
The 24 suspected January suicides include seven confirmed and 17 still being investigated. Usually the vast majority of suspected suicides are eventually confirmed, and if that holds true it would mean that self-inflicted deaths surpassed the 16 combat deaths reported in all branches of the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan last month.
In announcing the 2008 figures last week, the Army said it would hold special training from Feb. 15 to March 15 to help troops recognize suicidal behaviors and to intervene if they see such behavior in a buddy. After that, the Army also plans a suicide prevention program for all soldiers from the top of the chain of command down.
Yearly increases in suicides have been recorded since 2004, when there were 64 all year. Officials said they found that the most common factors were soldiers suffering problems with their personal relationships, legal or financial issues and problems on the job.
No cause determined
But Army Secretary Pete Geren acknowledged last week that officials have been stumped by the spiraling cases.
"Why do the numbers keep going up? We cannot tell you," Geren said at a Pentagon press conference last week. "We can tell you that across the Army we're committed to doing everything we can to address the problem."
The relentless rise in suicides has frustrated the service, coming despite numerous attempts to stem the tide through additional suicide prevention training, the hiring of more psychiatrists and other mental health staff, and other programs both at home and at the battlefront for troops and their families.
In addition to suicide prevention programs, the Defense Department also has been working to encourage troops to seek mental health care by reducing the stigma associated with getting help. Officials believe many who need help don't get it because they fear it will hurt their careers.
In October, the Army and the National Institute of Mental Health signed an agreement to do a five-year study to identify factors affecting the mental and behavioral health of soldiers and come up with intervention strategies at intervals along the way.
The Army is investigating what appears to be a stunning number of suicides in January — a count that could surpass all combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan last month.
According to figures obtained by The Associated Press, there were 24 suspected suicides in January, compared to only four in January of 2008, six in January of 2007 and 10 in January of 2006.
Yearly suicides have been rising steadily since 2004 amid increasing stress on the force from long and repeated tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The service has rarely, if ever, released a month-by-month update on suicides, but officials said Thursday that they wanted to re-emphasize "the urgency and seriousness necessary for preventive action at all levels" of the force.
An alarmed Army leadership also took the unusual step of briefing congressional leaders on the information Thursday morning.
The monthly count follows an annual report last week showing that soldiers killed themselves at the highest rate on record in 2008. The toll for all of last year — 128 confirmed and 15 pending investigation — was an increase for the fourth straight year and even surpassed the suicide rate among civilians.
General: Urgency heightened
"The trend and trajectory seen in January further heightens the seriousness and urgency that all of us must have in preventing suicides," Gen. Peter Chiarelli, Army vice chief of staff, said of the new monthly report Thursday.
The 24 suspected January suicides include seven confirmed and 17 still being investigated. Usually the vast majority of suspected suicides are eventually confirmed, and if that holds true it would mean that self-inflicted deaths surpassed the 16 combat deaths reported in all branches of the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan last month.
In announcing the 2008 figures last week, the Army said it would hold special training from Feb. 15 to March 15 to help troops recognize suicidal behaviors and to intervene if they see such behavior in a buddy. After that, the Army also plans a suicide prevention program for all soldiers from the top of the chain of command down.
Yearly increases in suicides have been recorded since 2004, when there were 64 all year. Officials said they found that the most common factors were soldiers suffering problems with their personal relationships, legal or financial issues and problems on the job.
No cause determined
But Army Secretary Pete Geren acknowledged last week that officials have been stumped by the spiraling cases.
"Why do the numbers keep going up? We cannot tell you," Geren said at a Pentagon press conference last week. "We can tell you that across the Army we're committed to doing everything we can to address the problem."
The relentless rise in suicides has frustrated the service, coming despite numerous attempts to stem the tide through additional suicide prevention training, the hiring of more psychiatrists and other mental health staff, and other programs both at home and at the battlefront for troops and their families.
In addition to suicide prevention programs, the Defense Department also has been working to encourage troops to seek mental health care by reducing the stigma associated with getting help. Officials believe many who need help don't get it because they fear it will hurt their careers.
In October, the Army and the National Institute of Mental Health signed an agreement to do a five-year study to identify factors affecting the mental and behavioral health of soldiers and come up with intervention strategies at intervals along the way.
Veteran Patients at Risk for Hepatitis and HIV from Flawed Insulin Injections
Diabetic veterans treated at William Beaumont Army Medical Center are at risk for hepatitis or HIV due to possible tainted insulin injections.
Although each needle was new and sterilized, the pen portion of the multi-dose injectors may have been used on more than one person.
The discovery came last week after 18 months of improper use. Patients receiving insulin injections between August 2007 and January 2009 at the center may be at risk for developing blood-borne diseases.
William Beaumont spokesman Clarence Davis III said the mistake is under investigation. The process of notifying at-risk patients is under way, and that an Army-wide review of the insulin devices has been ordered.
Although each needle was new and sterilized, the pen portion of the multi-dose injectors may have been used on more than one person.
The discovery came last week after 18 months of improper use. Patients receiving insulin injections between August 2007 and January 2009 at the center may be at risk for developing blood-borne diseases.
William Beaumont spokesman Clarence Davis III said the mistake is under investigation. The process of notifying at-risk patients is under way, and that an Army-wide review of the insulin devices has been ordered.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Duckworth Nominated as Assistant Secretary at VA
By: Associated Press
Tammy Duckworth, the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs director, was nominated by President Barack Obama on Tuesday to serve as an assistant secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Duckworth was a helicopter pilot in Iraq who lost both her legs and partial use of one arm in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in 2004. She ran for Congress in 2006, but lost.
As assistant secretary of public and intergovernmental affairs, her duties would include directing VA's public affairs operations, as well as programs for homeless veterans.
In a statement released by the White House, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki said communicating with veterans was a key part of improving services at the VA.
"Tammy Duckworth brings significant talent, leadership and personal experience to this important work," Shinseki said.
Duckworth was a major in the Illinois National Guard. She was appointed director of the Illinois veterans' agency in 2006.
Tammy Duckworth, the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs director, was nominated by President Barack Obama on Tuesday to serve as an assistant secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Duckworth was a helicopter pilot in Iraq who lost both her legs and partial use of one arm in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in 2004. She ran for Congress in 2006, but lost.
As assistant secretary of public and intergovernmental affairs, her duties would include directing VA's public affairs operations, as well as programs for homeless veterans.
In a statement released by the White House, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki said communicating with veterans was a key part of improving services at the VA.
"Tammy Duckworth brings significant talent, leadership and personal experience to this important work," Shinseki said.
Duckworth was a major in the Illinois National Guard. She was appointed director of the Illinois veterans' agency in 2006.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Military Suicides Continue to Rise
By: Courtney Kube and Alex Johnson
Suicide rates among active-duty U.S. military personnel are continuing to rise even as the Defense Department dedicates more resources to identifying troubled service members and getting them the help they need, NBC News has learned.
At least 125 soldiers were confirmed to have killed themselves in 2008, compared with 115 in 2007, 102 in 2006 and 87 in 2005, a senior defense official told NBC News. Last year’s figure is likely to rise even higher, because the Army is investigating at least 17 other deaths as possible suicides.
The Marine Corps reported 41 possible suicides last year, up from 33 in 2007, a defense official said, while the Navy and the Air Force saw smaller increases. The officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed the figures ahead of a public roundtable scheduled for Thursday to discuss suicides in the military.
According to figures compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the civilian suicide rate was 11 per 100,000 Americans in 2005, the last year for which fully adjusted national figures are available.
Officials said the Marine Corps’ rate was 19 per 100,000 Marines in 2008, while for the Air Force, it was 11.5, and for the Navy, it was 11.3. All three rates represented statistically significant rises over the same figures in 2007.
The officials did not provide a comparable breakdown for suicides in the Army, but the ratio works out to roughly 18 per 100,000 soldiers in 2008, pending open investigations and accounting for differing methods of counting the overall active-duty Army force.
And exact comparisons could be misleading because the makeup of the military forces does not mirror that of American society as a whole. But among the segment of the civilian population that most closely reflects the demographic makeup of the military — males ages 18 to 24 — about 19.8 Americans committed suicide per 100,000 in 2005, according to CDC figures.
Problem difficult to get a grip on
While the active-duty military force is expanding, the rate of suicides is growing even faster among all four services, a phenomenon that has alarmed defense officials.
“They’ve lost buddies,” said Army Brig. Gen. Loree K. Sutton, director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. “They’ve been exposed to the most corrosive environment known to warfare — physically, psychologically, spiritually and morally.”
Maj. Gen. Mark A. Graham, commanding officer of the Army base at Fort Carson, Colo., said the military still suffered from a shortage of behavioral health professionals, even thought strides have been made in the past year. The Army, for example, has allocated $50 million to study the causes of military suicides and to bolster its programs to identify and help troubled soldiers.
The American Psychological Association reported in 2007 that there was a 40 percent vacancy rate in active-duty psychologists in the Army.
“With the stress that our soldiers and families are under, it’s taken a toll,” Graham said.
Fighting the stigma
A major problem is the stigma attached to service members who seek counseling and other mental health assistance, said Graham, whose youngest son, Kevin, 21, committed suicide in June 2003 as an ROTC cadet.
Eight months later, Graham was considered retiring when his other son, Jeff, was killed by an improvised explosive device in Iraq.
Until that point, Graham said, he himself thought “it was a sign of weakness” for a soldier to acknowledge emotional trauma.
But “guess what?” he said. “I actually found out what I was putting my family through.”
The epidemic of suicides in the military is a wake-up call, said Graham, who with his wife is now active with the Suicide Prevention Action Network.
“We could either let this tragedy be the book of our life, or we could let it be a tragic chapter in the book of our life,” Graham said. “And we’ve chosen the second, to make these [just] sad chapters in our life, but to make the overall book hopeful.”
“The message is it’s OK to ask for help,” he said. “It’s a sign of strength and not weakness to come forward.”
Suicide rates among active-duty U.S. military personnel are continuing to rise even as the Defense Department dedicates more resources to identifying troubled service members and getting them the help they need, NBC News has learned.
At least 125 soldiers were confirmed to have killed themselves in 2008, compared with 115 in 2007, 102 in 2006 and 87 in 2005, a senior defense official told NBC News. Last year’s figure is likely to rise even higher, because the Army is investigating at least 17 other deaths as possible suicides.
The Marine Corps reported 41 possible suicides last year, up from 33 in 2007, a defense official said, while the Navy and the Air Force saw smaller increases. The officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed the figures ahead of a public roundtable scheduled for Thursday to discuss suicides in the military.
According to figures compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the civilian suicide rate was 11 per 100,000 Americans in 2005, the last year for which fully adjusted national figures are available.
Officials said the Marine Corps’ rate was 19 per 100,000 Marines in 2008, while for the Air Force, it was 11.5, and for the Navy, it was 11.3. All three rates represented statistically significant rises over the same figures in 2007.
The officials did not provide a comparable breakdown for suicides in the Army, but the ratio works out to roughly 18 per 100,000 soldiers in 2008, pending open investigations and accounting for differing methods of counting the overall active-duty Army force.
And exact comparisons could be misleading because the makeup of the military forces does not mirror that of American society as a whole. But among the segment of the civilian population that most closely reflects the demographic makeup of the military — males ages 18 to 24 — about 19.8 Americans committed suicide per 100,000 in 2005, according to CDC figures.
Problem difficult to get a grip on
While the active-duty military force is expanding, the rate of suicides is growing even faster among all four services, a phenomenon that has alarmed defense officials.
“They’ve lost buddies,” said Army Brig. Gen. Loree K. Sutton, director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. “They’ve been exposed to the most corrosive environment known to warfare — physically, psychologically, spiritually and morally.”
Maj. Gen. Mark A. Graham, commanding officer of the Army base at Fort Carson, Colo., said the military still suffered from a shortage of behavioral health professionals, even thought strides have been made in the past year. The Army, for example, has allocated $50 million to study the causes of military suicides and to bolster its programs to identify and help troubled soldiers.
The American Psychological Association reported in 2007 that there was a 40 percent vacancy rate in active-duty psychologists in the Army.
“With the stress that our soldiers and families are under, it’s taken a toll,” Graham said.
Fighting the stigma
A major problem is the stigma attached to service members who seek counseling and other mental health assistance, said Graham, whose youngest son, Kevin, 21, committed suicide in June 2003 as an ROTC cadet.
Eight months later, Graham was considered retiring when his other son, Jeff, was killed by an improvised explosive device in Iraq.
Until that point, Graham said, he himself thought “it was a sign of weakness” for a soldier to acknowledge emotional trauma.
But “guess what?” he said. “I actually found out what I was putting my family through.”
The epidemic of suicides in the military is a wake-up call, said Graham, who with his wife is now active with the Suicide Prevention Action Network.
“We could either let this tragedy be the book of our life, or we could let it be a tragic chapter in the book of our life,” Graham said. “And we’ve chosen the second, to make these [just] sad chapters in our life, but to make the overall book hopeful.”
“The message is it’s OK to ask for help,” he said. “It’s a sign of strength and not weakness to come forward.”
RELATED: Effects of Concussion Can Last Decades
Thirty years after injury, memory, attention and reaction time issues persist
By: Reuters
A single concussion early in an athlete's career can take a toll on memory, attention and reaction time 30 years later, Canadian researchers said on Tuesday.
Compared with athletes with no history of concussion, those who had sustained a concussion had memory and attention problems and had slower reaction times, researchers reported in the journal Brain.
"This study shows that the effects of sports concussions in early adulthood persist beyond 30 years post-concussion and that it can cause cognitive and motor function alterations as the athletes age," Louis De Beaumont of the University of Montreal, who led the study, said in a statement.
De Beaumont studied former university-level athletes aged 50 to 65, most of whom had played hockey. Nineteen had sustained a concussion more that 30 years prior; the remaining 21 had not. All were healthy and physically fit.
The former athletes answered questionnaires on their general health and took a battery of memory and attention tests. Those who remembered having had concussions did more poorly on the tests.
De Beaumont said the findings suggest "athletes should be better informed about the cumulative and persistent effects of sports concussion on mental and physical processes so that they know about the risks associated with returning to their sport."
By: Reuters
A single concussion early in an athlete's career can take a toll on memory, attention and reaction time 30 years later, Canadian researchers said on Tuesday.
Compared with athletes with no history of concussion, those who had sustained a concussion had memory and attention problems and had slower reaction times, researchers reported in the journal Brain.
"This study shows that the effects of sports concussions in early adulthood persist beyond 30 years post-concussion and that it can cause cognitive and motor function alterations as the athletes age," Louis De Beaumont of the University of Montreal, who led the study, said in a statement.
De Beaumont studied former university-level athletes aged 50 to 65, most of whom had played hockey. Nineteen had sustained a concussion more that 30 years prior; the remaining 21 had not. All were healthy and physically fit.
The former athletes answered questionnaires on their general health and took a battery of memory and attention tests. Those who remembered having had concussions did more poorly on the tests.
De Beaumont said the findings suggest "athletes should be better informed about the cumulative and persistent effects of sports concussion on mental and physical processes so that they know about the risks associated with returning to their sport."
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
$20 Million Settlement for VA Data Theft
By: Associated Press
The Veterans Affairs Department agreed Tuesday to pay $20 million to veterans for exposing them to possible identity theft in 2006 by losing their sensitive personal information.
In court filings Tuesday, lawyers for the VA and the veterans said they had reached agreement to settle a class-action lawsuit originally filed by five veterans groups alleging invasion of privacy. The money, which will come from the U.S. Treasury, will be used to pay veterans who can show they suffered actual harm, such as physical symptoms of emotional distress or expenses incurred for credit monitoring.
U.S. District Judge James Robertson in Washington must approve the terms of the settlement before it becomes final.
''This settlement means the VA is finally accepting full responsibility for a huge problem that continues to worry millions of veterans, retirees, service members and families,'' said Joe Davis, spokesman for Veterans of Foreign Wars, which was not involved in the lawsuit.
VA spokesman Phil Budahn said: ''We want to assure veterans there is no evidence that the information involved in this incident was used to harm a single veteran.''
The lawsuit came after a VA data analyst in 2006 admitted that he had lost a laptop and external drive containing the names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of up to 26.5 million veterans and active-duty troops.
The laptop was later recovered intact, but a blistering report by the VA inspector general faulted both the data analyst and his supervisors for putting veterans at unreasonable risk. The data analyst had lost the information when his suburban Maryland home was burglarized on May 3, 2006, after taking the data home without permission.
The VA employee promptly notified his superiors, but due to a series of delays, veterans were not told of the theft until nearly three weeks later, on May 22. Then-VA Secretary James Nicholson later said he was ''mad as hell'' that he wasn't immediately told about the burglary.
According to the proposed settlement, veterans who show harm from the data theft will be able to receive payments ranging from $75 to $1,500. If any of the $20 million is left over after making payments, the remainder would be donated to veterans' charities agreed to by the parties, such as the Fisher House Foundation Inc. and The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.
Attorneys for the veterans groups said notices about the proposed settlement will be published in magazines and newspapers around the country, with a toll-free number and other contact information for veterans.
Five veterans groups filed a class-action lawsuit in June 2006 in U.S. District Court in Washington on behalf of all veterans, seeking $1,000 in damages for every veteran whose information was compromised in the computer theft.
''This is a very positive result,'' said Douglas J. Rosinski, an attorney representing the veterans groups. ''A lot of hard work went into finding a resolution that all the parties could be proud to say they were a part of bringing about.''
The Veterans Affairs Department agreed Tuesday to pay $20 million to veterans for exposing them to possible identity theft in 2006 by losing their sensitive personal information.
In court filings Tuesday, lawyers for the VA and the veterans said they had reached agreement to settle a class-action lawsuit originally filed by five veterans groups alleging invasion of privacy. The money, which will come from the U.S. Treasury, will be used to pay veterans who can show they suffered actual harm, such as physical symptoms of emotional distress or expenses incurred for credit monitoring.
U.S. District Judge James Robertson in Washington must approve the terms of the settlement before it becomes final.
''This settlement means the VA is finally accepting full responsibility for a huge problem that continues to worry millions of veterans, retirees, service members and families,'' said Joe Davis, spokesman for Veterans of Foreign Wars, which was not involved in the lawsuit.
VA spokesman Phil Budahn said: ''We want to assure veterans there is no evidence that the information involved in this incident was used to harm a single veteran.''
The lawsuit came after a VA data analyst in 2006 admitted that he had lost a laptop and external drive containing the names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of up to 26.5 million veterans and active-duty troops.
The laptop was later recovered intact, but a blistering report by the VA inspector general faulted both the data analyst and his supervisors for putting veterans at unreasonable risk. The data analyst had lost the information when his suburban Maryland home was burglarized on May 3, 2006, after taking the data home without permission.
The VA employee promptly notified his superiors, but due to a series of delays, veterans were not told of the theft until nearly three weeks later, on May 22. Then-VA Secretary James Nicholson later said he was ''mad as hell'' that he wasn't immediately told about the burglary.
According to the proposed settlement, veterans who show harm from the data theft will be able to receive payments ranging from $75 to $1,500. If any of the $20 million is left over after making payments, the remainder would be donated to veterans' charities agreed to by the parties, such as the Fisher House Foundation Inc. and The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.
Attorneys for the veterans groups said notices about the proposed settlement will be published in magazines and newspapers around the country, with a toll-free number and other contact information for veterans.
Five veterans groups filed a class-action lawsuit in June 2006 in U.S. District Court in Washington on behalf of all veterans, seeking $1,000 in damages for every veteran whose information was compromised in the computer theft.
''This is a very positive result,'' said Douglas J. Rosinski, an attorney representing the veterans groups. ''A lot of hard work went into finding a resolution that all the parties could be proud to say they were a part of bringing about.''
Smoking Worsens PTSD Symptoms
Half of those with disorder smoke, but nicotine may reinforce bad memories
By: Associated Press
Reaching for a cigarette to cope with a flashback is all too common among sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder. The nicotine hit may feel good but scientists say its brain action probably makes their PTSD worse in the long run.
Here's the rub: At least half of PTSD sufferers smoke, and others wind up dependent on alcohol, anti-anxiety pills, sometimes even illegal drugs. Yet too few clinics treat both PTSD and addictions at the same time, despite evidence they should.
Now studies are recruiting PTSD patients — from New England drug-treatment centers to veterans clinics in North Carolina and Washington — to determine what combination care works.
"It's kind of a clinical myth that you can only do one at a time or should only do one at a time," says Duke University PTSD specialist Dr. Jean Beckham, a psychologist at the Durham, N.C., Veterans Affairs Medical Center. "Everybody's afraid to have their patients quit smoking because they're afraid they're going to get worse. There's not a lot of empirical data about that."
And her research on how to break the nicotine-and-PTSD cycle raises a provocative question for a tobacco-prone military: Are people at higher risk of developing PTSD if they smoke before they experience the violent event or episode?
High Rate of PTSD Among Returning Vets
Post-traumatic stress disorder — which can include flashbacks, debilitating anxiety, irritability and insomnia — is thought to affect nearly 8 million Americans at any given time. Anyone can develop it after a terrifying experience, from a mugging to a hurricane, a car crash to child abuse. But PTSD is getting renewed attention because so many veterans returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan seem vulnerable. A study last year by the RAND Corp. research organization estimated nearly 20 percent of them, or 300,000 people, have symptoms of PTSD or major depression.
What's less discussed is that patients often don't realize they might have PTSD and try to relieve symptoms by self-medicating with alcohol, tobacco and other substance use — worsening habits that existed before the trauma or starting anew.
Addiction itself is a mental health disorder that causes changes in some of the same brain areas disrupted by mood and anxiety disorders like PTSD, says a new report on the co-illnesses from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. That argues for simultaneous treatment. Indeed, up to 60 percent of people in addiction treatment are estimated to have PTSD — although they seldom acknowledge symptoms — and they're three times more likely than other patients to drop out.
A handful of studies suggest combo care helps. One example: VA researchers in Connecticut gave the alcoholism drugs naltrexone and disulfiram to PTSD patients, and watched not only their drinking ease but their PTSD symptoms improve, too.
Then there's nicotine. It temporarily enhances attention when it hits the brain — one reason that members of military tell the VA's Beckham they smoke. Although PTSD patients say a cigarette helps their mood when they're having symptoms, the extra attention may be reinforcing bad memories.
"If you think about your traumatic event and you smoke your cigarette, you can think about it even better," explains the VA's Beckham.
Yet the NIDA report found combination care rare, partly because of our specialty-driven health system.
Another big reason: "The majority of people with PTSD don't seek treatment," Dr. Mark McGovern of Dartmouth Medical School told a NIDA meeting this month that brought together military and civilian experts to jump-start research.
"People try to swallow it or take care of it on their own and it just kind of gets out of control," agrees Bryan Adams, 24, who is working with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America to raise PTSD awareness.
Adams, now a business major at Rutgers University, was awarded a Purple Heart after being shot when his Army patrol was ambushed in Iraq in 2004. Back home he handled restlessness and irritability with increasing alcohol use. Only when he got into college did a checkup lead to a PTSD diagnosis and therapy. He quit excessive drinking as the PTSD improved, despite no formal alcohol treatment.
The new studies may prompt more merging of care:
By: Associated Press
Reaching for a cigarette to cope with a flashback is all too common among sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder. The nicotine hit may feel good but scientists say its brain action probably makes their PTSD worse in the long run.
Here's the rub: At least half of PTSD sufferers smoke, and others wind up dependent on alcohol, anti-anxiety pills, sometimes even illegal drugs. Yet too few clinics treat both PTSD and addictions at the same time, despite evidence they should.
Now studies are recruiting PTSD patients — from New England drug-treatment centers to veterans clinics in North Carolina and Washington — to determine what combination care works.
"It's kind of a clinical myth that you can only do one at a time or should only do one at a time," says Duke University PTSD specialist Dr. Jean Beckham, a psychologist at the Durham, N.C., Veterans Affairs Medical Center. "Everybody's afraid to have their patients quit smoking because they're afraid they're going to get worse. There's not a lot of empirical data about that."
And her research on how to break the nicotine-and-PTSD cycle raises a provocative question for a tobacco-prone military: Are people at higher risk of developing PTSD if they smoke before they experience the violent event or episode?
High Rate of PTSD Among Returning Vets
Post-traumatic stress disorder — which can include flashbacks, debilitating anxiety, irritability and insomnia — is thought to affect nearly 8 million Americans at any given time. Anyone can develop it after a terrifying experience, from a mugging to a hurricane, a car crash to child abuse. But PTSD is getting renewed attention because so many veterans returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan seem vulnerable. A study last year by the RAND Corp. research organization estimated nearly 20 percent of them, or 300,000 people, have symptoms of PTSD or major depression.
What's less discussed is that patients often don't realize they might have PTSD and try to relieve symptoms by self-medicating with alcohol, tobacco and other substance use — worsening habits that existed before the trauma or starting anew.
Addiction itself is a mental health disorder that causes changes in some of the same brain areas disrupted by mood and anxiety disorders like PTSD, says a new report on the co-illnesses from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. That argues for simultaneous treatment. Indeed, up to 60 percent of people in addiction treatment are estimated to have PTSD — although they seldom acknowledge symptoms — and they're three times more likely than other patients to drop out.
A handful of studies suggest combo care helps. One example: VA researchers in Connecticut gave the alcoholism drugs naltrexone and disulfiram to PTSD patients, and watched not only their drinking ease but their PTSD symptoms improve, too.
Then there's nicotine. It temporarily enhances attention when it hits the brain — one reason that members of military tell the VA's Beckham they smoke. Although PTSD patients say a cigarette helps their mood when they're having symptoms, the extra attention may be reinforcing bad memories.
"If you think about your traumatic event and you smoke your cigarette, you can think about it even better," explains the VA's Beckham.
Yet the NIDA report found combination care rare, partly because of our specialty-driven health system.
Another big reason: "The majority of people with PTSD don't seek treatment," Dr. Mark McGovern of Dartmouth Medical School told a NIDA meeting this month that brought together military and civilian experts to jump-start research.
"People try to swallow it or take care of it on their own and it just kind of gets out of control," agrees Bryan Adams, 24, who is working with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America to raise PTSD awareness.
Adams, now a business major at Rutgers University, was awarded a Purple Heart after being shot when his Army patrol was ambushed in Iraq in 2004. Back home he handled restlessness and irritability with increasing alcohol use. Only when he got into college did a checkup lead to a PTSD diagnosis and therapy. He quit excessive drinking as the PTSD improved, despite no formal alcohol treatment.
The new studies may prompt more merging of care:
- In Durham, Beckham is giving PTSD-suffering smokers either a nicotine patch or a dummy patch to wear for three weeks before they quit smoking. The theory: Steady nicotine release will blunt a cigarette's usually reinforcing hit to the brain, possibly helping both withdrawal symptoms and the intensity of PTSD symptoms.
- In some New Hampshire and Vermont substance-abuse clinics, McGovern is randomly assigning patients to standard addiction-only care or cognitive behavioral therapy traditionally used for PTSD. A pilot study found the cognitive behavioral therapy improved both PTSD symptoms and substance use.
- In Seattle, researchers at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System have PTSD therapists conducting smoking cessation therapy in the same visit. In a pilot study, those patients were five times more likely to quit cigarettes than PTSD patients sent to separate smoking programs.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Shinseki Sworn in as Secretary of the Deparment of Veterans Affairs
Retired Army Gen. Eric K. Shinseki took the oath of office today as the Nation's seventh Secretary of Veterans Affairs, assuming the leadership of the Department of Veterans Affairs following Tuesday's confirmation by the Senate.
"The overriding challenge I am addressing from my first day in office is to make the Department of Veterans Affairs a 21st century organization focused on the Nation's Veterans as its clients," Shinseki said.
Shinseki plans to develop a 2010 budget within his first 90 days that realizes the vision of President Obama to transform VA into an organization that is people-centric, results-driven and forward-looking.
Key issues on his agenda include smooth activation of an enhanced GI Bill education benefit that eligible Veterans can begin using next fall, streamlining the disability claims system, leveraging information technology to accelerate and modernize services, and opening VA's health care system to Veterans previously unable to enroll in it, while facilitating access for returning Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans.
Shinseki, a former Army Chief of Staff, takes the reins of a284,000-employee organization delivering health care and financial benefits to millions of Veterans and survivors under a $98 billion budget authorized this year through networks of regional benefits offices and health care facilities from coast to coast.
Born in 1942 on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, Shinseki graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1965. He served two combat tours and was wounded in action in Vietnam. He served with distinction in Europe, the Pacific and stateside, eventually becoming the Army's senior leader from June 1999 to June 2003.
Retired from military service in August 2003, Shinseki's military decorations include three Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts.
Shinseki succeeds Dr. James B. Peake as Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
"The overriding challenge I am addressing from my first day in office is to make the Department of Veterans Affairs a 21st century organization focused on the Nation's Veterans as its clients," Shinseki said.
Shinseki plans to develop a 2010 budget within his first 90 days that realizes the vision of President Obama to transform VA into an organization that is people-centric, results-driven and forward-looking.
Key issues on his agenda include smooth activation of an enhanced GI Bill education benefit that eligible Veterans can begin using next fall, streamlining the disability claims system, leveraging information technology to accelerate and modernize services, and opening VA's health care system to Veterans previously unable to enroll in it, while facilitating access for returning Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans.
Shinseki, a former Army Chief of Staff, takes the reins of a284,000-employee organization delivering health care and financial benefits to millions of Veterans and survivors under a $98 billion budget authorized this year through networks of regional benefits offices and health care facilities from coast to coast.
Born in 1942 on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, Shinseki graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1965. He served two combat tours and was wounded in action in Vietnam. He served with distinction in Europe, the Pacific and stateside, eventually becoming the Army's senior leader from June 1999 to June 2003.
Retired from military service in August 2003, Shinseki's military decorations include three Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts.
Shinseki succeeds Dr. James B. Peake as Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Shinseki Confirmed as New VA Secretary
By: Rick Maze
Staff Writer, Army Times
Retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki was confirmed Tuesday to be secretary of veterans’ affairs in President Obama’s Cabinet.
The Senate confirmed Shinseki by voice vote and without debate just hours after Obama was sworn in as the 44th president. The Senate also approved the Cabinet appointments for the energy, education, interior, agriculture and education departments and Obama’s choice to head the White House Office of Management and Budget.
The nomination of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., to be Obama’s secretary of state will come to a vote in the Senate on Wednesday afternoon. The delay comes because some Republicans, especially Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, wanted a recorded vote on Clinton’s nomination instead of the voice votes allowed on the other cabinet posts.
No vote is required on Obama’s decision to keep Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Pentagon.
Shinseki, who retired 2003 as Army chief of staff, takes over the Department of Veterans Affairs in the middle of an overhaul of the disability ratings system for ill and injured veterans and at a time when VA is being closely monitored on how it will handle the Aug. 1 effective date for the Post-9/11 GI Bill that promises to cover full tuition plus living and book allowances.
Staff Writer, Army Times
Retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki was confirmed Tuesday to be secretary of veterans’ affairs in President Obama’s Cabinet.
The Senate confirmed Shinseki by voice vote and without debate just hours after Obama was sworn in as the 44th president. The Senate also approved the Cabinet appointments for the energy, education, interior, agriculture and education departments and Obama’s choice to head the White House Office of Management and Budget.
The nomination of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., to be Obama’s secretary of state will come to a vote in the Senate on Wednesday afternoon. The delay comes because some Republicans, especially Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, wanted a recorded vote on Clinton’s nomination instead of the voice votes allowed on the other cabinet posts.
No vote is required on Obama’s decision to keep Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Pentagon.
Shinseki, who retired 2003 as Army chief of staff, takes over the Department of Veterans Affairs in the middle of an overhaul of the disability ratings system for ill and injured veterans and at a time when VA is being closely monitored on how it will handle the Aug. 1 effective date for the Post-9/11 GI Bill that promises to cover full tuition plus living and book allowances.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Ex-Army Officer, Suffering from PTSD, Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity
By: Tracey Kaplan, Mercury News
In a landmark case for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, a Santa Clara County jury Tuesday found a former Army captain diagnosed with PTSD not guilty by reason of insanity for robbing a Mountain View pharmacy of drugs at gunpoint.
Sargent Binkley, 34, faced a maximum of 22 years and eight months and a minimum of 12 years in state prison after the same jury convicted him last week of the 2006 robbery. He initially spent about two years in county jail awaiting trial and has been in a residential drug treatment program ever since.
The jury's verdict in the sanity phase of the trial Tuesday means Binkley could be treated for the syndrome in a state hospital or as an outpatient. He was taken into custody Tuesday to be evaluated.
"What this case means is that the jury stood behind a soldier,'' said Charles J. Smith, one of his attorneys. "We strongly believe that soldiers should get preferential treatment if they come back with problems after their service to our country.''
Binkley and his father, Edward, burst into tears when the verdict was announced.
"There was no reason this case should have ever gone to trial,'' Edward Binkley said, adding that his son turned himself in after committing a second robbery in San Mateo.
The prosecutor who tried the case, Deborah Medved, and a spokeswoman for the DA's office could not immediately be reached for comment.
Binkley graduated from West Point and served in Bosnia and Honduras before he received a general discharge in 2003. His defense attorneys argued that he became traumatized by two events — guarding a mass grave in Bosnia and shooting a teenager in a Honduran drug raid.
His father said he became addicted to morphine-based painkillers after dislocating his hip while running away from an alcohol-fueled fight in Honduras over a woman.
In a landmark case for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, a Santa Clara County jury Tuesday found a former Army captain diagnosed with PTSD not guilty by reason of insanity for robbing a Mountain View pharmacy of drugs at gunpoint.
Sargent Binkley, 34, faced a maximum of 22 years and eight months and a minimum of 12 years in state prison after the same jury convicted him last week of the 2006 robbery. He initially spent about two years in county jail awaiting trial and has been in a residential drug treatment program ever since.
The jury's verdict in the sanity phase of the trial Tuesday means Binkley could be treated for the syndrome in a state hospital or as an outpatient. He was taken into custody Tuesday to be evaluated.
"What this case means is that the jury stood behind a soldier,'' said Charles J. Smith, one of his attorneys. "We strongly believe that soldiers should get preferential treatment if they come back with problems after their service to our country.''
Binkley and his father, Edward, burst into tears when the verdict was announced.
"There was no reason this case should have ever gone to trial,'' Edward Binkley said, adding that his son turned himself in after committing a second robbery in San Mateo.
The prosecutor who tried the case, Deborah Medved, and a spokeswoman for the DA's office could not immediately be reached for comment.
Binkley graduated from West Point and served in Bosnia and Honduras before he received a general discharge in 2003. His defense attorneys argued that he became traumatized by two events — guarding a mass grave in Bosnia and shooting a teenager in a Honduran drug raid.
His father said he became addicted to morphine-based painkillers after dislocating his hip while running away from an alcohol-fueled fight in Honduras over a woman.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
War Vets With Headaches Could Have Brain Problems
by: Tater Gunnerson, HealthDay
Headache frequency and severity caused by traumatic brain injury might signal cognitive deficits, suggests a new study of Iraq war veterans.
Traumatic brain injuries, also called concussions, are common among veterans who served in Iraq. And as deployment times have become longer, military personnel have more chances to be exposed to explosions that can cause injury.
"The most important finding was that the soldiers who continued to have problems with headaches and PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] were much more likely to have signs of residual cognition impairment or abnormalities," said study author Dr. Robert L. Ruff, professor of neurology at Case Western Reserve University and neurology service chief at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. "By themselves, the deficits were not severe, but they compromised the veterans' ability to return to where they were."
The researchers studied 126 veterans who had lost consciousness from blasts and explosions an average of three times while in Iraq, none for more than 30 minutes. Neurological and neuropsychological testing revealed impairments in 80 of the veterans that the researchers attributed to concussions. Those veterans had been exposed to more explosions than the others, the study found.
Among veterans who had brain impairments, 93 percent reported having headaches, compared with 13 percent of those who showed no dysfunction on the neurological tests.
Their headaches also were more severe and persistent. Veterans with no brain impairments all described having tension-like headaches about four times a month, whereas 60 percent of those with brain impairments resulting from their concussions described migraine-like headaches that occurred an average of 12 times a month.
In addition to more frequent and severe headaches, many of the veterans also experienced other PTSD symptoms, including sleep disorders and problems with their sense of smell, the study found.
"The olfactory nerves are very small, so when there's movement, they get sheared off," said Keith Young, associate professor and vice chairman for research at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine in College Station, Texas, who also works with the VA Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans.
"People who have multiple exposures to blasts that cause loss of consciousness need to be carefully monitored for potential problems in the future," Young said.
And he believes the study, published in the latest issue of the Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development, could lead to better methods to identify veterans who need more intensive treatment.
"The study points to the possibility of using olfactory testing to look for people who might benefit from additional medical testing," Young said. "The good news about these olfactory tests is that they don't require computers, so in a field hospital, you could use scratch and sniff tests to identify people who need additional testing."
The findings may lead not only to new diagnostic techniques but to different approaches for treating people with concussions, Ruff said.
"It suggests that the treatment for these people needs to be integrated," he said. "We need to treat not just head trauma or the PTSD but to treat them together."
Headache frequency and severity caused by traumatic brain injury might signal cognitive deficits, suggests a new study of Iraq war veterans.
Traumatic brain injuries, also called concussions, are common among veterans who served in Iraq. And as deployment times have become longer, military personnel have more chances to be exposed to explosions that can cause injury.
"The most important finding was that the soldiers who continued to have problems with headaches and PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] were much more likely to have signs of residual cognition impairment or abnormalities," said study author Dr. Robert L. Ruff, professor of neurology at Case Western Reserve University and neurology service chief at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. "By themselves, the deficits were not severe, but they compromised the veterans' ability to return to where they were."
The researchers studied 126 veterans who had lost consciousness from blasts and explosions an average of three times while in Iraq, none for more than 30 minutes. Neurological and neuropsychological testing revealed impairments in 80 of the veterans that the researchers attributed to concussions. Those veterans had been exposed to more explosions than the others, the study found.
Among veterans who had brain impairments, 93 percent reported having headaches, compared with 13 percent of those who showed no dysfunction on the neurological tests.
Their headaches also were more severe and persistent. Veterans with no brain impairments all described having tension-like headaches about four times a month, whereas 60 percent of those with brain impairments resulting from their concussions described migraine-like headaches that occurred an average of 12 times a month.
In addition to more frequent and severe headaches, many of the veterans also experienced other PTSD symptoms, including sleep disorders and problems with their sense of smell, the study found.
"The olfactory nerves are very small, so when there's movement, they get sheared off," said Keith Young, associate professor and vice chairman for research at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine in College Station, Texas, who also works with the VA Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans.
"People who have multiple exposures to blasts that cause loss of consciousness need to be carefully monitored for potential problems in the future," Young said.
And he believes the study, published in the latest issue of the Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development, could lead to better methods to identify veterans who need more intensive treatment.
"The study points to the possibility of using olfactory testing to look for people who might benefit from additional medical testing," Young said. "The good news about these olfactory tests is that they don't require computers, so in a field hospital, you could use scratch and sniff tests to identify people who need additional testing."
The findings may lead not only to new diagnostic techniques but to different approaches for treating people with concussions, Ruff said.
"It suggests that the treatment for these people needs to be integrated," he said. "We need to treat not just head trauma or the PTSD but to treat them together."
Saturday, January 3, 2009
A Focus on Violence by Returning G.I.’s
By: Lizette Alvarez and Dan Frosch
For the past several years, as this Army installation in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains became a busy way station for soldiers cycling in and out of Iraq, the number of servicemen implicated in violent crimes has raised alarm.
Nine current or former members of Fort Carson’s Fourth Brigade Combat Team have killed someone or were charged with killings in the last three years after returning from Iraq. Five of the slayings took place last year alone. In addition, charges of domestic violence, rape and sexual assault have risen sharply.
Prodded by Senator Ken Salazar, Democrat of Colorado, the base commander began an investigation of the soldiers accused of homicide. An Army task force is reviewing their recruitment, medical and service records, as well as their personal histories, to determine if the military could have done something to prevent the violence. The inquiry was recently expanded to include other serious violent crimes.
Now the secretary of the Army, Pete Geren, says he is considering conducting an Army-wide review of all soldiers “involved in violent crimes since returning” from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a letter sent to Mr. Salazar in December. Mr. Geren wrote that the Fort Carson task force had yet to find a specific factor underlying the killings, but that the inquiry was continuing.
Focusing attention on soldiers charged with killings is a shift for the military, which since the start of the war in Iraq has largely deflected any suggestion that combat could be a factor in violent behavior among some returning service members.
Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, the Fort Carson commander, said, “If they had a good manner of performance before they deployed, then they get back and they get into trouble, instead of saying we will discipline you for trouble, the leadership has to say, Why did that occur, what happened, what is causing this difference in behavior?”
General Graham, whose oldest son, Jeff, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq a year after another son, Kevin, committed suicide, has made mental health a focus since taking command of Fort Carson in 2007. “I feel like I have to speak out for the Kevins of the world,” he said.
The inquiry, the general added, is “looking for a trend, something that happened through their life cycle that might have contributed to this, something we could have seen coming.”
Last January, The New York Times published articles examining the cases of veterans of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan charged with homicide after their return. At the time, it counted at least 121 such cases. In many of them, combat trauma and the stress of deployment appeared to have set the stage for the crimes.
At Fort Carson, at least four of the accused killers from the Fourth Brigade Combat Team, Fourth Infantry Division were grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder and several had been injured in battle.
One was John Needham, a 25-year-old private from a military family in California, whose downward spiral began when he sustained shrapnel wounds in Iraq and tried to commit suicide. This September, after being treated for stress disorder and receiving a medical discharge from the Army, Mr. Needham was charged with beating his girlfriend to death.
“Where is this aggression coming from?” asked Vivian H. Gembara, a former captain and Army prosecutor at Fort Carson until 2004, who wrote a book about the war crimes she prosecuted in Iraq. “Was it something in Iraq? Were they in a lot of heavy combat? If so, the command needs to pay more attention to that. You can’t just point all of them out as bad apples.”
The Fourth Combat Brigade, previously called the Second Combat Brigade, fought in Iraq’s fiercest cities at some of the toughest moments. Falluja and Ramadi, after insurgents dug into the rubble. Baghdad and its Sadr City district, as body counts soared. By 2007, after two tours, the brigade, which numbers 3,500, had lost 113 soldiers, with hundreds more wounded. It is now preparing for a tour in Afghanistan this spring.
Most Fort Carson soldiers have been to Iraq at least once; others have deployed two, three or four times.
Kaye Baron, a therapist in Colorado Springs who treats Fort Carson soldiers and families, said, “It got to the point I stopped asking if they have deployed, and started asking how many times they have deployed.”
Ms. Baron added, “There are some guys who say, ‘Why do I have to get treatment for P.T.S.D.? I just have to go back.’ ”
While most soldiers returning from war adjust with minor difficulties, military leaders acknowledges that multiple deployments strain soldiers and families, and can increase the likelihood of problems like excessive drinking, marital strife and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Domestic violence among Fort Carson soldiers has become more prevalent since the Iraq war began in 2003. In 2006, Fort Carson soldiers were charged in 57 cases of domestic violence, according to figures released by the base. As of mid-December, the number had grown to 145.
Rape and sexual assault cases against soldiers have also increased, from 10 in 2006 to 38 as of mid-December, the highest tally since the war began. Both domestic violence and rape are crimes that are traditionally underreported.
Fort Carson officials say the increased numbers do not necessarily indicate more violence. Karen Connelly, a Fort Carson spokeswoman, said the base, whose population fluctuates from 11,000 to 14,500 soldiers, is doing a better job of holding soldiers accountable for crimes, encouraging victims to come forward and keeping statistics.
Even so, Col. B. Shannon Davis, the base’s deputy commander, said the task force was examining these trends. “We are looking at crime as a whole,” he said.
The killings allegedly involving the nine current or former Fourth Brigade soldiers have caused the most consternation. The first occurred in 2005, when Stephen Sherwood, a musician who joined the Army for health benefits, returned from Iraq and fatally shot his wife and then himself.
Last year, three battlefield friends were charged with murder after two soldiers were found shot dead within four months of each other. Two of the accused suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, and all three had been in disciplinary or criminal trouble in the military. One had a juvenile record and been injured in Iraq.
The latest killing was in October, when the police say Robert H. Marko, an infantryman, raped and killed Judilianna Lawrence, a developmentally disabled teenager he had met online. Specialist Marko believed that on his 21st birthday he would become the “Black Raptor” — half-man, half-dinosaur, a confidential Army document shows. The Army evaluated him three times for mental health problems but cleared him for combat each time.
Senator Salazar, President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be secretary of the interior, called for the Fort Carson inquiry, saying the killings raised questions about what role, if any, combat stress played.
“It’s a hard issue, but it’s a realistic issue,” he said.
Since arriving at Fort Carson, General Graham has spoken openly about mental health, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder, calling it an act of courage, not frailty, to ask for help.
His 21-year-old son, a top R.O.T.C. cadet, hanged himself in 2003 after battling depression. He had stopped taking his antidepressants because he did not want to disclose his illness, fearing such an admission would harm his chances for a career as an Army doctor, General Graham said.
“He was embarrassed,” the general said. He added: “I feel it every day. We didn’t give him all the care we should have. He got some care, but not enough. I’ll never be convinced I did enough for my son.”
At Fort Carson, in cases of dishonorable discharge, General Graham asks whether the soldier might be struggling with combat stress disorder. He has sometimes opted instead to grant medical discharges, which entitle veterans to benefits. All Fort Carson soldiers who seek medical attention are now asked about their mental health and, if necessary, referred for treatment.
Still, some sergeants view stress disorder skeptically and actively discourage treatment, some therapists and soldiers say.
Billie Gray, 71, who until recently worked at a base clinic helping soldiers with emotional problems, said “that was the biggest problem at Fort Carson today: harassment” and “the very fact they are harassed made their mental status worse.”
Ms. Gray said she believed she was fired in October for being an outspoken advocate for mental health treatment. Base officials declined to comment, citing privacy reasons.
Colonel Davis, the deputy commander, acknowledged that sergeants had been reprimanded for discouraging treatment. “We have had to take corrective action,” he said, “but fewer and fewer times.”
John Wylie Needham, one of the accused killers whose case is now being examined by the task force, was “cracking up” in Iraq, he told his father in an e-mail message. Yet, he felt he had to fight to get help, his father said in an interview.
In October 2006, during his first week in Iraq, Private Needham, a California surfer, watched a good friend die from a sniper bullet. Months later, he was blasted in the back by shrapnel from a grenade. To cope with his growing anxiety, he stole Valium and drank liquor. Caught twice, he was punished with a reduction in rank, a fine and extra work, a confidential Army document shows. Eventually, he was prescribed medication, but he wrote to his father, Mike Needham, that it did not help.
Private Needham became angry at the way other soldiers reacted to the fighting, and he did not hide it. “They seemed to revel in how many people they had killed,” said a friend in his unit who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In September 2007, Private Needham tried to kill himself with a gun, the Army document states, but another soldier intervened. Mike Needham, a veteran, said that rather than treating his son, the Army disciplined him for discharging a weapon and confined him to barracks. The Army declined to comment.
“I’m stressed to the point of completely losing it,” Private Needham wrote to his father in October 2007. “The squad leader brushed me off and said suck it up.”
He added, “They keep me locked up in this room and if I need food or water I have to have 2 guards with me.”
The Army evacuated Private Needham to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to treat his back and his post-traumatic stress disorder. But a month later, he was back at Fort Carson.
“The first words out of the Mental Health Authority was, ‘we are severely understaffed,’ ” Mr. Needham said in an e-mail message to an officer at Walter Reed. “If you’re suicidal we can see you twice a week, otherwise once a week.”
Fort Carson assured Mike Needham that his son was receiving proper care. But during his son’s visit home during the Thanksgiving break, Mr. Needham found him smearing camouflage-colored makeup on his face and frantically sharpening a stick with a kitchen knife.
“He was a total mess,” Mr. Needham said.
He was treated at a California naval hospital until last July when he received a medical discharge from the Army. While Private Needham was in the early stages of getting help from a Veterans Administration clinic, he spent his days depressed and often drinking at his father’s condominium.
Then last summer, Private Needham met Jacqwelyn Villagomez, a bubbly 19-year-old aspiring model who saw him as a kindred spirit, said Jennifer Johnson, who had helped raise her. Her mother had died of AIDS when she was 6 and her father had left the family. Ms. Villagomez, “who saw the good in everyone,” had recently kicked a heroin habit, Ms. Johnson said.
“She thought she could save him,” Ms. Johnson said. But a month later, the police say, Private Needham beat Ms. Villagomez to death in his father’s condominium.
Mr. Needham said the Army handled his son’s case poorly, but Ms. Johnson finds it hard to muster sympathy for him. “I’m sure what happened to him was awful,” she said. “I’m sure he saw some horrible things that altered him. But this is a 200-pound guy who beat up this 95-pound little girl. It’s disgusting.”
For the past several years, as this Army installation in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains became a busy way station for soldiers cycling in and out of Iraq, the number of servicemen implicated in violent crimes has raised alarm.
Nine current or former members of Fort Carson’s Fourth Brigade Combat Team have killed someone or were charged with killings in the last three years after returning from Iraq. Five of the slayings took place last year alone. In addition, charges of domestic violence, rape and sexual assault have risen sharply.
Prodded by Senator Ken Salazar, Democrat of Colorado, the base commander began an investigation of the soldiers accused of homicide. An Army task force is reviewing their recruitment, medical and service records, as well as their personal histories, to determine if the military could have done something to prevent the violence. The inquiry was recently expanded to include other serious violent crimes.
Now the secretary of the Army, Pete Geren, says he is considering conducting an Army-wide review of all soldiers “involved in violent crimes since returning” from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a letter sent to Mr. Salazar in December. Mr. Geren wrote that the Fort Carson task force had yet to find a specific factor underlying the killings, but that the inquiry was continuing.
Focusing attention on soldiers charged with killings is a shift for the military, which since the start of the war in Iraq has largely deflected any suggestion that combat could be a factor in violent behavior among some returning service members.
Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, the Fort Carson commander, said, “If they had a good manner of performance before they deployed, then they get back and they get into trouble, instead of saying we will discipline you for trouble, the leadership has to say, Why did that occur, what happened, what is causing this difference in behavior?”
General Graham, whose oldest son, Jeff, was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq a year after another son, Kevin, committed suicide, has made mental health a focus since taking command of Fort Carson in 2007. “I feel like I have to speak out for the Kevins of the world,” he said.
The inquiry, the general added, is “looking for a trend, something that happened through their life cycle that might have contributed to this, something we could have seen coming.”
Last January, The New York Times published articles examining the cases of veterans of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan charged with homicide after their return. At the time, it counted at least 121 such cases. In many of them, combat trauma and the stress of deployment appeared to have set the stage for the crimes.
At Fort Carson, at least four of the accused killers from the Fourth Brigade Combat Team, Fourth Infantry Division were grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder and several had been injured in battle.
One was John Needham, a 25-year-old private from a military family in California, whose downward spiral began when he sustained shrapnel wounds in Iraq and tried to commit suicide. This September, after being treated for stress disorder and receiving a medical discharge from the Army, Mr. Needham was charged with beating his girlfriend to death.
“Where is this aggression coming from?” asked Vivian H. Gembara, a former captain and Army prosecutor at Fort Carson until 2004, who wrote a book about the war crimes she prosecuted in Iraq. “Was it something in Iraq? Were they in a lot of heavy combat? If so, the command needs to pay more attention to that. You can’t just point all of them out as bad apples.”
The Fourth Combat Brigade, previously called the Second Combat Brigade, fought in Iraq’s fiercest cities at some of the toughest moments. Falluja and Ramadi, after insurgents dug into the rubble. Baghdad and its Sadr City district, as body counts soared. By 2007, after two tours, the brigade, which numbers 3,500, had lost 113 soldiers, with hundreds more wounded. It is now preparing for a tour in Afghanistan this spring.
Most Fort Carson soldiers have been to Iraq at least once; others have deployed two, three or four times.
Kaye Baron, a therapist in Colorado Springs who treats Fort Carson soldiers and families, said, “It got to the point I stopped asking if they have deployed, and started asking how many times they have deployed.”
Ms. Baron added, “There are some guys who say, ‘Why do I have to get treatment for P.T.S.D.? I just have to go back.’ ”
While most soldiers returning from war adjust with minor difficulties, military leaders acknowledges that multiple deployments strain soldiers and families, and can increase the likelihood of problems like excessive drinking, marital strife and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Domestic violence among Fort Carson soldiers has become more prevalent since the Iraq war began in 2003. In 2006, Fort Carson soldiers were charged in 57 cases of domestic violence, according to figures released by the base. As of mid-December, the number had grown to 145.
Rape and sexual assault cases against soldiers have also increased, from 10 in 2006 to 38 as of mid-December, the highest tally since the war began. Both domestic violence and rape are crimes that are traditionally underreported.
Fort Carson officials say the increased numbers do not necessarily indicate more violence. Karen Connelly, a Fort Carson spokeswoman, said the base, whose population fluctuates from 11,000 to 14,500 soldiers, is doing a better job of holding soldiers accountable for crimes, encouraging victims to come forward and keeping statistics.
Even so, Col. B. Shannon Davis, the base’s deputy commander, said the task force was examining these trends. “We are looking at crime as a whole,” he said.
The killings allegedly involving the nine current or former Fourth Brigade soldiers have caused the most consternation. The first occurred in 2005, when Stephen Sherwood, a musician who joined the Army for health benefits, returned from Iraq and fatally shot his wife and then himself.
Last year, three battlefield friends were charged with murder after two soldiers were found shot dead within four months of each other. Two of the accused suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, and all three had been in disciplinary or criminal trouble in the military. One had a juvenile record and been injured in Iraq.
The latest killing was in October, when the police say Robert H. Marko, an infantryman, raped and killed Judilianna Lawrence, a developmentally disabled teenager he had met online. Specialist Marko believed that on his 21st birthday he would become the “Black Raptor” — half-man, half-dinosaur, a confidential Army document shows. The Army evaluated him three times for mental health problems but cleared him for combat each time.
Senator Salazar, President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be secretary of the interior, called for the Fort Carson inquiry, saying the killings raised questions about what role, if any, combat stress played.
“It’s a hard issue, but it’s a realistic issue,” he said.
Since arriving at Fort Carson, General Graham has spoken openly about mental health, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder, calling it an act of courage, not frailty, to ask for help.
His 21-year-old son, a top R.O.T.C. cadet, hanged himself in 2003 after battling depression. He had stopped taking his antidepressants because he did not want to disclose his illness, fearing such an admission would harm his chances for a career as an Army doctor, General Graham said.
“He was embarrassed,” the general said. He added: “I feel it every day. We didn’t give him all the care we should have. He got some care, but not enough. I’ll never be convinced I did enough for my son.”
At Fort Carson, in cases of dishonorable discharge, General Graham asks whether the soldier might be struggling with combat stress disorder. He has sometimes opted instead to grant medical discharges, which entitle veterans to benefits. All Fort Carson soldiers who seek medical attention are now asked about their mental health and, if necessary, referred for treatment.
Still, some sergeants view stress disorder skeptically and actively discourage treatment, some therapists and soldiers say.
Billie Gray, 71, who until recently worked at a base clinic helping soldiers with emotional problems, said “that was the biggest problem at Fort Carson today: harassment” and “the very fact they are harassed made their mental status worse.”
Ms. Gray said she believed she was fired in October for being an outspoken advocate for mental health treatment. Base officials declined to comment, citing privacy reasons.
Colonel Davis, the deputy commander, acknowledged that sergeants had been reprimanded for discouraging treatment. “We have had to take corrective action,” he said, “but fewer and fewer times.”
John Wylie Needham, one of the accused killers whose case is now being examined by the task force, was “cracking up” in Iraq, he told his father in an e-mail message. Yet, he felt he had to fight to get help, his father said in an interview.
In October 2006, during his first week in Iraq, Private Needham, a California surfer, watched a good friend die from a sniper bullet. Months later, he was blasted in the back by shrapnel from a grenade. To cope with his growing anxiety, he stole Valium and drank liquor. Caught twice, he was punished with a reduction in rank, a fine and extra work, a confidential Army document shows. Eventually, he was prescribed medication, but he wrote to his father, Mike Needham, that it did not help.
Private Needham became angry at the way other soldiers reacted to the fighting, and he did not hide it. “They seemed to revel in how many people they had killed,” said a friend in his unit who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In September 2007, Private Needham tried to kill himself with a gun, the Army document states, but another soldier intervened. Mike Needham, a veteran, said that rather than treating his son, the Army disciplined him for discharging a weapon and confined him to barracks. The Army declined to comment.
“I’m stressed to the point of completely losing it,” Private Needham wrote to his father in October 2007. “The squad leader brushed me off and said suck it up.”
He added, “They keep me locked up in this room and if I need food or water I have to have 2 guards with me.”
The Army evacuated Private Needham to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to treat his back and his post-traumatic stress disorder. But a month later, he was back at Fort Carson.
“The first words out of the Mental Health Authority was, ‘we are severely understaffed,’ ” Mr. Needham said in an e-mail message to an officer at Walter Reed. “If you’re suicidal we can see you twice a week, otherwise once a week.”
Fort Carson assured Mike Needham that his son was receiving proper care. But during his son’s visit home during the Thanksgiving break, Mr. Needham found him smearing camouflage-colored makeup on his face and frantically sharpening a stick with a kitchen knife.
“He was a total mess,” Mr. Needham said.
He was treated at a California naval hospital until last July when he received a medical discharge from the Army. While Private Needham was in the early stages of getting help from a Veterans Administration clinic, he spent his days depressed and often drinking at his father’s condominium.
Then last summer, Private Needham met Jacqwelyn Villagomez, a bubbly 19-year-old aspiring model who saw him as a kindred spirit, said Jennifer Johnson, who had helped raise her. Her mother had died of AIDS when she was 6 and her father had left the family. Ms. Villagomez, “who saw the good in everyone,” had recently kicked a heroin habit, Ms. Johnson said.
“She thought she could save him,” Ms. Johnson said. But a month later, the police say, Private Needham beat Ms. Villagomez to death in his father’s condominium.
Mr. Needham said the Army handled his son’s case poorly, but Ms. Johnson finds it hard to muster sympathy for him. “I’m sure what happened to him was awful,” she said. “I’m sure he saw some horrible things that altered him. But this is a 200-pound guy who beat up this 95-pound little girl. It’s disgusting.”
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