It’s been well over a year and a half since I’ve been in the infamous “Desert”; serving as a member of a reserve component of the U.S. Air Force in a so-called “hostile fire zone”, yet at least a half an hour away from Iraq by plane. The area I served in would be considered “gravy” by most troops who’ve served in the same place. I never dodged a single bullet the entire time I was activated for a year, “voluntarily” leaving my job, my home, my wife and my family behind in support of President Bush’s Operation Iraqi Freedom.
For most who’d served in the same place, it was a fairly safe routine — wake up, go to work (6-7 days per week, 12 hour days), eat, breath, and drink the fine dusts of Arabia, or “Southeast Asia” as the military likes to call it, but some of us had a different experience. My “routine” involved managing nine Airmen in a job that required us to meet every inbound cargo aircraft and many of the outbounds as well in the busiest “international airport” in the entire theater. Every seven to eight seconds around the clock, an aircraft was either landing or taking off, so we kept pretty busy to say the least.
I’m sure it’s no fun dodging a bullet. It’s no fun dodging a C-5 cargo plane rounding the bend from behind a two story high bunker at 4:00 AM either; particularly when you don’t see it until it’s right behind you, doing 30 MPH, in your rear-view mirror in a heavy duty piece of equipment. In the many times such as those in my fond memories, there is no choice left but to crank the steering wheel and step on the gas to accelerate in a ninety degree angle from the runway into the sands of Arabia as the gargantuan aircraft’s jet motors shake your vehicle and as your body shakes, elated to have evaded an unhappy ending for the fifth time this week. Meanwhile, you find yourself still “white-knuckling” the steering wheel while you wonder how your Airmen are doing. Is the mission getting accomplished and are they all safe? You get on the radio and they’re all fine. Back at the tent where your “headquarters” are located, the close calls become a “joke”. “Darwin’s gonna got you tagged, Jones”, and other such nonsense would be uttered as we laughed. That’s the only way we could deal with it.
And don’t TELL me there have only been 20,000 (+ or -) American troops wounded in Iraq. I swear to GOD it seems like I saw that many with my own two eyes on those inbound planes, outbound to Germany, for serious medical treatment in my handful of months I served there. If you’ve never seen a man with one arm and a bloody, bandaged knee screaming to be let out of the plane so he could go back to be with, and die by the side of his buddies, you ain’t seen NOTHIN’ yet. I cannot COUNT the times I’ve seen something similar. It’s not fun. These are not fond memories. There’s no more laughter about it because I’m now “integrated” back into the civilian life as a recently de-activated Reservist; a member of the Individual Ready Reserve” (IRR) now.
I don’t talk about these things with more than a couple of my “flesh and blood” folks, and I’ve just now started to vent about them here on my blog, where I’ve been a member of the U.S. military the entire time this blog’s been published; incognito until recently (thanks to draconian “free speech” limitations on active military members, thanks to the UCMJ), but now that the cat’s out of the proverbial “bag”, let’s just say rants such as these could qualify as “therapy”…
The Washington Post tells me this fine morning, I’m not alone…
Troops’ Mental Distress Tracked
Early Checkups Find Fewer Problems Than Later OnesBy Ann Scott Tyson
Soldiers who have served in Iraq are suffering substantially greater mental distress several months after leaving the combat zone than when they first return home — with one out of five active-duty Army soldiers and more than 40 percent of Army reservists needing treatment, according to a study by Army researchers published yesterday.
The study is the first to examine over time the psychological struggles of soldiers who have been deployed to Iraq, the vast majority of whom have seen people killed and wounded and have themselves felt being in danger of dying.
Soldiers were far more likely to report mental health problems — such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression — in a military screening three to six months after returning from Iraq, compared with a screening done immediately after they came home, according to the study appearing in the Nov. 14 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Particularly pronounced was the four- to fivefold rise in the proportion of soldiers reporting conflicts with family members and friends, mirroring trends from past wars. …”
(Snip!)
“… Initial screenings “substantially underestimate the mental health burden,” according to the study, which adds to growing evidence that more than a quarter of recent Iraq combat veterans are grappling with various psychological problems.
“Soldiers reported more mental health concerns and were referred [for treatment] at significantly higher rates” several months after their return, says the study, written by Col. Charles S. Milliken and Col. Charles W. Hoge of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and Jennifer L. Auchterlonie of the Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine.
The study concludes that the Army should intervene earlier with mental health care for combat veterans — reservists, in particular — and their family members “before symptoms become chronically entrenched.” But it also casts doubt on the effectiveness of the treatment for PTSD in what it calls today’s “overburdened” military medical system, finding “no direct relationship of referral or treatment with symptom improvement.” …
(Snip!)
“… One reason the early screenings detected fewer problems is that soldiers were elated upon returning home and did not want to spend time seeking care, Army officials said. “When you come back . . . you’re almost euphoric . . . you don’t have any problems in the world,” said Brig. Gen. Stephen L. Jones, an Army assistant surgeon general. But after a few weeks, he said, “the stress starts to resurface.”
While reports of mental health problems rose for all types of soldiers from the first screening to the second one, the National Guard and Reserve soldiers suffered such problems at higher rates than active-duty troops. In the second screening, 24.5 percent of reservists reported concerns with PTSD, 13 percent with depression and 35.5 percent with their overall mental health risk — compared with 16.7 percent, 10.3 percent and 27.1 percent of active-duty soldiers in the same categories.
Reservists may suffer more mental health problems because, after returning home, they disperse to different communities without day-to-day support from their war-zone comrades, and also face the stress of making the transition to civilian jobs. …”
It’s not easy. I’m back to work now at my civilian job, working for a Fortune 500 company where you can get fired for saying the “F-Word”, or the “S-Word” to another employee. Being a member of management makes it even tougher when you have to be the guy who ENFORCES the “anti-F-word” policy, or chew somebody out for being “politically incorrect” while my mind is STILL living in the land of never-ending “F-Bombs” and blown off limbs, at least at SOME point every day.
Hey — I’M going to be just FINE. I’m truly worried about some of those kids though. I pray for them on those rare times when I do pray. THEY faced much more severe stress than I did, and still do most likely. While President Bush is suddenly finding a newfound “love” (source: Yahoo! News – AP) for our veterans, the treatment of our military personnel once they leave active service is HORRIBLE to say the least.
But HEY — we’re ALL just “volunteers”, right? We KNEW what we were getting into, didn’t we?
THINK.
***
A big thanks to The Poli Stew Café Blog for linking in…
Loading ...
10:57 am on November 14th, 2007 1
I’m wondering how many would be fine if not exposed to the constant bombardment of “We are evil for being there” and “It’s not making any difference” and “We are making things worse” headlines and teasers. Post Viet Nam all over again. There will always be some who can’t shake the demons, but they should be given a chance at least.
Never been in myself, so I’m likely unqualified to comment, but there is my take on it.
11:05 am on November 14th, 2007 2
Anti-war rhetoric? We never really heard it. We were too busy – either working or sleeping for the most part…
11:51 am on November 14th, 2007 3
Sorry, I was unclear. I meant once they got back home. How many can’t take being told wherever they turn that their last year was totally worthless.
12:02 pm on November 14th, 2007 4
Oh, when I was there, most of the troops I knew thought the war was a waste of time, money and lives (remember that 70% Rasmussen poll?), but they didn’t complain about it; they just did their jobs. The only time the politics behind the war was discussed was once in a great while when somebody’d complain about it then most would offer their own anti-administration (for conduct of the war) rant, then everybody would go back to work. As for once they returned home, I can only tell you President Bush isn’t all that popular with the military these days — speaking of my PERSONAL experience only. The morale of the troops started going South when it was apparent there were no WMD’s in Saddam’s arsenal…
3:27 pm on November 14th, 2007 5
i think we are a world away from the postvietnam attitude towards soldiers; and we didn’t need the bumber magnets (that i detest for their utter hollowness).
why would soldiers consider their time spent serving as a waste, nobody’s blaming the troops as far as i know? hard work always comes with it’s rewards, and soldiers know they’re not responsible for foreign policy decisions.
i think the hardest psychological impact comes from the attitude soldiers have towards their fellow soldiers; they feel guilty leaving their buddies behind, this must be very hard to do, and hard to avoid not letting it eat at you. several young soldiers i personally know literally absolutely don’t care about politics, it’s the me or someone else has to go attitude they share which bugs them. once you’re ‘over there’ it quickly becomes all about the human social bond aspect of life, protecting eachother.
admittedly, that’s my two cents.
i think if the US really wanted to it could completely shutdown iraq within weeks, we’re playing some sort of wargame over there. i think the pentagon is quite satisfied for the moment with simply occupying iraq, waiting for the next move.
another two cents.
8:03 pm on November 14th, 2007 6
There is a big difference between people together on a job bitching and complaining about what shit a job is, and how it isn’t worth a good gawdam to do. Whole different animal when you get out of it and can’t turn your head without seeing or hearing something about how it shouldn’t have been done, what a peepoor job has been done, everything about it is wrong and evil.
My step-son and his best friend were there together, until his friend got a tracer through and through in the muscles on his abs. Step-son felt guilt that he didn’t catch the round. His friend felt guilt that he got shipped home and left his buddy behind (was also pissed that after he got hit they wouldn’t let him track down the guy that shot him – after he got shot, they literally had to hold him down to keep him from going after the guy).
And they are both pissed that almost NONE of the good stuff gets shown on TV or in the papers. But let a guy walk on a prayer rug with his boots on, or let a dog bark at someone, and the press is all over him like white on rice, and make it sound as if the poor sap skinned someone alive with a rusty spoon.
Dave, I don’t know where you are, but here in O! so tolerant and diverse northern CA, the attitudes break down into two basic types – those who see the troops as suckers for letting themselves be shipped out to do a shit job and those who see them as willing tools of a baby-killing evil overlord who enjoy killing. There is a small group who will go out of their way to say Thanks for doing the job, welcome back! And really try to make them feel welcome and appreciated. But they don’t seem to make up any significant portion of the population.
9:14 pm on November 14th, 2007 7
Mr. Lovell- i am not a fan of the press either, they jump all over whatever’s selling at the moment. pre-war and early into it the media was falling all over themselves in portraying the war as the absolutue right thing to do. i remember these years very clearly as i was being called a traitor on a daily basis. the media reversal seems to have started right around the mission accomplished incident.
anyway, if i was a soldier, i’d be more concerned that my government had sent me there on shaky pretenses at best than what jon stewart and bill moyers had to say, i’d like to think so anyway.
that’s interesting about No. Cal.. i’ve often thought of moving out there, from the liberal capitol of country, you guessed it, Massachusetts. i swear to you, as far as i know, i’ve never met anyone with those attitudes towards the troops. to be fair though, we did present mitt romney to the world, and i’ve always doubted Ma.’s liberalism. one look at the voting results in the past two pres. elections shows there’s just about as many ‘reds’ here as ‘blues’ here.
i do concede though that if one still supported the war on the terms it was, in my opinion, sold to us, then yes, i can see how the news coverage would aggravate me. but again, i really think people did a good job the past 5 years or so making sure the anti-war sentiment wasn’t dumped on the troops heads. with exceptions like lyndie england and her pals who took the heat for higher ups and civilians, as usual.
9:29 pm on November 14th, 2007 8
funny thing is- as much as i’ve always thought invading iraq was a strategic goal for position in the ME, oil, power etc., and that our invasion into afghanistan was the same thing just with poppies- i still think we could have or did find WMD’s. i mean, they didn’t find at least one big old-fashioned bomb over there?
1:17 am on November 15th, 2007 9
Thank you for your service GTL. I’m glad your back home doing whatever it is you do. Great post!
1:40 am on November 15th, 2007 10
Tis’ nada, my brother… and yes, it’s great to be back home, believe me. Thanks for the kudos
10:49 am on November 15th, 2007 11
Well I for one am glad you are back GTL, or I wouldn’t have something to amuse me during the lulls at work here.
I think it’s frustration, and sour grapes that everybody was “USA, USA” after 9-11, and then Bush and co. took that and perverted it into a misguided attack on Iraq, which has led us to being there going on 5 years. Then you read how Cheney, in a more lucid time, advised against such a move. Lie upon lie, scandal upon scandal- this administration makes Nixon’s look like a fish-fry.
I think America needs to review candidates academic records- if you failed or just barely passed History/Civics, what the hell are you doing running for public office!
Would you hire a guy at NASA who failed physics? I think not.
2:37 am on November 16th, 2007 12
Well, I say it all the time. “Thank you for serving.”
As for mental health services –they were difficult to get even for vets for past wars through the VA system, or through the myriads of insurers they might have. Many contracted care providers have all sorts of hoops one has to jump through, not to forget that many psychiatrists nad psychologists don’t even contract with HMO’s or even TriWest.
As for Reserves, I would think that they fall through the cracks a lot easier. Many live far away from military hospitals or VA’s. Some live in small towns where mental health care is difficult to get, period.
Anyway, again… thank you for serving.
4:24 pm on November 19th, 2007 13
yep, thanks GTL.