Marine commanders told to remove stress stigma

Hundreds of Marine and Navy officers listen Tuesday to speakers on the opening day of a conference in San Diego to address ways to limit post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries. (Photo by Don Boomer - Staff Photographer)

MILITARY: Marine commanders told to remove stress stigma
Conference focuses on treating combat stress and traumatic brain injuries
By MARK WALKER - Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 9:17 PM PDT
SAN DIEGO ---- Marine Corps commanders were told Tuesday that they must eliminate any stigma attached to troops suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
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"It is the leaders responsibility for making sure Marines get help," said Thomas Gaskin, coordinator of the service's combat operational stress office in Virginia. "It's our job to restore Marines to the extent we can by reducing the stigma."

Gaskin's remarks came on the opening day of a three-day Marine Corps conference in San Diego addressing post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries and the effects those illnesses have on family members.

The number of Marines suffering from post-traumatic stress has risen each year since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The most recent statistics reported by the service to the Department of the Navy show there were 2,114 cases diagnosed in 2007, up from 1,366 in 2006 and 1,378 in 2005.

In their efforts to stem the increase, Marine Corps officials are increasingly relying on sergeants to monitor their troops and direct any of them with problems to get help.

A new directive that will spell out the responsibilities for commanders and those who report to them is due out the first week in September, Gaskin said.

Among the new efforts are assigning regional training coordinators to Marine bases around the country and expanding mental health teams deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Eliminating the stigma that troops themselves attach to the disorder is just as important, said Sgt. Maj. Dennis Reed, the top enlisted officer with Camp Pendleton's I Marine Expeditionary Force.

"Marines and sailors don't want to admit they are weak, so they have trouble talking about it," he said.

But evidence of emotional problems among troops home from the war is evident in the daily police blotter he reviews, Reed said. Each morning, he said he sees reports of incidents involving drugs and alcohol and domestic violence.

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