This seems to be buried in the news. This report was released on a Friday, during primary elections season...maybe someone does not want to some information to get around. Information like the fact that length of deployment and separation from family may be a signficant factor in the deterioration of someone's mental health. Mental probelms lead to increased anger and 10 pecent of all surveyed admitted to mistreating a civilian or civilian property. Just a thought, maybe someone should be looking at the mental and physical health of our military men before we have a 'lost generation' on our hands.
Read for yourself here.
4 comments:
"Good NCO (Non Commissioned Officer) Leadership was the key to sustaining Soldier and Marine mental health and well being"
Leadership is key. Regardless if it is the soldier or Marines immediate Staff Sergeant or if it is their congressman, their leader will set the tone for how they conduct themselves. If their congressman is badmouthing them and claiming that the war is lost, that will have a negative effect on the soldier's performance.
The new deployment extensions do not help. Active duty strength needs to be enhanced.
After WW2 the rates of PTSD and other mental harms skyrocketed among service members. Once we hit Vietnam they peaked. Not being backed by the populus is a big factor. Another thing would probably be many people just aren't that religious anymore and that was something that was key for WW2 veterans.
I have a disseration by a Soldier which includes different units - their different PTSD rates - utilizing the current wars. If anyone wants to see it leave an e-mail addy here.
Robert, send them my way please.
jlat2@uic.edu
To add to that: when servicemen came back after WW2, and wars before that, they recieved a hero's welcome because the a majority of the country either supported or was somehow invovled in the war. When troops came back from Vietnam, they found themselves in a whole different environment. Support for their war was minimal, and being a soldier was often seen as being a merciless killer, rather than a defender of freedom like in wars past.
Today, the war in Iraq is obviously unfavored, as every poll had shown. Returning soldiers may feel like they aren't wanted back in the US, because most of the population doesn't agree with what they are doing over there.
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