In Generals the courage to heal and inspire

Generals refused to surrender to PTSD

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
November 22, 2018

Ten years ago, I wrote about being thankful for General Carter Ham because he talked openly about his own battle with PTSD, when other generals were shaming their soldiers for having it.

Today, sadly, I just posted about a Command Sgt. Major showing that efforts by leaders such as General Ham, have not educated the people under them.

General Ham was not alone that year. 

Major General David Blackledge showed courage admitting he needed help to heal.

Blackledge got psychiatric counseling to deal with wartime trauma, and now he is defying the military's culture of silence on the subject of mental health problems and treatment.
"It's part of our profession ... nobody wants to admit that they've got a weakness in this area," Blackledge said of mental health problems among troops returning from America's two wars.
"I have dealt with it. I'm dealing with it now," said Blackledge, who came home with post-traumatic stress. "We need to be able to talk about it."
As the nation marks another Veterans Day, thousands of troops are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with anxiety, depression and other emotional problems.

This is what real leaders do! They show those they lead that PTSD is not from what they lack or any kind of weakness. It comes from where their courage to serve took them, and what they had to do for those they served with.

A year later, this report came out and yet another General had more to say.

Generals share their experience with PTSD 

CNN 

By Larry Shaughnessy and Barbara Starr 

March 6, 2009
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Memory of soldier who died before his eyes stays with one general...Another still questions himself over suicide bomb attack that killed 22...By sharing stories, they hope to ease stigma attached to stress...Military should have different view of post-traumatic stress disorder, they say 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Army generals aren't known for talking about their feelings.
Gen. Carter Ham says PTSD is stigmatized, although "intellectually we all know it's wrong." Brig. Gen. Gary S. Patton says he wants the military to change the way it views post-traumatic stress disorder.

Brig. Gen. Gary S. Patton says he wants the military to change the way it views post-traumatic stress disorder.

But two high-ranking officers are doing just that, hoping that by going public they can remove the stigma that many soldiers say keeps them from getting help for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Brig. General Gary S. Patton and Gen. Carter Ham have both sought counseling for the emotional trauma of their time in the Iraq war.

"One of our soldiers in that unit, Spec. Robert Unruh, took a gunshot wound to the torso, I was involved in medevacing him off the battlefield. And in a short period of time, he died before my eyes," Patton told CNN in an exclusive interview. "That's a memory [that] will stay with me the rest of my life."

Ham was the commander in Mosul when a suicide bomber blew up a mess tent. Twenty-two people died.

"The 21st of December, 2004, worst day of my life. Ever," Ham said. "To this day I still ask myself what should I have done differently, what could I have done as the commander responsible that would have perhaps saved the lives of those soldiers, sailors, civilians."

Both generals have been back from Iraq for years, but still deal with some of the symptoms of the stress they experienced.

"I felt like that what I was doing was not important because I had soldiers who were killed and a mission that had not yet been accomplished," Ham said. "It took a very amazingly supportive wife and in my case a great chaplain to kind of help me work my way through that."

Ham and his wife drove from Washington State to the District of Columbia right after he returned from combat.

"I probably said three words to her the whole way across the country. And it was 'Do you want to stop and get something to eat?' I mean, no discussion, no sharing of what happened," he explained.

Ham still can't talk to his wife about much of what he saw.

For Patton the stress hits him in the middle of the night.

"I've had sleep interruptions from loud noises. Of course there's no IEDs or rockets going off in my bedroom, but the brain has a funny way of remembering those things," Patton said. "Not only recreating the exact sound, but also the smell of the battlefield and the metallic taste you get in your mouth when you have that same incident on the battlefield."

Both acknowledge that in military circles, there is still a stigma attached to admitting mental health problems.
read more here

Can you imagine what it would be like today for all the veterans who needed to keep hearing from Generals like them, but only heard about how many veterans committed suicide?

Maj. Gen. David Blackledge, unashamed to talk about his own battle with PTSD

This man is a true leader when it comes to talking about his own battle with PTSD. He is not ashamed and no one else should be of having a reaction to traumatic events in combat. For any other officer out there still trying to get rid of soldiers with PTSD, remember him the next time you are faced with helping them heal or getting them out. For soldiers out there thinking there is no hope of healing and having a better life, read his story and know nothing is impossible.

A general speaks out about his battle with PTSD

By John Ramsey
Staff writer

While everyone else danced at a New Year's celebration to start 2008, Maj. Gen. David Blackledge couldn't stop picturing a suicide bomber blowing up the ballroom.

After nearly losing his life twice during consecutive deployments, Blackledge rarely felt safe.

He couldn't shake the nightmares. He couldn't control his temper. He couldn't focus.

"I started to think, well, this is just the way it's going to be," Blackledge said.

But later that year, after his routine physical, he described his symptoms to a doctor.

Classic post traumatic stress disorder, the doctor said. He sent Blackledge to behavioral health, where he saw a psychiatrist and a psychologist.

They confirmed the diagnosis and told the general they could help.

Now Blackledge - commander of the Army's Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command - is speaking publicly about his invisible wounds to let other warriors know their reactions to combat are normal.
read more here
A general speaks out about his battle with PTSD

Defense launches campaign and Web site to destigmatize traumatic stress

Defense launches campaign and Web site to destigmatize traumatic stress
By Bob Brewin 05/26/2009

The Defense Department launched a multimedia campaign that includes a new Web site designed to reduce the stigma that combat veterans and their families say they feel when seeking mental health care.

The effort includes the new Real Warriors Web site, which is hosted deliberately outside a military Internet domain because troops have reported that seeking help for mental health problems could harm their military careers.

The site went live on May 21 on a dot-net domain, an address where developers hope troops and their families feel it is safe to look for mental health information as opposed to looking for the same information hosted on a dot-mil domain, , said Army Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton, a psychiatrist who serves as director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Lisa Jaycox, a behavioral scientist with the RAND Corp. and one of the co-editors of the 2008 report " Invisible Wounds of War," said Defense faces a tough task when it comes to destigmatizing treatment for mental and psychological problems.

A survey RAND conducted in conjunction with its study showed that troops did not seek mental health care due to concern over "negative career repercussions," Jaycox said. "It's extremely hard to disentangle fitness for duty from seeking mental health care."

To lessen the stigma, Defense could show positive examples of people who sought help for post-traumatic stress disorder while their military careers thrived, Jaycox said.

Sutton said Real Warriors offers concrete examples of three combat veterans who candidly relate their battles with PTSD.

Army Maj. Gen. David Blackledge is one of the three profiles. Blackledge, the Army's assistant deputy chief of staff for mobilization and reserve issues, said in February he decided to talk publicly about his struggle with PTSD because he believed it was critical for senior Army leaders to discuss their experiences with combat stress.

The Defense centers designed Real Warriors to help troops and their families in a variety of ways, including anonymous, online chat sessions with mental health professionals, Sutton said.

Because many of the 1.9 million servicemen and women who have served one or more tours in Iraq or Afghanistan are young, officials decided to incorporate social media and Internet tools to reach that audience. The site's developers included buttons at the bottom of the page that users can click to access pages on Facebook, Digg, Delicious and Twitter that focus on mental health issues.
go here for more
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090526_4907.php

Army Maj. Gen. David Blackledge's courage getting troops to seek help for PTSD

Reduce Mental Health Stigma
Army.com - Huntsville,Al,USA
Feb. 4, 2009
By John J. Kruzel

WASHINGTON (American Forces Press Service) – Army Maj. Gen. David Blackledge is doing his part to reduce the social stigma attached to seeking mental health treatment for war-related stress.

The general suffered from post-traumatic stress after surviving a near-death experience during his first deployment to Iraq in 2004. Now he willingly shares his tale of recovery and hopes his example will help others in dealing with war’s invisible wounds.

“I felt it was critical that we had senior leaders experiencing [post-traumatic stress] come forward,” Blackledge, the Army’s assistant deputy chief of staff for mobilization and reserve issues, said in an interview at the Pentagon last week.

The wife of a military member suffering from war trauma used Blackledge’s story to spur on her spouse to seek treatment, Blackledge said.

“She said, ‘My husband was suffering from this, and when I showed him the article in the paper about you coming forward, he said that if a two-star general can get help, then maybe I can too,’” he said.

Blackledge’s story begins in Iraq in February 2004, when he was working there as a civil affairs commander. He was leading a team to Iskandariyah to meet with tribal sheiks when their convoy was ambushed with smalls-arms fire. The attack killed the interpreter sitting near Blackledge and blew out a tire on their vehicle, causing it to roll.

The survivors of the attack regrouped and escaped to a nearby checkpoint. Blackledge suffered a broken back and ribs, and other physical injuries. He was put in a body cast at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, and remained there for several days before arriving at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here.

“Within a day of me being at Walter Reed, a psychiatrist came to me … and talked to me about what was going on. He also told me what to expect,” Blackledge recalled. “I told him at the time that the ambush kept replaying in my mind.”

The psychiatrist told Blackledge his re-experiencing of the incident was normal, and he provided the general with mental techniques to help gain control of his memories.
click link for more

Tough Talk when they have PTSD from Generals

Tough Talk when they have PTSD
by Chaplain Kathie

When commanding officers are willing to say they have PTSD because of their service, it sets and example for all others to follow.
General Carter Ham, Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo and Maj. Gen. David Blackledge just made it impossible for other commanders to ignore PTSD. As you read Their stories think of all the others coming forward and know we all owe them a debt of gratitude.

General Carter Ham

PTSD:General's story highlights combat stress
Gen. Carter Ham, to call him a hero would be putting it mildly. He's a hero to the troops not just because he's a high ranking officer, but because he is willing to speak out on having PTSD. That is a kind of courage very few in his position are willing to do.When men like my husband came home from Vietnam, they knew something had changed inside of them but they didn't know what it was. They suffered in silence just as generations before them suffered. When PTSD was first used in 1976 with a study commissioned by the DAV, news was slowly reaching the veterans. While they fought to have it recognized as wound caused by their service, it was very difficult to talk about. The perception that there was something wrong with them kept too many from even seeking help to heal.

General's story puts focus on stress stemming from combatBy Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY
Gen. Carter Ham was among the best of the best, tough, smart and strong, an elite soldier in a battle-hardened Army. At the Pentagon, his star was rising.
In Iraq, he was in command in the north during the early part of the war, when the insurgency became more aggressive. Shortly before he was to return home, on Dec. 21, 2004, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a mess hall at a U.S. military base near Mosul and killed 22 people, including 14 U.S. troops. Ham arrived at the scene 20 minutes later to find the devastation.
When Ham returned from Mosul to Fort Lewis, Wash., in February 2005, something in the affable officer was missing. Loud noises startled him. Sleep didn't come easily.
"When he came back, all of him didn't come back. Pieces of him the way he used to be were perhaps left back there," says his wife, Christi. "I didn't get the whole guy I'd sent away."
Today, Ham, 56, is one of only 12 four-star generals in the Army. He commands all U.S. soldiers in Europe. The stress of his combat service could have derailed his career, but Ham says he realized that he needed help transitioning from life on the battlefields of Iraq to the halls of power at the Pentagon. So he sought screening for post-traumatic stress and got counseling from a chaplain. That helped him "get realigned," he says.
"You need somebody to assure you that it's not abnormal," Ham says. "It's not abnormal to have difficulty sleeping. It's not abnormal to be jumpy at loud sounds. It's not abnormal to find yourself with mood swings at seemingly trivial matters. More than anything else, just to be able to say that out loud."
The willingness of Ham, one of the military's top officers, to speak candidly with USA TODAY for the first time about post-traumatic stress represents a tectonic shift for a military system in which seeking such help has long been seen as a sign of weakness.

Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo

PTSD News: Another Army General Fights Stigma by Announcing He Sought PTSD RecoveryPamela Walck
Savannah Morning News (Georgia)
Dec 21, 2008
December 21, 2008, Fort Stewart, Georgia - War changes a person. It's a truth Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo knows all too well from his 29 years of service - and counting - in the U.S. Army.
And it's a truth he tries to share with each new man and woman arriving at Fort Stewart to serve in the 3rd Infantry Division he guides.
"Command Sgt. Maj. Jesse Andrews and I try to speak to each newcomers' group," said the commanding general of the 3rd ID. "We get all ranks - from private to colonel - and in part, we try to impress upon them ... it is a point of moral courage to step forward and say you need help."
Cucolo then points to a few examples of soldiers he knows who recognized the classic signs of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury in their own behavior - then sought help for it.
"I applaud that behavior," Cucolo said Friday, moments after participating in a groundbreaking at Winn Army Hospital for a new PTSD and TBI clinic.
Cucolo said he then tells his soldiers they are looking at an officer who sought counseling and got help.
"A lot of people think it is a career-ender," Cucolo said in an exclusive interview.
But he's living proof to the contrary.
Cucolo took command of the 3rd ID in July, after serving a two-year tour at the Pentagon as the Army's chief of public affairs.
During a career that spans nearly three decades, he has served 16 of those years in infantry and armor divisions.
"Soldiers return (from war) a slightly different person," Cucolo said. "It's understood ... we all deal with it different."
The general contends that details over when, why or where he personally sought help are not important.
The fact that he sought help, however, is.
click link above for more

Maj. Gen. David Blackledge

PTSD News: After Two Iraq War Deployments, Army Major General Steps Forward, Breaks Culture of Silence on Mental HealthPauline Jelinek
Associated Press
Nov 08, 2008
November 8, 2008, Washington, DC (AP) " It takes a brave soldier to do what Army Maj. Gen. David Blackledge did in Iraq."
It takes as much bravery to do what he did when he got home.
Blackledge got psychiatric counseling to deal with wartime trauma, and now he is defying the military's culture of silence on the subject of mental health problems and treatment.
"It's part of our profession ... nobody wants to admit that they've got a weakness in this area," Blackledge said of mental health problems among troops returning from America's two wars.
"I have dealt with it. I'm dealing with it now," said Blackledge, who came home with post-traumatic stress. "We need to be able to talk about it."
As the nation marks another Veterans Day, thousands of troops are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with anxiety, depression and other emotional problems.
Up to 20 percent of the more than 1.7 million who've served in the wars are estimated to have symptoms. In a sign of how tough it may be to change attitudes, roughly half of those who need help aren't seeking it, studies have found.
click link above for more

Do you think they have anything to feel ashamed of? Think of where they are and the position they have. Do you still think you have any kind of a reason to stay suffering in silence? Ran out of excuses yet? I bet you just did.

PTSD:Maj. General David Blackledge shows what courage is back home

Photo by AP
In this photograph provided by Maj. Gen. David Blackledge, Blackledge, right, stands next to then U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad in Iraq in this undated photograph. From Boston Herald

PTSD News: After Two Iraq War Deployments, Army Major General Steps Forward, Breaks Culture of Silence on Mental Health

Pauline Jelinek


Associated Press

Nov 08, 2008

November 8, 2008, Washington, DC (AP) — It takes a brave soldier to do what Army Maj. Gen. David Blackledge did in Iraq.

It takes as much bravery to do what he did when he got home.

Blackledge got psychiatric counseling to deal with wartime trauma, and now he is defying the military's culture of silence on the subject of mental health problems and treatment.

"It's part of our profession ... nobody wants to admit that they've got a weakness in this area," Blackledge said of mental health problems among troops returning from America's two wars.

"I have dealt with it. I'm dealing with it now," said Blackledge, who came home with post-traumatic stress. "We need to be able to talk about it."

As the nation marks another Veterans Day, thousands of troops are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with anxiety, depression and other emotional problems.

Up to 20 percent of the more than 1.7 million who've served in the wars are estimated to have symptoms. In a sign of how tough it may be to change attitudes, roughly half of those who need help aren't seeking it, studies have found.
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/11596