More Fort Carson soldiers return from Iraq

More Fort Carson soldiers return from Iraq

The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jan 1, 2008 10:57:15 EST

FORT CARSON, Colo. — About 170 more soldiers have returned to Fort Carson after 15 months in Iraq.

The troops arrived back at Fort Carson at about 2 a.m. on New Year’s Day. They’re with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division

Six hundred of the brigade’s soldiers are now home, and the remaining 3,000 are expected later this month.

They began returning in October.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/ap_carsonsoldiersreturn_080101/

They will come home to a new attitude toward PTSD and have a better chance of healing thanks to one man.

The new man in charge of Fort Carson is Major General Mark Graham. He's described as a hands-on, people person. Graham says he'll be personally involved in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) issues on post and help guide Fort Carson as it expands over the next few years.

"I've already been to the hospital, had a great visit there the other day and one of the top issues we discussed was PTSD," says Graham. "It'll be on the top of my list."

Graham also says he'll continue the effort to expand the training site in Pinon Canyon site because preparing men and women for the war on terror demands it.

Fort Carson also expects a surge in troops and the completion of millions of dollars in construction projects in the next few years.
http://www.krdotv.com/Global/story.asp?s=7078203

But can one man do it all? Can Graham address what is coming home if the rest of the system is not up to speed?

Coming home changed

By DENNIS HUSPENI and TOM ROEDER



Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are increasingly running afoul of the law, bringing the stress of war to Colorado Springs’ streets.

Most of it is small-time stuff. But some of the allegations against soldiers in the past three years have been serious. This month, police said a crime ring of Fort Carson Iraq war veterans was responsible for the deaths of two GIs.

The volume of military-related crime off-post is beginning to tax civilian law enforcement authorities. Felony El Paso County jail bookings for service members have jumped from 295 in 2005 to 471 so far this year. During that time, the number of soldiers assigned to the post stayed about the same, around 17,500.

“It doesn’t take a study to know the potential for problems is going to be there,” said Colorado Springs police Sgt. Jeff Jensen, whose agency is girding for issues with nearly 4,000 soldiers due back in the next three weeks. “It’s huge. It affects us from all standpoints. The workload alone is increasing as the population increases.”

go here back to VA Watchdog for the rest
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfDEC07/nf122607-10.htm

It also looks like Fort Carson will have a lot more to deal with given this from the Fort Carson blog

Thursday, December 20, 2007
Post Heads For 30,000
Fort Carson will add 4,877 soldiers by 2013, pushing its active-duty population to nearly 30,000 and pumping millions of dollars into local coffers, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The move will place a newly formed infantry brigade and supporting troops at the post. It will mean tens of millions of dollars in construction and will add to the building boom at Fort Carson, which was already slated to grow by 10,000 soldiers by 2010.

It could bring as much as an extra $250 million per year to Colorado businesses and create more than 3,000 civilian jobs, economists estimated.



go here for the rest
http://www.fortcarsonblog.com/

This piece went on to talk about adding housing and staff but what it did not get into was the need for mental health increases. Given the fact so many develop PTSD the need will be even greater to address the problem.

Will they be ready? Or will they be ready to toss these combat troops out of the service they loved and were willing to lay down their lives for? Not all PTSD veterans become "unemployable" and not all of them totally lose their "quality of life" if they are treated soon after they begin to show the signs of PTSD. That's a big IF considering there has so far been a lot of talk from Congress and the White House about doing something but not much actually being done on their end.

The DOD takes care of them while they are active and they have let so many fall through the cracks it's going to be damn near impossible to recover all of them if they can even find them. By the time they end up out of the "active" duty turning into veterans, a lot of time has been wasted. If you ask most of them, they want to stay in the military and as a matter of fact, that also happens to be the reason a lot of the won't go for help at all. They want to stay with their units who have become so bonded they feel like family members to them. It is also the time when they have more support at the time they need support the most. These are golden hours to treat the wounded. If there is not the support system there in place when they need to be taken care of, then you have a "perfect storm" of walking wounded and no place to go.

PTSD hits the thought processes, giving short term memory loss among other things. They do a great job covering up what is going on but sooner or later someone does notice there is something not quite right with Johnny anymore. What's it going to take for the military to entirely wake up the way Graham has appeared to open his eyes to? A soldier in Iraq needing a arrow and point toward enemy on his machine gun? Don't laugh. There was military equipment in Vietnam with that stenciled on it. If you get them into treatment right away you have a soldier ready to serve their country and healing. Not all of them can be returned into combat but think of the skills they have that can still be vital to the rest of the unit. Think about the fact they can be there to catch others coming back because they've been there and know what's going on.

As for sending them back into combat with PTSD, I have one issue with this and that is they are being sent back with PTSD and pills. These medications need to be monitored but no one is doing it. They also need therapy to go along with the medication but no one is doing that either. They are just sending them back with little regard for the level of PTSD the soldier has. Mild cases are one thing but when they have full blown PTSD, it is sending them back for just more trauma and torturing the already wounded. They are not making their judgments based on case by case with fully credentialed therapists calling the shots. They are using a one size fits all and that is causing most of the problems with redeploying them. kc