After decade of war, focus on combat stress has heightened

As many as one in five veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars grapple with PTSD, according to the National Center for PTSD, which is run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. A 2008 Rand Corp. study put the number of such veterans who have developed PTSD or depression as high as 300,000.
More than 45,000 U.S. service members have been wounded or killed in those two wars, according to Pentagon data. The emotional toll of those losses will continue for years to come.
“It’s been our longest war ever, and so many of them are willing to go back time and time again, because they don’t want to let their buddies down. So they don’t always get a break,” Pratt said.
Some troops, she said, “they go away, they come back, they have PTSD and they deploy again before they fully recover. It just snowballs.”

By Gretel C. Kovach

Method to erase traumatic memories may be on the horizon

A commercial drug remains far off — and its use would be subject to many ethical and practical questions. But scientists have laid a foundation with their discovery that proteins can be removed from the brain's fear center to erase memories forever.

"When a traumatic event occurs, it creates a fearful memory that can last a lifetime and have a debilitating effect on a person's life," says Richard L. Huganir, professor and chair of neuroscience in the Hopkins School of Medicine. He said his finding on the molecular process "raises the possibility of manipulating those mechanisms with drugs to enhance behavioral therapy for such conditions as post-traumatic stress disorder."

By Meredith Cohn, The Baltimore Sun

Program Easing Medical Separation Rolls Out Forcewide

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2010 – A pilot program that eases medical separation and speeds benefit payments for servicemembers too wounded, sick or injured to stay in the military will soon roll out to the entire force.
“We are proud that the disability evaluation system is making progress,” a senior defense official said this week. “Our people are committed to not only expanding this faster disability system, but we are just as committed to making it even faster and fairer for our transitioning service men and women - our work here is not done.”
John R. Campbell, defense deputy undersecretary for wounded warrior care and transition policy, said the Integrated Disability Evaluation System is a joint effort between the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments...

By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service

Army hopes resilience training helps soldiers' spouses cope with deployment

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — Army wives in Germany are receiving the same training their husbands get to cope with traumatic combat experiences.
The 172nd Infantry Brigade, which is the test bed for the Army’s new “Comprehensive Soldier Fitness” program, aims to train all of its soldiers and spouses in the so-called resilience techniques before the unit’s next combat mission, according to brigade commander Col. Frank Zachar, who studied resilience at the University of Pennsylvania earlier this year.
According to the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness director Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum, resilience training will help people negotiate challenges such as combat experiences, post combat stress reactions, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, suicide, divorce and behavioral or relationship problems...

By Seth Robson

Stars and Stripes

Children of Deployed More Likely to Seek Mental Health Care

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2010 – Young children from military families are more likely to seek mental and behavioral health care when a parent is deployed than when a parent is at home, a military study has concluded.
Findings also show that children of married couples -- with the father as the servicemember -- are more likely to seek care than children with a married military mother or with a single servicemember parent, said lead researcher Navy Cmdr. (Dr.) Gregory H. Gorman, a staff pediatrician with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
The study, which included more than a half million children from active-duty families, will be published in the December issue of the journal “Pediatrics” and was posted on the journal’s website Nov. 8...

...The findings substantiate what the military community has anecdotally known for a long time: deployments affect children. However, Gorman said, “It’s the first time … we’ve quantified how it really affects children and how it affects the military community as a whole.”

Elaine Wilson

Resources Abound for Service Members and Families Dealing with PTSD

A new cable television documentary, which premiered on Veterans Day, chronicles the present day and historical struggles warfighters have had with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As the general public reacts to the documentary, military officials continue to work to prevent and treat psychological health issues among service members.


“Wartorn: 1861-2010,” was a thought-provoking and, at times, brutal look at how PTSD has manifested itself, and the nation has come to recognize it over the course of American history. The film recounts stories from the Civil War when the condition was referred to as hysteria, melancholia and insanity; World War I when it was called shell-shock; World War II when it was known as combat fatigue; and then today, when it is currently known as PTSD...

Christina Crimmins.

Real Warriors’ Campaign Works to Save Lives

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12, 2010 – Members of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury “Real Warriors” campaign are working to deliver the message that resources and tools are available for veterans seeking treatment for invisible wounds of war.
“My mission through the Real Warriors campaign is to let our noncommissioned officers, enlisted personnel and our officers know that we can't leave anyone behind in the field of battle,” retired Army Maj. Ed Pulido said during a Nov. 9 “DOD Live” bloggers roundtable.
Centers of Excellence officials launched the Real Warriors campaign to promote building resilience, facilitating recovery and supporting reintegration of returning servicemembers, veterans and their families. The program also works to combat the stigma associated with seeking psychological health care and treatment...

By Christen N. McCluney
Emerging Media, Defense Media Activity

A SOLDIER'S HEART': DAY THREE OF A PG SPECIAL SERIES

In his mind's eye, Mike Cranmer is a young boy, romping amid the rural lushness of a Greene County farm, his family's rustic getaway from suburban Pittsburgh. He's safe among the trees, the rolling hills, the foliage. A calmness envelops him

He opens his eyes, the memory ends. If that was heaven, this is hell. The Brentwood resident is outside Fallujah, Iraq, a Marine lance corporal preparing in the early morning darkness of Sunday, Dec. 12, 2004, to look for insurgents and weapons in the city's homes. What awaits him on that mission will forever alter his life.

He turned 22 just three days earlier but feels older. The dangers have increased exponentially on this, his second tour of the war. On the first, when the statues of Saddam Hussein were torn down, he felt like a liberator. He was safe, going out at night to the markets amid friendly Iraqis, buying chickens roasted on open-air spits...

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10313/1101717-455.stm#ixzz15NppuJpa

"We Remember"

Now, on this day, we honor every man and woman who has ever worn the uniform of the United States of America.  We salute fallen heroes, and keep in our prayers those who are still in harm’s way -– like the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.  (Hoaa!)

Barack Obama

Happy Veterans Day to all Veterans, Active Duty, Reservist and Family...!!!

The Traumas of War

Below is a letter I received from military psychiatrist, Dr. Russell Carr, describing the terrible toll the traumas of war have been taking on service members serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families...

Caring for the invisible wounds that warriors bring home

...Today, through counseling and drug therapy, Derrick has more good days than bad. Yet problems persist.

He doesn't like being around people but misses companionship in the isolation of the farm, which he rarely leaves. He wants to be left alone but gets lonely. His 23rd birthday passed on Sept. 28 without celebration.

He tries to keep busy at the farm with the herd of Hereford cattle and hay fields to tend to, fences to fix. The busier he is, the less the images of war invade his mind.

He can't go into a house -- even his own -- without checking every room. If he goes to a restaurant, he has to sit in a booth with his back to the wall so he can see who's coming at him. Sometimes, when driving, his heart beats out of his chest if he spots a trash bag or other litter along the road that he thinks could be an IED. There are nightmares and flashbacks...

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10311/1100779-455.stm#ixzz14okRjbfh

It Is The Soldier

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech...

Charles Michael Province

AFN to air HBO documentary on PTSD

WASHINGTON - HBO's new documentary about the psychological toll of combat will be aired on AFN this Veterans Day, the same day it premieres in the States.

"Wartorn: 1812-2010" looks at post-traumatic stress disorder through all its incarnations throughout our history: hysteria, melancholia, shell shock, combat fatigue, and now, PTSD. The film shows vignettes about servicemembers from the Civil War through the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Researcher explores cognitive behavioral therapy on active-duty military personnel

Insomnia can be a cruel cycle, especially for combat veterans.

Many soldiers return from war with psychological health problems that cause insomnia, which in turn exacerbates those root causes. Others return mentally healthy but can't again normalize their sleep patterns after months of little or interrupted rest.

Military Family Month

"We owe each day of security and freedom that we enjoy to the members of our Armed Forces and their families. Behind our brave service men and women, there are family members and loved ones who share in their sacrifice and provide unending support. During Military Family Month, we celebrate the exceptional contributions of our military families, and we reaffirm our commitments to these selfless individuals who exemplify the highest principles of our Nation..." Barack Obama.