Soldiers still fight combat back home

I was going through some old emails and I ran across this. It was from a post I did two years ago. A post that has haunted me and angered me ever since. This is one of the biggest reasons why I think programs like Battle Mind, while well intended, have done more harm than good. The other factor is that suicides have gone up instead of down.

The BBC did interviews in 2008 with US troops in Afghanistan. As reported, Battle Mind training was reduced to 11 1/2 minutes during two days of briefings after troops arrived. This is what we knew in 2008 and this is what has still been part of the problem in helping them heal.

Soldiers' fight persists post-war
Tuesday, 27 May 2008 00:28 UK
Nearly half the US soldiers who serve in Iraq and Afghanistan will suffer some form of post-traumatic stress, according to the US military.

Now there are efforts to find new ways to deal with the 60,000 cases of combat-related stress diagnosed since the conflicts began.

Dominic Di-Natale reports from Afghanistan.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7422853.stm