When will the military stop pretending CSF is working?

When will the military stop pretending CSF is working?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 16, 2014

Every time I hear a claim like this "Resilient leaders yield resilient soldiers" I want to scream "Where is the proof?"

How many years have to go on before they actually figure out this does not work?

Here are the basic facts.

The Department of Defense Suicide Event Report for 2012 was not released. This is 2014. 2012 was the highest year for military suicides. It was also during a time when there were less serving in the military.

The total for 2013 has not been released yet. The last report from the DOD Army Suicide Information, which includes Army, Army National Guards and Army Reserves, (does not include the other branches) and did not include December numbers.

As of November the total for Army Suicides was 139. The total for all of 2012 was 185.

Army National Guards suicides for 2013 in the same report were 89. For all of 2012 it was 93.

Army Reserves for 2013 50. For all of 2012 47.

The military as a whole have downsized. In other words, less serving in the military topped off with less deployed into Afghanistan, should have given them a clue that this program they hatch in 2009 failed.

This is the claim made about CSF

Master Resiliency Training, a part of Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness, focuses on five areas of strength: physical, spiritual, social, family and emotional. The resiliency program teaches soldiers the skills needed to cope with adversity, adapt to change, and recover from emotionally challenging life events.

If it worked we would have seen a lot less suicides. We would not have seen a 44% increase in young veterans committing suicide.

Suicides Among Young Male Vets Jumped 44 Percent From 2009-2011

That was the headline from NewsMax

New data from the Department of Veterans Affairs shows the number of young male vets committing suicide jumped 44 percent from 2009 to 2011, or roughly two young men a day, reports say.

The suicide rate for all veterans remained mostly unchanged over the same period; the department estimates some 22 veterans a day take their own life, Stars and Stripes reported Thursday.

Top all that off with the fact that even I saw this coming back in 2009 and know that this should not have come as any kind of shock to the people in charge.

May 29, 2009
Comprehensive Soldier Fitness will make it worse

General Casey, now hear this, you cannot, repeat, cannot train your brain to prevent PTSD and until you understand this "Because it is scientifically proven, you can build resilience." does not equal the cause of PTSD, you will keep making it worse! Did the rise in suicides and attempted suicides offer you no clue that Battlemind didn't work? Apparently something told you it didn't or you'd still be pushing this. When you have a program in place to "train them to be resilient" beginning with telling them if they do not, it's their fault, what the hell did you and the other brass expect? Did you think they would listen to the rest of what the Battlemind program had to say to them? Are you out of your mind?

If you promote this program the way Battlemind was promoted, count on the numbers of suicides and attempted suicides to go up instead of down. It's just one more deadly mistake after another and just as dangerous as sending them into Iraq without the armor needed to protect them.