Congress wasting more money on the troops and failures

Congress wasting more money on the troops and failures
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
July 20, 2012

Even after the DOD and the VA finally had to admit they have no clue if their "programs" work or not, congress says they need to spend more money on suicide prevention? Are they out of their minds?

There is no amount of money that is too much if it produces results, takes care of the troops and their families, takes care of the wounded veterans and insures they have a quality of life worthy of their sacrifices but when millions of dollars has produced deplorable results, it is a waste of money but above that, a waste of their lives.

$10 Million More for Military Suicide Prevention
By MARK THOMPSON
July 19, 2012

The House approved an amendment to next year’s defense spending bill Wednesday night that shifts $10 million from training Afghan security forces to fighting suicide in the ranks of the U.S. military.

“This is the most recent issue of Time magazine, reporting that military and veteran suicide is a tragic epidemic that has only gotten worse,” Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, said on the House floor, using a blown-up copy of the cover by Nancy Gibbs and me as a prop. “We are losing too many of our heroes,” said Boswell, a 20-year Army veteran.
“It’s up to us to act.”

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., was a co-sponsor of the amendment. “This week’s Time magazine, as you see from that front page, describes military suicides as an epidemic,” McDermott said. “I would like to take $10 million out of a $5 billion fund in this amendment to go beyond the funding for existing suicide prevention services, and toward modifying the culture that keeps some from seeking help. We must also note that any progress in suicide prevention will be fleeting if we don’t focus on reducing the stigma associated with seeking psychological health services among our active-duty people.”
Read more

They are still wasting money on Battlemind even after all these years of proof it does not work topped off with the fact redeployments increase the risk of PTSD.

Battlemind bullshit
14. Januar 2008
Battlemind: Preparing Soldiers for combat, home life
By Susan Huseman
USAG STUTTGART

STUTTGART – Today, every Soldier headed to Iraq and Afghanistan receives Battlemind training, but few know the science behind it.

Dr. Amy Adler, a senior research psychologist with the U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Europe, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, visited Patch Barracks to break down the program, which is a system of support and intervention.

Not every Soldier who deploys downrange is at risk for mental health problems. The main risk factor is the level of combat experienced, Adler explained to her audience, comprised predominantly of medical, mental health and family support professionals.

Army studies show the greater the combat exposure a Soldier encounters, the greater the risk for mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anger and relationship problems. When Soldiers first return home, they may not notice any problems; sometimes it takes a few months for problems to develop.

What did they do after a blogger like me figured this out? Did they take a good hard look at it? Did they even bother to ask common sense questions? Hell no. They started to claim it was working.

Study finds ‘Battlemind’ is beneficial?
February 16, 2009

Study finds ‘Battlemind’ is beneficial? Sorry but I just choked on my coffee.

Col. Carl Castro should have known better when he developed this program. From what is said about this program and the evidence, this program does more harm than good.

Not that any of these people would ever listen to me or the veterans or the BBC investigation that showed the troops arriving in Afghanistan with 11 1/2 minutes of BattleMind training crammed into two straight days of briefings. There are parts of this program that are good and should be used but they begin with telling the troops that they can "toughen" their minds, which translates to them that if they end up with PTSD, it's their fault because they didn't get their brain tough enough. Try telling that to a Marine.

They can say whatever they want, but when you see the suicide rate go up every year, see them still not wanting to seek help, still not being treated for this as if they have nothing to be ashamed of, then there is a problem. You cannot begin by telling them they can train their brain and then tell them it's ok if they failed to do it.

While they may be able to prepare for combat what they cannot do is change the fact they are human, exposed to abnormal events in combat situations and have normal reactions of stress after as a normal human! No matter what the cause, people get wounded by PTSD. The difference between civilians and the troops is that the troops are exposed to it over and over and over again when they deploy into combat. Telling them they just didn't do a good enough job to toughen their minds is the wrong way to begin what could have been a really great program. Again it's just my opinion and based on 26 years of all of this. Plus add in the fact that the Montana National Guard had to come up with their own program along with a lot of other units. That should have been an alarm bell right there, but no one heard it that is in charge. read more here

Battlemind study leaves too many questions
by Chaplain Kathie
February 20, 2009

There has been something bothering me all week about the post I did on Battlemind.

The word "reported" has been nagging at me. Given the fact suicides and attempted suicides have gone up, reports of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffering in astronomical numbers, tells me that this program has not worked, but it's not just what I think. It's what they think that causes the concern. read more here

While Col. Castro seemed to be out of his mind back then, he woke up and said something brilliant. Combat PTSD is different and should be treated differently than other causes of PTSD. At least he showed he is thinking out of the box now. The question is, how could someone understanding this kind of PTSD has to be treated differently, not push to end this failure?

Castro is an example of how much these people do in fact care, but also a reflection of how much they don't know. Congress can sink $10 billion into this and still be wasting money if they continue to support what has already failed. They want to help but they still don't understand. Maybe if congress stops holding hearings with family members telling heartbreaking stories that will get the attention of the media they will finally have time holding hearings on who is responsible for all of these failures. I doubt that will happen as long as they don't even read their own reports or what the Army had reported so many years ago.

Pentagon report: Suicide up in military
Posted: Jul 19, 2012
By Tracy Clemons
BARKSDALE AFB, LA (KSLA)
An alarming new study shows that military suicides are up. It's estimated that there is one every day. Some predictions indicate that this year could set a record.

The study points to multiple and longer deployments to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, among a few other factors.

"One of the things this study is highlighting is the there's a great amount of stress within our military," says 2nd Bomb Wing Chaplain Lt. Col. Robert O'Dell Jr.

It was funded by the Pentagon. The people who did it talked to 72 Army soldiers who had tried to kill themselves.

"The main things, I think, folks struggle with whether they're in the military or whether they're in the civilian sector is finances and relationship issues," says Chief of the Airman and Family Readiness Center at Barksdale Air Force Stephanie Reyes.

Those are a few things blamed on the rising suicide rate among military men and women who have been fighting two wars during the time that rate has climbed.

"One of the things we tell individuals is that asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It's a sign of maturity," Reyes says.
read more here

You'd think they would have learned that all the money this "program" cost the tax payers in terms of money and tremendous suffering it caused the troops, congress would have had a clue it was a total failure, but no. They are still pushing this load of crap!