U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health.Thankfully Ann Scott Tyson, reporter from The Washington Post cared enough to cover it.
"When we look at combat, we look at some very horrific events," said Col. Ed Crandell, head of the Army's Mental Health Advisory Team, which polled 1,461 soldiers in Iraq in late 2005. "They come back, they know they're going to deploy again," and as a result they don't ever return to normal levels of stress, Crandell said.How many were redeployed back then?
More than 650,000 soldiers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001 -- including more than 170,000 now in the Army who have served multiple tours -- so the survey's finding of increased risk from repeated exposure to combat has potentially widespread implications for the all-volunteer force.Ever since then, members of Congress have been pushing through bills and funding them, we should have been demanding a change in direction for our servicemembers sake and all who came after them.
Suicide Named Third Leading Cause of Death Among National Guard SoldiersSeven years later...
Army
By Sgt. 1st Class Erick Studenicka
August 20, 2007
ARLINGTON, Va. (Army News Service, Aug. 20, 2007) - In terms of a threat to Army National Guard Soldiers, it easily rivals rounds from a concealed sniper, the devastation of an improvised explosive device or a blast from rocket-propelled grenade.
Master Sgt. Marshall Bradshaw, the Army National Guard's Suicide Prevention Program manager, posts a suicide prevention placard at the National Guard's joint headquarters at Jefferson Plaza One in Arlington, Va., Aug. 17. Statistics reveal suicide is the third-leading cause of death among National Guard Soldiers. (Photo Credit: Sgt. 1st Class Erick Studenicka)The threat doesn't stem from any foreign armed forces or military power, and casualties resulting from this threat are often the saddest and most heartbreaking of deaths for the Family and friends of these Soldiers.
The threat is suicide, which is the No. 3 cause of death for National Guard Soldiers so far this year, according to the Army National Guard's Suicide Prevention Program. In Soldier deaths this fiscal year, there have been 42 cases of suicide in the National Guard, narrowly followed by 47 combat deaths and 45 accident-related deaths.
The Army Suicide Event Report, released Aug. 16, reported 99 confirmed suicides among active-duty Soldiers in calendar year 2006, its highest number since 1991. The National Guard's total of 42 is already 17 more than the 2006 total and marks the highest total since the National Guard began keeping suicide statistics in 2004.
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Suicide Prevention GENERAL FRANK J. GRASS CHIEF, NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU, April 8, 2014By the end of 2016 there were 123 National Guardsmen, 80 Reservists and 275 Active Duty servicemembers.
One of the strengths of the National Guard is that we are representative of our great American society. Unfortunately, this also means that the suicide trends our society struggles with are also present in the National Guard. While suicides in the Air National Guard are 14 decreasing, the Army National Guard rates remain high. Although there have been a below average number of Army National Guard suicides year to date in 2014, there were 119 suicides in 2013, the highest per year number over the past six years.
Narelle Fraser had a breakdown following the discovery of Maria Korp and developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result. She has quit the police force and is speaking out on PTSD in an attempt to encourage others to address the illness.
Narelle Fraser (pictured) was the first police officer on the scene and could not find Maria Korp's pulse
Policewoman has opened up about finding a near-dead woman in 2005A Victorian policewoman has relived the moment she discovered what she thought was the lifeless body of a missing woman in the boot of a car.
Narelle Fraser discovered mother-of-two Maria Korp in the boot of a car
Fraser cradled Korp who she thought was deceased after being in car four days
She felt Korp breathe and immediately rushed her to hospital
Korp was placed in coma but passed away several months later
Rowland was diagnosed with lymphocytic cancer in January. Doctors told him he only had a pint of blood left in his body. After trips to four different hospitals and two stints in rehab, Rowland was finally healthy enough to get on the plane.
It was a special day for a Vietnam War veteran in Vancouver, Washington. Simon Rowland, 66, has always wanted to fly in an old P-Model Cessna plane. And this weekend, he got his wish.
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| Veteran Simon Rowland peering out the window of the Cessna plane as it flies across parts of southwest Washington. Molly Solomon/OPB |
They grappled again, mostly in silence, with the question that has no answer -- why am I here when so many aren't? Libraries can be filled with books on the subject, going back to Homer.
The 6/67 Memorial at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia commemorates The Basic School's sixth graduating class, which suffered more than 250 casualties, including 43 officers killed in Vietnam. (US Marine Corps photo)In the fall of 1967, The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia, finished training 498 twenty-something Marine second lieutenants. By the end of the year, nearly all were in Vietnam.
