Falling thru the cracks in the Army’s duty of care

Was Nestling’s death just another avoidable cock-up or is there something more sinister going on here? Either way, plenty of people in the military appeared to be aware that she had serious psychological problems and its leadership clearly failed in its basic duty of care by allowing a vulnerable confused young female soldier to slip thru the cracks.
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The forgotten casualties: Falling thru the cracks in the Army’s duty of care
By Ted Newcomen
Online Journal Guest Writer


Jul 4, 2008, 00:22


It was just another tragic headline in a Florida newspaper: Area woman killed in Iraq -- Father confirms his daughter is third casualty in past three months. The article went on to describe how Army SPC Oprah Nestling, aged 26, (not her real name or age) had been killed in combat overseas in January 2006. No details were provided by the Department of Defense and her father declined to make any further comment.

However, a few days later her name was removed from the website of Iraq Coalition Casualty Count and no further information appeared in the local paper. Further investigation revealed that SPC O. Nestling had not been killed on active service in Iraq but was supposedly found slumped dead on the floor of a barrack room at Ft. Bragg, N.C.

Fast forward 30 months and two applications submitted through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the army released a partial report with key pieces of information withheld, listing the cause of death as ‘undetermined.’

So how did an active 26 year-old female soldier die alone in a total stranger’s barrack room on a US Army base? How come the manner and cause of her death is still undetermined? Why have the authorities failed to come to a satisfactory conclusion concerning her demise? Why are they still withholding vital information?

The heavily censored details in the partial report reveal the tragic story of a young woman with chronic psychological problems which begs the question, how did such a person with so many problems come to be accepted into the military in the first place? Was her psychological entry-screening really so inadequate or has the desperate need to put boots on the ground meant that standards had been lowered to such an extent that severe depression and bazaar self-destructive behavior are no longer seen as being a disqualification for entry?

You don’t have to dig far into the Army documents to find that Nestling had severe psychological problems prior to and after entry into the service. Even before being sent overseas she was mixing prescription anti-depressants with alcohol and once had her stomach pumped in what may have been a failed suicide attempt.
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