Benning soldiers told Washington newspaper living in barracks near ranges triggers PTSD
BY MICK WALSH - mwalsh@ledger-enquirer.com --
Photo by Shannon Szwarc / Ledger-EnquirerSoldiers prepare for rifle shooting practice at Fort Benning’s McAndrews Range on Dixie Road and near the Warrior Transition Battalion barracks Tuesday afternoon.
Admittedly, said the commander of Fort Benning's Warrior Transition Battalion, it may not have been the best of ideas to build his unit's barracks across from a firing range.
Especially since 10-15 percent of the battalion's 350 soldiers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
But Lt. Col. Sean Mulcahey bristled at the notion that soldiers' requests to transfer to another housing unit, one far from the McAndrews and Shelton Ranges across Dixie Road, are ignored.
Mulcahey was responding to WTB soldiers' charges in a Washington Post article that post officials ignored their repeated complaints about the sound of gunfire.
Mulcahey, who took command of the battalion in late April, and two ombudsmen, who serve as liaisons between the soldiers in the battalion and medical officials, said they never have received such complaints from Sgt. Jonathan Strickland or Sgt. Jonathon Redding, who were quoted at length in the Post story.
"No soldier has ever talked to me about the ranges," Mulcahey said to the author of the Post article, Ann Scott Tyson.
Later, he told a Ledger-Enquirer reporter his unit has fielded requests from soldiers in the past to move to an area away from the ranges and all those requests have been granted.
"That's why this story is so disheartening," he said in a conference room inside his headquarters.
"We respond quickly to any request from any of our soldiers. There are so many ways a complaint can be fielded -- to anyone in the chain of command, to the chaplain, to the Wounded Warrior hotline.
Terry Beckwith, the chief of public affairs and marketing for Martin Army Community Hospital, said the ranges were in operation 19 of the past 30 days, primarily from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Only three times during that period was firing conducted at night (8 p.m. to midnight).
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http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/story/339465.html
How can they say they didn't know there was a problem for the PTSD wounded? Why else would others have asked to be moved? What were they thinking or were they thinking at all?
19 days out of 30 the range was in use from 8:00 to 2:00, which means six hours of machine gun fire. Three other times it was from 8:00 at night to midnight. Any idea what that would do to PTSD wounded trying to heal from what they already lived through, being reminded of what caused the wound they carried all the way home? There is no excuse for this. They should have known if they knew anything about PTSD!
Part of the biggest problem with sending them back to combat when they have PTSD is they are being sent back to more trauma. Putting Warrior Transition unit wounded next to a firing range is worse than sending them back because back in Iraq and Afghanistan, the risk is part of "normal" life there but home to heal, it is far from "normal" to hear gun fire an ear shot away!
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
International Fellowship of Chaplains
Namguardianangel@aol.com
http://www.namguardianangel.org/
http://www.woundedtimes.blogspot.com/
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
I happen to be stationed at the Fort Benning WTB. Had the soldier in question not lied during his inprocessing to the unit, had he said anything at all, even once, he would have been moved to an alternate barracks building of equal facilities where any gunfire is inaudible. The barracks are specifically reserved for such cases of PTSD and special needs, as it is adjacent to the main hospital complex.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, it must be stated that this soldier has been counseled on suicide prevention for his claim that one day he would "get his name in the paper."
I guess he did, at the expense of a fine facility that will do anything to help wounded soldiers.