Montana National Guard Maj. Gen. Randy Mosley moving mountains

I think I have a crush on Maj. Gen. Randy Mosley of the Montana National Guard. I love to post about what he is doing on PTSD. Spc. Chris Dana's suicide caused massive changes instead of just talking about "doing something" and much of it is owed to Mosley.

I think above all, the frustration that comes with the fact taking care of the troops and the citizen soldiers should have been a guarantee. With some of the best minds in this country when it comes to waging war, you'd think they'd be able to put that kind of brain power behind taking care of the wounded caused by war, but they didn't think of any of this. The warriors are the ones who have been paying for it simply because they survived. I know I've been proven wrong before when I found hope in what some commanders have said they would do only to find they have done nothing more than talk about it but this time, Mosley has earned it already. kc

IR photo by Martin Kidston - Maj. Gen. Randy Mosley, adjutant general of the Montana National Guard, center, briefs Gov. Brian Schweitzer, right, on the completion of 14 recommendations passed down by a special task force dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder among soldiers coming home from war. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Ireland, left, spoke about the Guard’s ability to better care for its soldiers and their families.

Guard reaches goals for addressing PTSD
By MARTIN J. KIDSTON - Independent Record - 08/20/08

The Montana National Guard has achieved its plan to better watch for post-traumatic stress disorder in soldiers who return from war, military leaders said Tuesday.

The announcement, given at a briefing in the State Capitol, comes 18 months after the suicide of a Helena soldier prompted Gov. Brian Schweitzer to challenge Montana’s senior military leaders to scrutinize the Guard’s post-deployment atmosphere.

“We will do whatever it takes to make our soldiers whole,” Schweitzer said at Tuesday’s briefing. “I’m proud that our National Guard has taken the lead. We’re not perfect and we won’t be perfect, even after this war. But we’ll learn, we’ll modify and we will change.”

Since 2001, the Montana Guard has seen more than 245,000 service-member deployments in the war on terror.

From 2004 to 2006, as many as 1,400 state soldiers deployed to Iraq, triggering concerns back home that the Montana Guard, like much of the nation’s military, was ill-equipped to deal with the mental-health consequences of war.

Those concerns came to light in March 2007 when Spc. Chris Dana killed himself several months after returning from Iraq. The loss pressed Dana’s family to call for change, and triggered action by state and military leaders.
click post title for more