Fort Carson Mental Health Crisis: 1,000 New Patients

I cannot emphasize this enough. None of what we're seeing today has to happen and the suffering does not have to get worse. As soon as they begin to get treatment, start to talk about what's happening inside of them, PTSD loses control over their lives. Most of what they are going through can be reversed, but as time goes by, it's harder to do that. While it is never too late, which has been proven by Vietnam veterans seeking help 30-40 years after they knew "something was wrong" they have shown they can heal if not be cured. For the parts of their lives they cannot heal, they learn ways to cope with what is left over. So who is giving them hope now instead just pills and push offs?

Fort Carson Mental Health Crisis: 1,000 New Patients
Written by Staff Reports
Wednesday, 26 May 2010 13:55
Post-Deployment Needs of 4th Infantry Rise Sharply

May 24, 2010 (Army Times) - Nearly 1,000 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team have been identified as needing special counseling when they get home from their yearlong tour in Afghanistan, Fort Carson officials said.

The impact will be so significant that the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Carson, Colo., may have to expand - just to accommodate the 4-4th combat veterans.

It was a difficult deployment for the 4-4th, which suffered among the heaviest casu­alties since the start of the war. Thirty­nine soldiers were killed and nearly 500 wounded dur­ing 12 months in Afghanistan. The now-infamous Combat Outpost Keating battle in October 2009 took eight 4-4th sol­diers and left 24 wounded.

Given the rough deployment, medical professionals did one-on­one screenings with every soldier in the brigade before they left the war zone. Based upon their answers - and input from com­manders - soldiers were classi­fied as red, green or amber, based upon officials’ concerns about their ability to transition back to society after such a difficult deployment.

The Enhanced Medical Exam of the 3,800 soldiers in the 4-4th rated 21 soldiers "red," 917 "amber" and the rest "green." "Red" soldiers are identified as needing immediate help; "amber" soldiers are considered to be susceptible to behavioral health problems, while "green" soldiers are those who seemed less scarred by the deploy­ment. The designation determines what happens when they get home. "The red ones will be met at the ramp," said Maj. Gen. David G. Perkins, commander of the 4th Infantry Division. They will be met by licensed behavioral health providers - psychologists, psychi­atrists and clinical social workers to determine if they need special immediate treatment.
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Fort Carson Mental Health Crisis: 1,000 New Patients