Training soldiers for battle, and emotional resiliency again

While according to the DOD, the only branch to have lower numbers is the Navy at 331,612 as of June 30, 2009, down from 331,785 on June 30, 2008, all other branches have gone up.

Army 549,155 up from 531,526
Marine Corp 203,557 up from 193,040
Air Force 333,423 up from 328,771


Total for 2009 up thru June 30 1,417,747
The Coast Guard has also increased.
43,187 up from 42,424

The end of 2000, the total was 1,109,280
After September 11, 2001 1,130,328
September 30, 2002 1,181,150
September 30, 2003 1,181,613
September 30, 2004 1,139,034
September 30, 2005 1,098,397
September 30, 2006 1,100,000
September 30, 2007 1,084,548

http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/MILITARY/miltop.htm

Did anyone in the media ever ask how the numbers went down with two military campaigns going on since 2001?

The numbers going down put more pressure on the forces already in. This is part of the problem with the stress level in the troops.

Divorce

Programs Aim to Reduce Military Divorce Rates
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2005 – Recognizing the stresses military life and multiple deployments put on families, the services are stepping up their efforts to help their members strengthen their family relationships and avoid the divorce courts.

A full range of outreach programs - from support groups for spouses of deployed troops to weekend retreats for military couples - aims to help military families endure the hardships that military life often imposes.

Specific service-by-service statistics about divorce rates within the military weren't available, but the rates for the Army give a snapshot of what are believed to be a militarywide trend.

Army officials reported 10,477 divorces among the active-duty force in fiscal 2004, a number that's climbed steadily over the past five years. In fiscal 2003, the Army reported fewer than 7,500 divorces; in 2002, just over 7,000, and in 2001, about 5,600.

During the past two years, the divorce rate has been higher among Army officers than their enlisted counterparts, reversing the previous trend, officials said. In fiscal 2003, the Army reported almost 1,900 divorces among its 56,000 married officers. The following year, that number jumped to more than 3,300 - an increase of almost 1,500.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=16446

Alcohol, drug use, crimes, suicides, attempted suicides, domestic violence, you name it, this played a role in it.

They can address trying to figure out how to make the men and women "emotional resilient" all they want but unless they even begin to understand what the problem is, they will never get there from here.

Repeated deployments keep going on even though the Army produced a study saying the redeployments increased the risk of PTSD by 50%. What do they expect? Do they now understand why some end up with PTSD and other do not? I doubt it. They don't listen to what the rest of the government is doing with programs to address traumatic events right here like DEEP, Disaster and Extreme Event Preparedness, or CERT, CISM, that have been done in every state across the nation to take care of responders working in the police and fire departments. They are not about to listen to the men and women we put where they are to risk their lives to even begin to understand what opens the door to PTSD and what doesn't.

Training soldiers for battle, and emotional resiliency again may not do anything more than the other programs they have already tried along the same lines like Battlemind and Warrior Mind. We see the results of those two programs and they are not good. The numbers went up.

The really odd thing in this is that the Air Force has been ahead of the curve on all of this.

Carole and Richard Vickerman of Palisades visit their son’s grave Feb. 28, 2008. Their son, Staff Sgt. Steven Vickerman, who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq, committed suicide a week earlier. (Angela Gaul/The Journal News)

Army strong
August 20, 2009

Training soldiers for battle, and emotional resiliency

The Army has worked diligently to stem the tragic swell of suicides and cases of post-traumatic stress disorder among soldiers burdened by physical and psychic wounds of repeated deployments. It is no quantum leap, then, that the Army would take a proactive stand and require some 1.1 million active-duty troops, reservists and National Guard members to begin "emotional resiliency" training that arms soldiers with coping skills in all kinds of situations. The hope is to stem the tide of PTSD, which plagues up to a fifth of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and head off other mental-health problems.



Working to heal



The Army has led the way in expanding mental-health offerings and tackling the stigma that leads too many in the military to perceive counseling and other mental-health treatment as a sign of weakness. This has been out of tragic necessity; the service has the highest suicide rates among the military branches. The Army announced earlier this year that suicide prevention will be taught to all soldiers, from the top of the chain of command down.
Army strong