Army’s focus is on stress

There is a great commandment in the military,,,,,don't complain. A female soldier asked if there was anything that was being done to keep couples from being deployed at the same time so that one of them could stay home with their children. Just last week we heard about another female soldier who had already done her time but was called back. She showed up on base with her children because her husband works on the road and there was no one to take care of them. Over and over again, we hear stories about the stress on the families but no one seems to be willing to do very much for them.

President and other politicians usually thank the troops and then thank families but I wonder if anyone really knows what families are expected to go thru. When you marry someone in the military, there are deployments and relocations, so many issues that go along with it other than worrying about them coming back alive. You worry about them being wounded and if the government will do what they are supposed to do without having to fight them the way all too many have had to do before you. Then there are the stresses of being "it" all. Becoming a multi-tasker taking on all of what your deployed spouse does on top of what you already do, but that ends when they come home and want it all back after you've figured out how to do it without them. The list does not seem to end because it doesn't.

It doesn't end when you marry a veteran either. For a lot of the younger service men and women, they are coming into their own and looking forward to starting their own families. For most civilians, they are unaware of what comes with the veteran and all too often, when signs of PTSD show up, all hell breaks and fractures the bond they thought would hold them together. This happened to every generation of veterans and their families. To say that it's a rude awakening would not even come close. It's more like a massive earthquake shaking the foundations of even the strongest relationships. With the right tools, relationships can be rebuilt and some even come out on the other side of darkness stronger than they would have been had they not been tested and tried by all that comes with PTSD.

While it is somewhat of a relief the military are doing things they never did before to address the stress on the families, if they only listen and do nothing with what they've learned, the problem gets bigger and families fall apart. Reports like this are welcome news but I hope they are not more of the same of listening only and not doing.

Army’s focus is on stress

Top enlisted tells troops in Germany about service’s efforts
By Jennifer H. Svan, Stars and Stripes

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — When Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth Preston and the military services’ other senior enlisted advisers met with President Barack Obama on Jan. 30, Preston told him his biggest concern in the Army was stress on the force.

Suicide, domestic violence, sexual assault, acts of misconduct, post-traumatic stress disorder are all on the rise — and indicators of the increased pressures faced by soldiers and families, Preston told Obama.

Those "warning lights" again took center stage when Preston spoke to more than 1,000 soldiers Wednesday during a brief stop in Kaiserslautern, on the way home from a military trip to Ukraine.

"The stress on the force is all-encompassing," he said, from preparing to deploy to trying to fit back into the family after a long combat tour.

Preston assured soldiers that the Army was taking steps to mitigate that pressure and reduce the perceived stigma of seeking mental health care. click link for more