Winding paths led victims to Iraq stress clinic

What is the answer here? What didn't work? We always end up asking the same questions no matter if these things happen in the military or in civilian life. While the military has to make sure they are doing the right thing and the best thing for the troops, the rest of us are asking what we could have done. It always happens that way. The people in the lives of all six men, the five killed and Russell's family are left to keep asking questions until all the investigations are done and then, well, they will probably be asking themselves questions for a very long time. All these lives changed forever in an instant. How much harder will it be if they learn this all could have been prevented if people had learned from the last 30 years what needs to be done and did it? That's the biggest problem we have now because there will be more cases when the men and women have been let down by the military they served.

"Dr. Matthew Houseal,,,,was there because he felt he needed to be."
Commander Springle wanted to "be proactive" and take care of the troops.
They all wanted to do their part. So who didn't do their's?

Russell's father said the military "broke him" and pushed him over the edge with some kind of tests. He said Russell was berated and belittled, made to feel worthless but from this report, Houseal and Springle were doing the right thing. Russell's commander sent him for help and knew he needed it enough that he took Russell's weapon away from him.

Could it have all been in Russell's mind? Paranoia is part of PTSD. They sometimes think all kinds of things are true when they just took things the wrong way. Did Russell have the stigma so deeply in his thoughts that no matter what anyone said he would have reacted badly? It's happened before. Denial mixed with paranoia can push people over the edge but it usually takes a very long time for the cycle to cut that deeply. Were there clues long ago and ignored until Russell was at the breaking point? Had past commanders ignored problems Russell was having? How often do the PTSD/stressed out troops attempt to hide and deny they are having problems until those problems get so bad and terrifying they snap as well?

The biggest issue is getting rid of this stupid stigma, making them think it's their fault or they are defective in someway instead of human in all ways. After all, considering where they're coming from, their normal. They come into this world as humans just like the rest of us but they have something inside of them that causes them to care, to give a damn about strangers and be willing to lay down their lives for them. When they survive traumatic events, they walk away with their own pain as well as the pain of others and depending on how deeply they are able to feel, they can get cut so deeply becoming so wounded they don't want to feel anything anymore. It all just causes too much pain.

If PTSD is caught and treated early, it stops getting worse and much can be reversed. The problem comes when it has had time to fester and claim more of the wounded much like an infection digs deeper without treatment.

Because of Vietnam veterans we know that it is never too late for them to begin to heal and reclaim parts of their lives but some damage cannot be healed. They learn to cope with it when they get help and they learn to find their own kind of normal in all of this. It is not hopeless but it take a lot of work and a lot of time and armies of people around them to help them. You'd think with the "brotherhood" of the military there would be plenty of people helping the soldiers needing help, but there are not and too few are trained to know what the hell they are doing. We've read enough of those reports over the last (almost) two years on this blog alone. So when does it change? When is it enough so that everything the military can hit this with actually happens? The troops have been deployed going on 8 years. Iraq and Afghanistan are no where near being resolved and will produce more and more deaths along with wounded. We can't even take care of the wounded we have already and the Vietnam veterans, Korean veterans, WWII veterans along with the Gulf War veterans, Somalia and Bosnia veterans are all still standing in line for their turn. Where do we put the ones the coming years will create? What can be done to prevent the next wounded like Russell from "breaking" from what we ask of them?

Winding paths led victims to Iraq stress clinic
By ALLEN G. BREED

Keith Springle, who grew up swimming and fishing off the North Carolina coast and seemed destined as a boy to join the Navy, was in Iraq because it was his duty as a military psychologist. Dr. Matthew Houseal, a 54-year-old Army reservist and psychiatrist, was there because he felt he needed to be.

Regardless of how they came to be there, both made it their mission to help their fellow service members cope with the stress of life in the combat zone. Soldiers like the Maryland rebel who liked tinkering with guns and despised "pencil pushers"; or the Peru native who, whether he was walking the streets of New Jersey or the dirt roads of Iraq, was a magnet for candy-seeking kids; or the shy video gamer from Missouri whose refusal to back down probably cost him his life.



Killed were Springle, 52, a Navy commander from Beaufort, N.C.; Houseal of Amarillo, Texas; Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, N.J.; Spc. Jacob D. Barton, 20, of Lenox, Mo.; and Pfc. Michael E. Yates Jr., 19, of Federalsburg, Md., who had met Russell shortly before the shootings.


(Rose Coleman Barton's Grandmother) Coleman said the Army told the family that Barton died trying to shield another man from the shooting.

"And he tried to talk the guy with the gun to put his gun down," she said.

Springle knew mental health issues in the past weren't being addressed and wanted to be proactive in treating the issues faced by soldiers and their families, said Staff Sgt. Robert Mullis from the Boone-based 1451st Transportation Company of the N.C. National Guard, who was part of a civilian outreach program with Springle.

"He saw it as preventive maintenance," Mullis said of Springle. "They've just been through some tough experiences. He was reaching out trying to try and stop a big beast before it got started."
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Winding paths led victims to Iraq stress clinic