Amidst speculation and outcry surrounding the alleged killer of 16 civilians in Afghanistan, the AP reports that the solider comes from a base, Lewis-McChord, that has a history of soldiers being convicted for killing Afghan civilians, one who shot a Salt Lake City police officer, and another who killed a Mt. Ranier National Park ranger.
Joint Base Lewis-McChord saw more suicides in 2011 than ever before and doctors at its hospital, Madigan Army Medical Center, are being reviewed for whether they have been influenced by how much a PTSD diagnosis can cost.
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Captain Susan Carlson is a social worker whose story was chronicled in the New York Times last month, serving as an example of one of thousands who have been discharged from the military by virtue of being diagnosed with a personality disorder. She provided portions of her medical record to the New York Times, including a document signed by a psychiatrist saying, “Her command specifically asks for a diagnosis of a personality disorder,” (my em) suggesting the possibility that military commanders pressure clinicians to issue diagnoses for reasons other than soldiers’ best interests.
Based on these trends, I guess it’s not surprising that the military has also become wary of the costs for treating veterans’ mental health. But, the war in Afghanistan continues and what few vets I’ve seen that are returning from this war have some of the most serious mental health needs.
As resources continue to be cut and minimized, what happens to the mental health of the thousands of soldiers who continue to fight in Afghanistan?
We'll find out and it won't be pretty.
Just a word about the recent killings in Clusterfuckistan - I'm a little grateful that the doggie Sergeant nutted up over there rather than waiting 'til he got back to Washington.
He may have done us all a favor if the timetable for getting the fuck out of that shithole moves up because of his alleged act.
3 comments:
The hospital at Lewis (now Lewis/McChord) has always sucked. Building a brand new building w/o new staff or attitude didn't help.
I walked out of that hospital for the last time about 17 years ago when my daughter was taken there for a rape kit exam. When the "investigator" asked her "So, how are your grades in school?" we were done. As I led her down the hall, he shouted after me "What? I'm not finished."
I imagine it is the same for returning vets...they seek something aside from the obvious cause to blame everything upon.
War, a sea of unintended consequences, and the cost of war by sending our forces back, and back and back again to re-deploy.
Our reach has exceeded our grasp, now this soldier and his family are ruined and 16 civillians in Afghanistan are dead.
Past time to go
sorry for the folks there who are in the 20th century, but
the cost in blood is too high for half hearted nation building.
We go home
they go back to pre-15th century
bad for them
Me and Gord have been saying this for so long. The Neocons were a buncha chickenhawks (mostly) and either had no clue, or didn't give a shit, about the ramifications of constant rotations into a war zone. They never looked at the troops as people, just numbers on a force strength chart.
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