Combat Stress Gives Military Pause

Combat Stress Gives Military Pause

abcnews.go.com

Eleven suspected suicides this year at Fort Campbell, Ky., prompted the military base to put its regular duties on hold today while officials paused for a program on suicide prevention. Even as they battle the enemy around the world, as many as three soldiers try to kill themselves every day. The number of those who have succeeded is higher than it has been in nearly 30 years.

"We are at two to three times the rate today than we were in previous years," said Col. Dallas Homas, chief surgeon with the Army Medical Corps. "It is of grave concern."

"This is a very stressed force," said

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This is a short article and video addressing the alarming rate of U.S military servicemen committing or attempting suicide. The cause? deployment to combat zones and than returning to civilian "life" feeling alienated. Our troops deserve better treatment for combat related stress, bottom line. The families they are leaving behind will be traumatized, maybe even more so then if they had been taken in combat.

The military has always had a "suck it it up and drive on" mentality but I think that needs to quickly be examined as it related to combat related stress. Again our troops deserve better.

abcnews.go.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Once you are "in" the realization that G.I. means general issue hits home. You are nothing more or less than a pair of battle fatigues. Recruiting tactics (lies) and patriotism run smack into the reality that after all is said and done, every soldier is General Issue, no longer a citizen or even human. Not only that, but the abusive and hatefullness of military opposers affects one's mental state resulting in extreme confusion.

The lack of free-will, the lack of personal space, the lack of public support, the ongoing possibility of facing the reality of killing another human(s) and the stressful pace of military combined with the very real possibility of being experimented on by black ops and the unknown vaccinations a soldier recieves while on-duty combine to make for a suicidal tendency in some less mentally stout G.I.'s.

The suicide rate is alarming, I believe the cause is in part the general mental state of this generation. Multiple tours in combat zones have a part to play here as well even if the one's who carry out their own end are not on their second or third tour, the stress of that possibility has to wreak havoc on family ties especially young marriages.

I feel for the state of the armed forces morale in the face of suicide numbers like these, it can't help.

Originally posted by Hazelnut
Once you are "in" the realization that G.I. means general issue hits home. You are nothing more or less than a pair of battle fatigues. Recruiting tactics (lies) and patriotism run smack into the reality that after all is said and done, every soldier is General Issue, no longer a citizen or even human. Not only that, but the abusive and hatefullness of military opposers affects one's mental state resulting in extreme confusion.

You do realize that since the military is addressing these suicides it pretty much negates your statement. If the troops were seen as just "general issue", the leadership wouldn't care what happened to them.

And you're still a citizen and human while in the service. I've seen more humanity while in the military than I've seen in the civilian world.

Originally posted by Hazelnut
The lack of free-will, the lack of personal space, the lack of public support, the ongoing possibility of facing the reality of killing another human(s) and the stressful pace of military combined with the very real possibility of being experimented on by black ops and the unknown vaccinations a soldier recieves while on-duty combine to make for a suicidal tendency in some less mentally stout G.I.'s.

Oh, brother. Lack of free will? Really? No more than most civilian jobs. Lack of personal space goes with the job. Lack of public support, well, who's to blame for that? And I know for certain that troops aren't waking up in the morning and cowering in fear that "today is the day Black Ops will be experimenting on me!"

A soldier can prepare his mind, or mind-set and thus prepare mentally for battle. One can obtain a razor-sharp mental alertness and determination which will enable him to prevail, in spite of overwhelming odds, and we have examples all through history.

But one cannot MAINTAIN that sharpness. One cannot maintain an elevated spirit of fighting passion indefinately.

If a man truly consists of mind, body, and spirit, then the the fatigue or numbness of one of these components will put undue stress on the other two, rapidly diminishing a man's effectiveness.

Fifteen minutes of intense combat can be as exhausting as twelve hours of hard physical labor. During combat, the body is dumping hundreds of chemicals into the bloodstream to enable the fight, and once the immediate threat is over, the physical drain is unbelievable. The mental drain is numbing.

Thousand yard stare? More a combination of exhaustion, uncertainty, and numb resignation.

Just as one must eventually sleep, in war an army cannot sustain a peak station of razor readiness in perpetuity, any more than the body can continue for weeks without rest, nor can one maintain passion or fury.

In combat one doesn't get sleep. Rather, a series of brief, light, restless naps. For months. No real rest, and very little comfort.

During the Civil War, most troops were infantrymen, and may have seen 100-150 days of combat spread over four years of war.

By the Second World War, only 25% of the military was infantry, and the average number of days in combat for an infantryman in the Pacific was about 40 days.

The First Marine Division, which saw more action than any other American Division in the Pacific, spent 275 days in combat, from August of 1942 to June of 1945. That averages to less than 100 days per year.

In Europe, the 2nd Infantry Division had the record, with 400 days of time in combat, spread from November of 1942 to May of 1945. Roughly 130 days per year average.

In Vietnam, the average number of days the average infantry soldier saw in combat was about 240 days in a SINGLE year, or twice of that of other American armies.

The same numbers have piled up on American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, but now they're on their THIRD and FOURTH tours.

Any wonder we're having some depressed soldiers?

The numbers percentage wise are drastically piling up on our young men, causing many cases of "soldiers heart," "shell shock," "battle fatigue," or as they now call it, "Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome."

I think "Soldiers Heart" says it all.

And when you've lost your wife, and even your family because of absence, and you've lost it all . . . .