http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lia-petridis/mentally-not-a-warrior_b_497421.html
Lia Petridis
Posted: March 17, 2010
News about a record number of suicides within the US Army, 160
soldiers on active duty who took their own lives in 2009, sparked a
debate in the US media in late 2009 that didn't last very long. The
shame, the horror and if nothing else, the war fatigue is at least
strong enough now to draw the attention of the Pentagon. Their Top
Brass is striving for change and is trying to redefine the "American
Warrior." Depression and other mental illnesses are to receive the
same recognition and medical treatment in the future, as are physical
injuries related to the war effort. Many returnees to the US are
suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. Their
condition will now be investigated more thoroughly and there is hope
that taboos surrounding mental illness can be overcome. More and more
veterans from different eras speak up.
This is their story.
Sgt. Loyd Sawyer is searching for words when he explains why he
joined the US Army in 2005. He wanted to "do his part," for the
country, in what he called "the cause in Iraq." The horror makes him
falter. Mighty are the memories of war he is coping with these days.
Upon joining the Army Loyd, the general manager of a funeral home in
rural Virginia, was assigned to a mortuary of the U.S. Air Force in
the quiet town of Dover, Delaware. After his basic training in the
U.S., he was transferred to the military base at Balad, north of
Baghdad in Iraq.
"It was my job to prepare the bodies of my deceased comrades for
their return to the US," Sawyer explains. He picked them up from the
military hospital and drove them to the morgue. Upon a search of
their pockets, he found letters, lucky charms, and very personal
items. The dead are then flown back home in body bags. On his days
off he helped to embalm the bodies. Sawyer was responsible for
identifying individual body parts. The arm of a Marine soldier,
recognizable by his "Semper Fidelis" tattoo, the Marines motto of
unconditional loyalty till death. A foot. Facial skin he has to
stretch out on a table.
Once, after a plane crash, he spent 82 hours in order to line up the
bodies, "...and sometimes the remains are so hot that they melted the
body bag." When Sawyer speaks, he sounds as if he is unable to
believe or fathom the things he had to experience.
Back in Iraq, Sawyer was not allowed to share his experiences outside
the base; instead, he started drinking excessively. After seven
months, a much different Loyd Sawyer returned to the US. One who
stays up all night because in his sleep he meets the dead. One who
can't control his aggression and who is estranged from his wife and
two sons. The smell of diesel fumes in the streets of his home town,
or the scent of blood in the meat department of the supermarket pull
him instantly back into war. He is not looking for company and avoids
people whenever he can. "My wife realized that something was wrong
with me. She wanted me to get help, but I hesitated. I was afraid
that would be the end of my military career."
Shame about the fact that after multiple military deployments
something was not right made soldiers fall silent for the longest
time, or worse, drove them into death. More than 2100 soldiers have
committed suicide since 2001, almost twice as many as have been
killed in Afghanistan so far. It is nearly half as many casualties
the war in Iraq has produced to this day.
PTSD is as old as war itself. The American psychologist Jonathan Shay
describes in his book Achilles in Vietnam - War Trauma and Change of
Personality the parallels between Vietnam veterans and the Greek
warrior Achilles who felt numb and helpless after the war experience.
He refused to eat anything and was tortured by a furious desire for
revenge and suicidal thoughts. Ultimately Achilles mutilated an
opponent beyond recognition and showed, as Shay explains, all
symptoms of PTSD. During the American Civil War the phenomenon was
called "Soldier's Heart." After the First World War the men were
"Shell Shocked", and as a result of the Second World War they showed
"War Fatigue." Thousands of US soldiers were showing "Combat Stress"
or suffered from "Post Vietnam Syndrome." The wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan produce more numbers: According to a study of the US
Department of Veteran Affairs, since September 2009, 106,726 soldiers
who quit their service after deployments in Iraq or Afghanistan have
been diagnosed with severe mental disorders so far.
Twenty-two percent have been found to suffer from PTSD, but the
estimated number of unreported cases is most likely higher. However,
the number doesn't include soldiers who are still serving or seek
help outside the Veterans organizations of the US Government. Many
veterans remain silent because they don't want to ruin their chances
of obtaining a civil job after being discharged. Soldiers who are
still in service are afraid of a fatal stigma, because inside the
Army the slogan "A real man survives anything" persists. The numbers,
according to a study by the U.S. Army, prove otherwise: Of 1000
soldiers who committed suicide from 2003 to 2009 the majority is
male, white, married, aged 21 to 25 years and had at least one Army deployment.
The fatal combination of the image that a soldier who must overcome
the cruelties of war, without psychological assistance and strong
emotions of patriotism lead to Sgt. Coleman Bean's death. After
returning from his first tour in the fall of 2005, he displayed
symptoms of PTSD: "He went into the custody of the Government Office
for veterans where he was diagnosed with PTSD, but he did not treat
it, because he was still in the military and the boys were supposed
to go on further missions," Coleman's father, Greg, a retired
journalist, says. He speaks of the panic attacks, which tormented the
young man repeatedly, ever since he had seen women and children
burning to death in a bus in Iraq. Coleman also started binge
drinking after his return from the first tour. He became aggressive
and sought fights in local bars, and eventually was imprisoned for
drunk driving. His patriotism, however, remained undiminished.
"Coleman believed in serving his country unconditionally. This is a
tradition within the Bean family. He saw an opportunity to form and
pursue a career. He was also looking for direction in his life and
wanted discipline. On September 6 of 2001 Coleman Bean joined the
Army. The events occurring five days later, the destruction of the
World Trade towers, "Changed everything for him," his father says.
"From that time on he was very convinced of his purpose. He completed
his basic training and was among the first soldiers in Iraq."
In the summer of 2007, the army deployed him a second time. Coleman
traveled once again to Iraq. His mother advised him, "We could flee
across the border." Strongly believing in the honor code of the U.S.
Army, Coleman refused the easy way out. His father Greg explains, "He
said shortly before his second deployment, if I do not go, they send
somebody else." Softly the father adds, "But mentally he was no
warrior at all. "Coleman also survived his second deployment in Iraq,
and reached his hometown Brunswick, New Jersey in the spring of 2007.
Only a few months later, he fell into his old habits. "He didn't
sleep, was unable to focus on his goals, experienced panic attacks
and could not escape from the problems caused by alcohol abuse."
On the morning of September 6, 2008 after a car accident and another
arrest for driving under the influence, Coleman Bean shot himself in
his apartment in South River. He was 25 years old.
Thus Coleman Bean is one of 160 soldiers who took their lives in
2009; that is the highest level since 2003. Only then did the armed
forces in general begin to count the suicides. The news rocked the
war-weary nation and in military circles, awareness has seemed to
develop now that this fact can no longer be trivialized. Better, the
Army is frantically looking for solutions.
An incident in early November 2009 started a wider debate about
mental health support within the U.S. Army. Major Nidal Malik Hasan,
who worked as a psychiatrist at Fort Hood with traumatized soldiers,
shot 13 people at the army base in Texas. In his case religious zeal
and ideological radicalization are joined by his own trauma and the
missed opportunity for rehabilitation.
After the publication of suicide statistics in the U.S. Army and the
catastrophe at Fort Hood Army officials responded promptly. General
Peter Chiarelli, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff announced in late
November that it was "absolutely unacceptable" that soldiers were
suffering in silence, just out of fear that they would experience the
malice of their peers or that their careers would be affected.
Chiarelli wants to redefine the "warrior ethos" and give mental
health the same importance as physical health, or the ability to
shoot with a rifle.
In April of 2009 the Army created a special unit for the early
detection of depression and suicide. Enlisted soldiers are now
participating in courses to learn what to look for in potentially
traumatized classmates and comrades. Their education also teaches how
they should deal with the situation. In particular, officers are
equally involved, a crucial step that veterans had been calling for.
Hugh Bruce, a resident of Brooklyn, New York, who served in Vietnam
is particularly vocal when it comes to soldiers' trauma. Bruce is in
his late 60's now; he volunteered for military service at 17.
"Patriotism played a role, but mostly I just wanted to get away from
my father." He proudly wears the insignia of the Veterans for Peace,
an organization that has been engaged with issues of war and peace
since 1985. While they are vociferously present at anti war
demonstrations, "Demonstrations hardly happen anymore. The anger that
people had back in the late 60's, that drove them on the streets, I
miss that." If you ask Bruce about his Vietnam experiences, he says,
"They were terrible. What do you think?"
He does not go into further detail, but the red veins in his face
tell their own story. "When we came back from Vietnam, the majority
of the veterans had either alcohol or drug problems. I drank enormous
quantities of alcohol and ended up in the emergency room far too often."
The increase in the suicide rate in the U.S. military he explains by
repeated deployments of servicemen and women. "Eighteen months was
the limit in Vietnam," says Bruce. The serious-faced veteran also
complains about the macho culture within the Army and adds, "After
World War I soldiers were 'Shell Shocked', now they call it PTSD. The
fact is we are not made for war." Bruce is disappointed in President
Barack Obama. "Disgusted," he was of the speech that the Nobel Peace
Prize winner delivered in early December 2009 at West Point. Obama
forcefully declared that "the country's security is at stake."
Therefore the U.S. president would send 30,000 more troops to
Afghanistan and promised at the same time, to start withdrawal them
18 months later. The first Marines took off to Afghanistan at
Christmas. "That was the philosophy of George W. Bush in embellished
words of someone who had promised change. It's the same poison!"
Psychologist Mike Rankin served from 1964 to 1969 as a staff
physician of the U.S. Navy in Vietnam. He then spent three decades
working with Vietnam veterans. After his return he had learned how
poorly the psychological support for returnees had been organized by
the U.S. government. In his view, the situation has improved only
marginally, "The U.S. Army to this day is still not able to provide
adequate service for veterans. The same was true for Vietnam, but at
the time we simply ignored the PTSD symptoms." Rankin opposes war
strongly, "I am against any form of military intervention, even
though I have lost family members in the Holocaust. There are better
ways to resolve conflicts."
Barbara Vandalen, chairwoman of the nonprofit organization Give an
Hour describes the shortage of psychological staff in the U.S. army
as an "acute emergency". After buying a copy of "Nonprofits for
Dummies" she started Give an Hour in 2004 and contribute to the
solution of the problem by providing free mental health services to
vets and their families. The psychologist was highly concerned, "that
we are losing an entire generation of young people as had happened in
Vietnam". But change doesn't happen over night, she knows, "The US
Army is now working very hard to modify their image, but it still
requires a massive, cultural shift at the Pentagon. It will take time
and intensive education." Vandalen was able to mobilize a total of
4600 psychologists throughout the United States, who freely offer
their services.
The Bean family mourn their son. The anniversaries are especially
hard, says Greg Bean. The family also receives help from Give an
Hour. "I believe that the U.S. military slowly understands the
problem and they do the best to help the soldiers," Bean explains.
"Only for my boy, it is too late."
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