Combat stress on Special Ops "worse" then they thought

Spec ops troops’ stress ‘worse than we thought’
By Gregg Zoroya
USA TODAY
Posted : Thursday Dec 20, 2012

TAMPA — The nation’s most elite fighting forces — celebrated this year in film and best-selling books — are under more emotional strain after a decade of war than commanders realized, according to the senior non-commissioned officer for special operations.

A tragic part of that is record suicides this year, said Command Sgt. Maj. Chris Faris.

According to Pentagon data, there were 17 confirmed or suspected suicides this year among commandos or support personnel through Dec. 2, compared with nine suicides each of the past two years.

That’s a suicide rate among these troops of about 25 per 100,000, comparable to a record rate this year in the Army and higher than a demographically adjusted civilian suicide rate.

“What we’re struggling with is, OK, what the heck is going on?” Faris said.

“These guys have been under tremendous pressure,” said Kim Ruocco, who assists families of special operations troops who commit suicide. They “have given over and over again without complaining ... and then, when they do have issues, spend a lot of time hiding it.”

The problems arise as popular media showers attention on these troops, particularly the famed SEAL Team 6 whose killing of Osama bin Laden led to best-selling books and the film “Zero Dark Thirty.”

A report last month by U.S. Special Operations Command — which oversees 66,000 troops including the Army’s secretive Delta Force, Navy SEALs with SEAL Team 6, Army Green Berets and Rangers — cites “an increase in domestic and family relational and behavioral problems, substance abuse and self-medication problems, risk-taking behavior, post-traumatic stress and suicide.”

Faris said, “It’s worse than we thought.” But he added that despite signs of strain, this select category of troops remains capable of meeting any missions they are given.

Ruocco, a director at Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), said she has worked with the families of a Green Beret and a Navy SEAL who killed themselves this year.
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