Peter Chiarelli wants to stop "scapegoating" the military?

While there is no doubt Chiarelli does care about the troops, this is one of the most terrible comments he could have made. He talks about civilian suicides as if they really have anything to do with the failure of the military to prevent suicides. Really? Is he kidding? Scapegoating the military?

The fact that military suicides have gone up despite hundreds of millions spent on what he kept saying would prevent them does not seem to matter to him anymore.

Peter Chiarelli continues his siege on suicides
By STEPHANIE GASKELL
9/20/12

Retired Gen. Peter Chiarelli spent the final act of his career combating suicides in the Army.

Now, he says, it’s time to stop “scapegoating” military leaders when troops take their own lives and, instead, focus on preventing suicides among all Americans.

After 11 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, every branch of the military — especially the Army — has been under scrutiny over the increase in suicides. A recent Time magazine cover illustrated the problem with a powerful story headlined “One a Day,” referring to recent Army statistics showing that an active-duty soldier commits suicide nearly every day. In fact, more troops committed suicide last year than were killed in combat in Afghanistan.

While these suicides are tragic, Chiarelli told POLITICO, the criticism being heaped on the nation’s military is being overshadowed by an even more troubling number: the estimated 35,000 Americans who take their own lives each year.

“We’re beating up the services who’ve been fighting with an all-volunteer service,” said the former Army vice chief of staff. “We’ve decided that we’re going to scope in on 200 suicides. We ought to quit focusing on this and beating up on the services. What are we doing for the other 34,800?”
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There are reports right here on this blog going back to 2007 where claim after claim had been made about how much they were doing to prevent suicides but we've seen the results with report after report proving what they were doing was not working, yet now we read that it is more about "scapegoating" and that civilian suicides are high too.

This is a huge WTF moment!

Since 2008 I have posted on how what is now called "resiliency" training has been making things worse but military brass just kept pushing it when I was still having to talk them off the ledge as they apologized for not training right and blamed themselves for having PTSD.

I had to help families when it was too little-too late to save the lives of veterans when they were supposed to have come back home safely but the family still had to plan a military funeral.

I hope this was just a poor choice of words on Chiarelli's part instead of an attempt to change his role in all of this.

Chiarelli, who championed welfare of soldiers, retires as Army vice chief

Chiarelli, who championed welfare of soldiers, retires as Army vice chief
By CHRIS CARROLL
Published: January 31, 2012
WASHINGTON – Gen. Peter Chiarelli retired Tuesday, stepping aside as Army vice chief of staff but insisting that in civilian life he’d continue working to improve care for what he called “the signature wounds of this war” – post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury.

Chiarelli, 61, who was honored in a ceremony at Joint Base Meyer-Henderson Hall, Va., led a task force to cut down the rising rate of soldier suicides and pushed to improve diagnosis and treatment for troops with invisible injuries.

“When former [Defense] Secretary [Robert] Gates promoted Pete to that post, he said that he knew that as long as there was a single soldier in harm’s way, as long as there was a single Army family in need, Pete would not rest,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said. “And for more than three years as vice chief of staff, Pete has not rested.”

Chiarelli said that while progress has been made – including a slight reduction in the overall Army suicide rate – work healing the strains of 10 years of war is far from over.

“We must, must, must continue” the efforts now in place, he said Tuesday.
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Final Thoughts from the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army

Final Thoughts from the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army
BY GENRAYODIERNO – JANUARY 27, 2012
POSTED IN: ARMY FAMILIES, ARMY MEDIA, ARMY SENIOR LEADERSHIP, ARMY TOP ISSUES, GEN. RAY ODIERNO, CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE ARMY, SOLDIER VIDEOS, SUICIDE PREVENTION, U.S. ARMY

This week I invited the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, General Peter Chiarelli to provide a guest entry addressing an issue of great importance to both he and I and the Army’s other senior leaders. As General Chiarelli prepares to retire on January 31st after three and a half years spent as VCSA and nearly forty years of service to our Army, I want to take this opportunity to thank him for the remarkable job he has done and the immeasurable impact he and his wife, Beth have had on the lives of Soldiers, Army Civilians and Family members around the world. He is a true Patriot, a great American and undoubtedly one of our Army’s very best.

Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the vice chief of staff of the Army (Photo Credit: Daniel Cernero, III Corps and Fort Hood Public Affairs)

“It is truly remarkable all that our Soldiers have accomplished in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over the past decade they have done an absolutely magnificent job fighting two wars in difficult and demanding environments.

That said, they are undoubtedly tired and stressed, and many are dealing with challenges including physical and psychological wounds, injuries and illnesses incurred as a result of their service. Among the most difficult are the non-visible wounds of post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury. I frequently refer to them as the ‘signature wounds’ of this war.
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PTSD may get name change again

PTSD may get name change again
by
Chaplain Kathie

The military has been struggling with addressing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the stigma attached to it for over a decade. Now they are once again thinking of just changing the title. Combat Post Traumatic Stress Injury would accomplish separating this kind of trauma from other causes. There is a huge difference between a one time event in a person's life and the type of PTSD caused by multiple events. There is also a difference between being a "victim-survivor" and participating in the event itself. While we may be able to understand an average person suffering after a crime or accident, we find it difficult to understand how constant exposures can profoundly change a serviceman or woman.

Changing the "distress" to "injury" is also appropriate since it is caused by an outside force and does not begin with the individual. Trauma is Greek for "wound" so the term "injury" better describes what happened to cause it along with supporting the notion that as with any injury, healing follows. If they change the term to "injury" attaching it to combat, then they need to consider if they will follow through with this by awarding the Purple Heart or not. The debate on issuing a Purple Heart for PTSD and TBI has been going on for a long time since both are wounds caused by combat operations.

I have to admit that I am torn on this. In a way, it seems like a very good idea but on the flip side, it very well could make things worse for veterans coming to terms with what happened to them. The battle to get rid of the stigma has included getting them to understand that PTSD is nothing to be ashamed of. Would changing the name again harm or help? Would it really make that much of a difference?

Perhaps the best way to remove the stigma of PTSD is to begin with the way the military has been trying to prevent it and get them to stop. Training them to be "resilient" and telling them they can strengthen their minds tells them they are weak in the first place. If they end up with PTSD it is their fault because they were not mentally tough enough to take it. When they are suffering and one of their buddies is walking away fine and dandy, that is what they think of themselves. They were just not tough enough.

Half of the veterans needing help never seek it because then they believe they would have to admit there is something mentally wrong with them instead of accepting the fact they wouldn't need help if they had not been through combat and no one walks away after combat unchanged. Some are changed more deeply than others because they are able to feel things at a deeper level. Even the strongest character in a group will be changed given enough events and prolonged stressful days. Being told they could have trained their brains reenforces what they are more apt to think. It is their fault. The military needs to stop this practice first or all the name changes in the world will not work.

New name for stress disorder considered
Army wants troops more open to seeking treatment for PTSD.
By Lindsay Wise, HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Monday, January 16, 2012


The president of the American Psychiatric Association says he is “very open” to a request from the Army to come up with an alternative name for post-traumatic stress disorder so troops returning from combat will feel less stigmatized and more encouraged to seek treatment.

Dr. John Oldham, who serves as senior vice president and chief of staff at the Houston-based Menninger Clinic, said he is looking into the possibility of updating the association's diagnostic manual with a new subcategory for PTSD.

The subcategory could be “combat post-traumatic stress injury” or something similar, he said.

“It would link it clearly to the impact and the injury of the combat situation and of the deployment experience, rather than what people somewhat inaccurately but often assume, which is that you got it because you weren't strong enough.”

The potential change was prompted by a request from Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, who wrote to Oldham last year, suggesting that the psychiatric association consider dropping the world “disorder” from PTSD.

“We are actually trying to work together to see what might be possible,” he said. “Everybody feels — and the general did as well — that that would be a whole lot better because soldiers are not as uneasy with the word ‘injury.' That's a war injury, a combat injury. It's not associated with the same kind of stigma and discomfort.”
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Stress Disorder, Brain Injury Science Lacking Still

Chiarelli: Stress Disorder, Brain Injury Science Lacking

By Terri Moon Cronk
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 12, 2011 – The therapies used for the treatment of brain injuries lag behind the advanced medical science employed for treating mechanical injuries, such as missing limbs, Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli told reporters here today at the Defense Writers Group breakfast.

Chiarelli said more work must be done to properly diagnose and treat service members suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and suicidal thoughts.
“There’s a lot of criticism with how we handle PTSD and TBI and other behavioral health issues,” he said. “I think a lot of that is unfair, because if you study this, we don’t know as much about the brain. That is the basis of the problem.”

Meanwhile, Chiarelli said, the stigma that some service members associate with actively seeking treatment for mental health issues is still active.

“Breaking the stigma of mental health issues is the hardest part,” the general acknowledged.
Chiarelli said military medicine has been very successful in replacing injured service members’ lost arms and limbs with high-tech prosthetics in tandem with rehabilitation training.

“None of you has asked what we’re able to do with soldiers who lose arms and legs,” Chiarelli told reporters. “I’ve been using my bully pulpit in the last year or so to say that as an agency we do everything we can to understand the brain as we do the rest of the body.”

Chiarelli said progress has been made in diagnosing and treating PTSD and TBI, though he acknowledged that much work remains.

“We’re beginning to get some traction,” Chiarelli said of new information provided by recent studies of PTSD and TBI issues. The general said he’s “harkened” by the Army and National Mental Health Institute all-soldier study of PTSD and TBI, now into its third month.

“We’re starting to get back some data,” he said. “I feel good about it.”

The study starts with monitoring new trainees -- a process that has never been done before, the general said. The Army study, he added, will track soldiers during their careers to monitor them for potential risks.
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Stress Disorder, Brain Injury Science Lacking

This is one more case of what is still being done wrong.

Family seeks changes to VA treatment rules following soldier's death
Published: Monday, May 09, 2011, 9:00 AM
By Holly Setter
Booth Mid-Michigan

BAY CITY — U.S. Army Pfc. Kyle Brooks didn’t die while serving his country in Iraq, but his family says the experience is what ultimately killed him.

Now, family members are taking action and speaking out about the soldier’s death, hoping to prevent further loss of life.

Brooks, a 23-year-old Bay City native, served in Iraq from November 2008 to June 2009. He returned home suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, a form of anxiety that can occur after a person has seen or experienced a traumatic event.

In February, Brooks committed suicide, leaving behind a wife and 2-year-old son. His family buried him April 25 in St. Patrick Cemetery in Bay City.

Family members say Brooks still would be alive had he received the care and support he needed.
“They were treating him for PTSD while he was still over there (in Iraq),” said Mark Charters of Midland, Brooks’ uncle. “They gave him an honorable discharge, a month’s worth of pills and then told him that he wasn’t eligible for help at the VA hospital because he hadn’t served 24 months of active duty.”

The law regarding benefits for veterans does say that a member of the military “must have 24 months continuous active duty military service,” although there are a number of exceptions, including treatment for service-related conditions.

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Family seeks changes to VA treatment rules following soldier's death

Yesterday when I read this story I couldn't believe it. (It is one of the posts that Blogger lost somehow) How can something like this happen especially after all the DOD has claimed they have learned about PTSD? Who dropped the ball on making sure this honorably discharged wounded soldier got what he not only needed, but what he paid the price for? What is worse, since Brooks was discharged before he committed suicide, his death won't even be counted by the DOD or the VA.

Gen. Peter Chiarelli: Screening for suicides won't work

General: Screening for suicides won't work
Published: July 30, 2010 at 7:40 PM


WASHINGTON, July 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army cannot reduce its suicide rate by screening out recruits who might become suicide risks, Gen. Peter Chiarelli said Friday.

Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff, held a news conference at the Pentagon to discuss a new report on military suicide. He commissioned the report after the suicide rate among soldiers exceeded that among civilians for the first time since the Vietnam era.

The National Institute of Mental Health said screening intensively enough to prevent two suicides a year would mean the Army would not meet its recruiting goals, he said.

While the increased suicide rate has been blamed on repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, Chiarelli said soldiers are most likely to take their own lives in their first year in the Army or in the early months of their first overseas deployment. Those who enlist when they are older, often after losing civilian jobs, are three times as likely to kill themselves.

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Gen Peter Chiarelli

Gen. Peter Chiarelli says mental health toughest battle of his 37-year career

General Chairelli is right. I've been in this since 1982 and never thought it would ever get this bad for them. We should never, ever lose more after war than during it, but we do during a time in their lives when they should be healing.

Army general is point man in Pentagon's push to improve soldiers' welfare
Seattle Times

Army general is point man in Pentagon's push to improve soldiers' welfare
Gen. Peter Chiarelli, a Seattle University graduate and the son of a Magnolia butcher, ascended the ranks to become the Army's No. 2 uniformed officer. He has emerged as an outspoken advocate in the push to improve the welfare of soldiers.

By Hal Bernton

Seattle Times staff reporter

STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Speaking to cadets at Seattle University, Gen. Peter Chiarelli rose from the same ROTC program to become the No. 2 officer in the Army and an outspoken point man trying to improve conditions for soldiers.
Earlier this winter, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, on a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, learned a hotel for injured soldiers had a faulty hot-water system. The four-star general told his staff that if the problem should recur, he wanted to know right away.

A few weeks later, Chiarelli was awakened around 3:30 a.m. with word of another complaint about the hotel plumbing. He got dressed and drove to Walter Reed to demand the replacement of a troublesome valve system.

The Seattle-raised Chiarelli is an emotional man who has emerged as an unconventional and outspoken advocate in a Pentagon push to improve soldiers' welfare. The son of a Magnolia butcher, during the Vietnam War he attended the Reserve Officers' Training Corps at Seattle University, far from the West Point path, and then improbably ascended the ranks to become the Army's vice-chief of staff — its No. 2 uniformed officer.

In recent years, the Army has been battered by scandals about its outpatient care for the wounded. In addition, surging numbers of soldiers have returned home from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries.

Chiarelli, who served two tours of duty in Iraq, says the mental-health crisis in the military has been the toughest battle of his 37-year career.
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Army general is point man in Pentagon

Eight soldiers committed suicide in eight days of New Year

We were told year after year the Army "gets it" and has taken steps to stop the suicides. Year after year it has been proven the steps taken are not the right ones but they keep walking into a minefield. With all the efforts, all the programs they've come up with, all the efforts to reduce the stigma and all the money spent, the numbers went up instead of down. Will they ever understand that this is like buying more rubber bullets and hoping they will finally work once they have enough of them?

Perhaps the most frightening part of all of this is that while their attempts to prevent suicides have apparently failed, they must have been able to prevent at least some of them. If the suicide prevention hotlines along with the rest of the groups sprouting up around the country are any indication, some of what they have been doing has saved lives, but with the numbers going up, there is an untold story here. How many would have been saved if the Army had changed how they address suicides when their attempts had the reverse effect?

Would they have been able to save more lives if they understood why PTSD strikes some and not others? Would they have saved lives if they did more than just acknowledge the redeployments increased the risk of PTSD? Would they have saved lives if they stopped the practice of deploying soldiers with PTSD and a pocket full of pills back into combat? Would they have saved marriages?

They can hold as many conferences as they want, make as many speeches as they have vocal cords for, but while their intentions are good, if they have learned nothing thus far, then it is worse than doing nothing.

The suicides claiming more lives than the enemy, topped off with the suicides of veterans is only part of the story. When a soldier is discharged but is not yet in the VA system, no one is keeping track of them. How many more committed suicide after service but before the VA had seen them?

Chiarelli addresses early rash of 2010 suicides

By Gregg Zoroya - USA TODAY
Posted : Friday Jan 29, 2010 7:22:42 EST

WASHINGTON — Alarmed by the suicides of eight soldiers in the year’s first eight days, the Army’s No. 2 general told commanders to have face-to-face contact with GIs to remind them “each one is valued by our Army,” according to the Jan. 8 memorandum provided to USA TODAY.

Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army’s vice chief of staff, reinforced that message last week, telling leaders in a videoconference they must pay extra attention to soldiers who are moving from one installation to another and may need more help, says Col. Chris Philbrick, head of the Army’s suicide task force.

Although Army officials say the suicide rate has dropped since then, Chiarelli’s message illustrates the continuing challenge the service faces despite an anti-suicide campaign that started last year.

The military faces a suicide “crisis,” said Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a conference in Washington this month.

The 160 confirmed and suspected Army suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2009 was a record. Winter months were the worst, records show. Twenty-nine soldiers in all parts of the Army killed themselves in January 2009, nearly twice the 15 killed in combat that month. In February, 27 more committed suicide. The Marine Corps suffered a record 52 suicides last year.
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Chiarelli addresses early rash of 2010 suicides

Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire really using military intelligence

Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire just made me very hopeful by saying it depends on what works best, instead of just using what is there, she's searching. The military has a habit of searching for the latest and greatest when it comes to winning wars, but hardly ever seems to apply the same intelligence when it comes to what war does. She just proved it by this statement alone.

There are great programs out there, like the Montana National Guard have, plus some others, but there are also programs that don't work. In many cases, they actually do more harm than good. One I hope they totally abandon is Battlemind, but judging from the lack of reports on this program lately, I have a feeling they have been dropping it quietly. The other is Warrior Mind, which could have been a great program had they not fully understood the message being delivered ended up being yet again, if you end up with PTSD, it's your fault. Both of these programs could have worked really well if they had been thought out more and the developers heard the words being said through the ears of someone with PTSD. Then they would have known how much harm they were doing.

The other thing in this report is that Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli's words showed they still don't understand that PTSD comes after trauma, strikes the compassionate with vengeance and is a wound to the soul/emotions, that makes these men and women so wonderful and vulnerable at the same time. If they ever understand this then they will know exactly what to do and come up with programs that address the body-mind-spirit connection that is under assault. This is not all bad because at least he's asking what is behind it instead of ignoring it.

Schofield Barracks hosting suicide awareness event


Advertiser Staff and News Services

The Army in Hawai'i will recognize National Suicide Prevention Month tomorrow on Sills Field at Schofield Barracks with events intended to promote awareness of the impact suicide has not only has on family members, but also on the "Army family," officials said.


The day starts at 6:30 a.m. with a two-mile fun run, followed by opportunities for soldiers and family members to visit booths staffed by behavioral health experts, Army counselors and military chaplains.

"The most frustrating thing is trying to find a cause," Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on July 30.

Among those efforts, which included a service-wide stand down and a series of chain-teaching sessions, is a $50 million, five-year study on suicide conducted in conjunction with the National Institute of Mental Health.

"It's not that the Army lacks programs to confront the problem of suicide," said Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, Director, Army Suicide Prevention Task Force. "The long-term challenge is determining which programs are most effective for our soldiers, and ensuring Army leaders, from junior noncommissioned officers to the most senior leaders, know how to help their soldiers take advantage of these programs."
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Schofield Barracks hosting suicide awareness event

Army pledges more work to lower suicide numbers

Army pledges more work to lower suicide numbers
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, March 20, 2009
WASHINGTON — Military officials promised to conduct more suicide prevention education and hire more psychiatrists to stem an alarming rise in the number of servicemembers who have killed themselves in recent years.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. Peter Chiarelli, vice chief of staff for the Army, called the suicide figures for his service "unacceptable" and fixing them "the most difficult and critical mission" of his military career.

"The reality is, there is no simple solution," he said. "It is going to require a multi-disciplinary approach, and a team effort at every level of command."

According to the Army, there were 140 confirmed suicides last year and another seven probable suicides still under investigation. That’s up from 115 in 2007, and 101 in 2006.
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Military Bases brace for surge in stress-related disorders

Bases brace for surge in stress-related disorders
By LOLITA C. BALDOR (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
November 29, 2008 10:24 AM EST
FORT CAMPBELL, Kentucky - Some 15,000 soldiers are heading home to this sprawling base after spending more than a year at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and military health officials are bracing for a surge in brain injuries and psychological problems among those troops.

Facing prospects that one in five of the 101st Airborne Division soldiers will suffer from stress-related disorders, the base has nearly doubled its psychological health staff. Army leaders are hoping to use the base's experiences to assess the long-term impact of repeated deployments.

The three 101st Airborne combat brigades, which have begun arriving home, have gone through at least three tours in Iraq. The 3rd Brigade also served seven months in Afghanistan, early in the war. Next spring, the 4th Brigade will return from a 15-month tour in Afghanistan. So far, roughly 10,000 soldiers have come back; the remainder are expected by the end of January.

Army leaders say they will closely watch Fort Campbell to determine the proper medical staffing levels needed to aid soldiers who have endured repeated rotations in the two war zones.

"I don't know what to expect. I don't think anybody knows," said Gen. Peter Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the Army, as he flew back to Washington from a recent tour of the base's medical facilities. "That's why I want to see numbers from the 101st's third deployment."

What happens with the 101st Airborne, he said, will let the Army help other bases ready for similar homecomings in the next year or two, when multiple brigades from the 4th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division return.

Noting that some soldiers in the 101st Airborne units have been to war four or five times, Chiarelli said he is most worried the military will not be able to find enough health care providers to deal effectively with the troops needing assistance.

Many of the military bases are near small or remote communities that do not have access to the number of health professionals who might be needed as a great many soldiers return home.

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Linked from RawStory