Is Battlemind just better than nothing?

Does it work or is it just better than nothing?

'Battlemind' is the Soldier's inner strength to face fear and adversity with courage. Key components include: - Self confidence: taking calculated risks and handling challenges. - Mental toughness: overcoming obstacles or setbacks and maintaining positive thoughts during times of adversity and challenge.

Battlemind skills helped you survive in combat, but may cause you problems if not adapted when you get home.

http://www.behavioralhealth.army.mil/battlemind/index.html

This is the warning that came with Battlemind.

It may be the key as to why they suicide and attempted suicide rate has gone up. Honestly I don't know. The numbers don't seem to support it but trying to keep an open mind here considering I found very few complaints about the program. I tried very hard to find them only because there is something here that is not making sense with this program. How can it help when troops deployed into Afghanistan arrive still jet lagged, get two days of briefings and only 11 1/2 minutes of Battlemind "training" with all of that going on?

They had to do something but is Battlemind the best they could come up with or is it just better than nothing? This term I've heard from different people. It's better than nothing but why can't they give the troops the best possible with all seriousness?

This is what they were up against.

Summary of Key Findings (2 of 2)
• 2003-2006 OIF (Iraq only) Soldier suicide rates are higher than
the average Army rate, 16.1 vs. 11.6 Soldier suicides per year
per 100,000.
• The current Army suicide prevention program is not designed for
a combat/deployed environment.
• Approximately 10% of Soldiers and Marines report mistreating
non-combatants (damaged/destroyed property when not
necessary or hit/kicked non-combatant when not necessary).
• Soldiers with high levels of combat, high levels of anger or that
screened positive for a mental health problem were twice as
likely to mistreat non-combatants.
• Transition Team Soldiers have lower rates of mental health
problems compared to Brigade Combat Team Soldiers.
• Behavioral health providers require additional Combat and
Operational Stress Control (COSC) training prior to deploying to
Iraq; very few attended the AMEDD C&S COSC Course.
• There is no standardized in-theatre joint reporting system for
monitoring mental health status and suicide surveillance of
service members in a combat/deployed environment.

OIF 05-07 Army Suicide Rates
*Poisson, p < .01 OIF Confirmed 18.8* 9.6 19.9* 17.3* Adjusted Rate OIF Pending 0 0 0 0 OIF Confirmed 25 11 22 22 SUICIDE 2003 2004 2005 2006 UPDATE OIF Soldier Suicides: 2003-2006 • There have been 80 confirmed (as of 31 DEC 06) OIF Soldier suicides since the beginning of OIF. • The 2006 OIF adjusted suicide rate is 17.3 Soldier suicides per year per 100,000 Soldiers, which is higher than the average Army rate of 11.6 (Poisson, p < .05). • Although 89% of Soldiers report receiving suicide prevention training, only 52% of Soldiers reported the training to be sufficient, indicating the need to revise the suicide prevention training so that it is applicable in a combat environment.

Conclusions
• Multiple deployments and longer deployments are
linked to more mental health and marital problems.
• Good NCO leadership is related to better Soldier/Marine
mental health and adherence to good battlefield ethics.
• Good officer leadership results in Soldiers/Marines
following ROE.
• Soldiers/Marines with mental health problems were
more likely to mistreat non-combatants, highlighting the
importance of getting them help early.
• Mental health services are most needed during the last
six months of a year-long deployment since this is when
Soldiers experience the most problems.
http://militarytimes.com/static/projects/pages/mhativ18apr07.pdf

They had to do something but wouldn't the numbers go down instead of up? How high would they have gone given what they were up against if they had done nothing? Has anyone really looked at this program to see if it is effective or not?

There are some great things going on right now. The Montana National Guard has been doing fantastic things with PTSD.

Montana National Guard, Picking Up The Pieces
Picking up the Pieces (PDHRA)
This is the link to the video the Montana National Guard is showing. I've been posting about it for a couple of days now and it is very important that it not only be seen, but duplicated across the country.
Guard stresses PTSD symptoms at meetings

By ERIC NEWHOUSE • Tribune Projects Editor • May 21, 2008
LEWISTOWN — Montana's National Guard expanded its PTSD outreach efforts this week, hosting a series of 20 public meetings in armories across the state.As part of its effort to familiarize the public — and veterans in particular — with post-traumatic stress disorder, it played a video produced at Fort Harrison entitled "Picking Up the Pieces." That had Tiffany Kolar wiping her eyes."It raised a lot of questions for me," Kolar said after Monday night's meeting.

"I have a brother who served with the Idaho National Guard and who later committed suicide. Now I'm learning a lot about what must have been happening."Kolar's husband is currently serving his second tour of duty in Iraq, and she and her mother-in-law need to understand the danger signs, she said."There were some things we didn't recognize the last time he came home, so we want to be better informed this time," said Darlene Kolar, his mother.

Only a handful of people showed up for the meeting here, but the Guard's personnel officer, Col. Jeff Ireland, said he was happy for any attention."If these meeting are able to help even one person, for all the time and effort we've expended, it's been worth it," Ireland said.The Guard has sent out personal invitations and videos to 2,000 behavioral health care specialists in Montana, as well as to all the veterans' organizations, he said. Next on the list is a mass mailing to all ministers and religious leaders in the state, he added.

The meetings are the result of the suicide of Spec. Chris Dana of Helena, who shot himself in March 2007 after returning from combat with the 163rd Infantry. He was not able to handle weekend guard drills, and was given a less-than-honorable discharge as a result.

As a direct result, Ireland said, Montana is now providing longer mental health assessments after return from combat, strengthening its family support units, creating crisis readiness teams to investigate abnormal behavior, requiring a personal investigation by the adjutant general before any soldier is discharged less than honorably, and producing and promoting its own video. go here for more
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080521/NEWS01/805210309

It seems to me that when you let people who have been there do these kinds of videos, they hold a lot more information and do a better job delivering the message.