General Urges Service Members to Seek Help for Stress Disorder

General Urges Service Members to Seek Help for Stress Disorder

Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs

Story by Jim Garamone
Date: 04.06.2009
Posted: 04.06.2009 01:35



WASHINGTON - Service members at war can be confronted with traumatic, sometimes shocking, events that can cause long-lasting emotional and psychological wounds.

In some cases, service members develop what is called post-traumatic stress disorder. In past wars, the disorder was known by other names. In World War I, the medical profession called it shell-shock. In World War II and Korea, it was called battle fatigue. During and after the Vietnam War, it became PTSD.

No matter the name, the devastating effects remain the same, and the disorder can manifest itself in many ways. For Army Brig. Gen. Gary S. Patton, the dreams are the worst. Patton, now the Joint Staff's director for personnel, served as a brigade commander with the 2nd Infantry Division in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2004 and 2005. As a colonel, he commanded 4,100 soldiers who deployed from Korea to Iraq, and then redeployed to Fort Carson, Colo.

"It was a very tough neighborhood," he said during an interview. "It was a very active terrorist threat."

Patton calls the dreams "sleep disturbances," and said that was one of the reasons he sought mental health help. "I'll wake up in the middle of the night with a loud explosion going off in my head," he said. "Not only do you have the sound, but the recreation of the smell and taste that you get from being right there in an [improvised explosive device] explosion.

"That effect has diminished, but it's disturbing nonetheless."
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