Politician acknowledges more of the same wrong answer

WOUNDED TIMES
Kathie Costos
April 30, 2014

Mel Levey, Military Officer and Congressional Candidate from Texas wrote an article on military suicides. "Suicide in the Military remains near all-time high. This is part of the subtitle "More of the same is not the answer" and it is a big part of the solution.

"If you promote this program (Comprehensive Solider Fitness) 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." I wrote that in 2009 after reading about the program and talking to veterans subjected to "Battlemind" training. They talked about how that training left them thinking they were mentally weak and didn't train right. They heard their buddies talking about others showing signs of PTSD and making fun of them.

Considering they were told if they trained right and toughened their brains, they wouldn't end up up with PTSD, what other thoughts could they possibly have?

We read their stories everyday. We read about how the military has "no idea" why the suicides went up. What the general public does not know is that what the military has been doing is a huge part of the reason.

Last year after families urged me to write about what they finally learned I agreed to write THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR. None of what is in this book is a secret. Reports came from across the country, collected over 6 years on Wounded Times.

None of it was a secret but people would have to search for all of it since the national news failed miserably. They failed to do basic research so when they went out to do an interview, they didn't even know the right questions to ask. They failed to invest the time and energy it took to do what I did everyday.

The answer has not been a secret but no one told the thousands of veterans and military folks what they needed to know.

More of the same is not the answer now and was not the answer last year, the year before or 5 years ago yet that is exactly what everyone is doing.

More and more bills come out of congress as more and more money goes into pushing what has failed.

We're going to keep reading their stories and their suffering because no one seems interested in pushing what does work. What has been tested and tried in real life situations.

Families still remain in the dark without a clue what PTSD is or what they can do to help. Veterans are left dealing with a lot of pain they do not need to carry.

The answer is in three parts.

MIND
They need to understand what PTSD is and why they have it. The cause is surviving traumatic events, even civilians suffer from but for veterans, it is a different type. They are not just survivors of traumatic events, they participate in them. They placed their lives on the line for the sake of someone else and that required a deeper ability to care. That same ability also allows them to feel things more than others. It has nothing to do with courage or Medal of Honor heroes would never experience it but more and more have come out and talked about their own struggles. It has nothing to do with training to "prevent it" and that has been proven over the years when the DOD tried to do it.

BODY
They had to teach their bodies to do what they were able to do in combat but then they have to train them to clam down and be able to rest again. Nothing happens automatically. It takes a lot of work to get a body in shape for fighting wars. The DOD needs to train them how to get into shape for fighting to find living in peace again.

SPIRIT
PTSD is a spiritual wound and needs to be treated where it lives. In the spirit. Smacking soldiers with a bible isn't the answer but helping them heal with love and understanding is key. They can heal if they take a look at everything a different way, forgive where needed and stop trying to "fit back in" with people who were never the same as them. Veterans hang out with other veterans because they understand each other.

There is so much that has been learned over the last 40 years, but most has been forgotten. The question is, can it be forgiven when most of the suffering veterans have gone through was not necessary?