Fort Campbell preps for screening returning troops

Fort Campbell preps for screening returning troops

Oct 15, 2010

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — While most of the 101st Airborne Division is in Afghanistan, preparations are already under way to identify those soldiers who will return home suffering from combat stress and mild brain injuries.

Suicides at Fort Campbell spiked last year after troops began returning home and increases in the Army's overall suicide rate is one reason installations like this one screen troops at such lengths. The Army is also adjusting their rules on the medical privacy of soldiers, a move officials hope will reduce stigma.

Soldiers will step off planes starting in January at Fort Campbell and face a battery of medical tests and interviews at a converted gymnasium. Underneath the basketball hoops, the one-stop shop for medical needs will become a triage point for hundreds of soldiers a day.

Medical officers with Army Surgeon General's office came to Fort Campbell this week to see the process for returning troops as some will struggle to resume their daily lives after a long and dangerous year of war.

Col. Rebecca Porter, chief of behavioral health under the surgeon general, said with soldiers serving repeated deployments, it's critical to "get their psychological, emotional and personal health in shape."

Some of the questions they'll face involve their marriages or their children, whether they have feelings of depression or stress or difficulty sleeping. They will also be assessed for mild head injuries.

"Initially several years ago soldiers were very resistant to it and felt like they were taking survey after survey," Porter said. "But that's why we have face-to-face interviews ... to look you in the eye and say, 'Are you really OK?'"
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Fort Campbell preps for screening returning troops