more tours of duty = more PTSD
I mean, that sort of stands to reason, but unfortunately it's being confirmed by empirical data. From Wednesday's Washington Post:
U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health.The entire article, which is worth reading, can be found here.
More than 650,000 soldiers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001 -- including more than 170,000 now in the Army who have served multiple tours -- so the survey's finding of increased risk from repeated exposure to combat has potentially widespread implications for the all-volunteer force. Earlier Army studies have shown that up to 30 percent of troops deployed to Iraq suffer from depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with the latter accounting for about 10 percent.
Only two out of five soldiers with mental disorders seek care. The rest will suffer, not in silence, but in the unwelcome solitude of their unquiet minds. Some will drink or use drugs to deaden the pain. Some will smack their wives and husbands and children around, or worse. More than a few will take their own lives.
I wonder how many military families who were all gung-ho for Bush's re-election in 2004 still support him now. I wonder how many of them still think this war is worth the toll it is taking on our soldiers.
posted by Anonymous @ 1:04 AM
1 Comments:
It's easy to get PTSD without going to combat. As a private in the Army you wake up every day after getting 5hrs of sleep and then get to hear how you're a piece of crap. Then you get treated like a piece of crap 24 hrs a day to back up that they really do think that about you. I was in the Army 22 months, I spent 6 months in combat, got out with PTSD. I'm not sure if the PTSD was a result of combat or a result of the depressing life of a soldier. I coulden't even put my hands in my pockets when it was almost subzero temperatures out side. I got yelled at for trying to warm up my hands while in a combat zone. Now I'm not in the Army and I realized that being a bum or in jail is a better life than being in the Army. In the Army as a private you work 7 days a week on 5hrs maximum sleep a day under extreme physical and psychological pressure. That breaks anyone down after a few years. I've seen it break many down in a few days and a few months. Out of 7 room mates I had in Basic and Advanced Individual training 5 of them dropped out of the militray. 1 developed some problem with his colon. 1 broke his ankle before his last PT Test and coulden't graduate. The other 3 claimed to be suicidal and got discharged. I made it but the truth was that I was all shakey and suffering from sever anxiety. If I was in jail or a bum I would make more money and live a better life than a private in the Army. As a private in the Army working 18 hrs a day for $1000 a month I made less than most beggars on a corner. The bums have it better too, they can at least put their hands in their pockets if it's cold to stay warm. Those in jail at least get a shower that works right. In advanced individual training all I had was a hose bib without a shower head. One side was extremely hot and the other side was extremely cold. When both sides were turned on the water woulden't go warm, it was either extremly hot or extremely cold. So when taking a shower you have to get a handful of extreme hot water and throw it on yourself then get a handful of extreme cold water and throw it on yourself. I was in the 101st airborne. I often spent up to 1 month in the woods in the same clothes getting wet and dirty. The smell was so bad it must have smelled like a dead cat. Even bums live better than that and smell better than that. Getting out of the Army I thought I was bad ass since I had been to war. Then I come to find out most employers think I'm probably a psycho because I was in war. So I got an A.A. Degree and hopefully I'll find a job making $10 an hr doing security or some labor Job. The college program for the Military is decieving too. I went to college but found out majoring in libearal arts is stupidity. I would have been better off going to a trade school learning to drive a truck, be a plumber, carpenter, or something of that nature. Now I realize my PTSD is really hurting my social life. I dropped out of college because I coulden't stand up to publically speak anymore. I don't have any friends and my family is alienated to me because of my PTSD behavior. All I want is a labor type job but those all go to the less intelligent people who can't speak english. They don't want someone who can become their boss because they'er more intelligent and hard working. So that's all I got to say about my time being in the Army, 101st airborne, as a private E-1.
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