Why are the troops in Iraq cracking? Why wouldn't they be?

[pnwmom]

We're not only sending them into a hell-hole, but we're sending into battle soldiers with preexisting mental illnesses AND sending troops with post-traumatic stress back into battle with a handful of drugs.
Mentally ill soldiers are being drugged and sent back into battle.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0605150178may15,1,1261239.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

SNIP

"The newspaper obtained records under the federal Freedom of Information Act, including never-before-released pre-deployment screening data for thousands of troops and investigative reports into dozens of service members' deaths. It interviewed more than 100 mental health experts, service members, family members and friends. While the military does not publicly identify suicide cases, The Courant was able to identify--in most cases for the first time--the service members who killed themselves in Iraq.

"The Army's top mental health expert, Col. Elspeth Ritchie, acknowledged that some deployment practices, such as sending service members diagnosed with PTSD back into combat, have been driven in part by a troop shortage.

"The challenge for us ... is that the Army has a mission to fight. And, as you know, recruiting has been a challenge," she said. "And so we have to weigh the needs of the Army, the needs of the mission, with the soldiers' personal needs."

". . . Under the military's pre-deployment screening process, troops with serious mental disorders are not being identified--and others whose mental illnesses are known are being deployed anyway.

SNIP

And from the Hartford Courant, which we should thank for the original 4 part article on this topic:

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-sicktroops.artmay21,0,5592779.story

"Causes of suicide are complicated. But sending service members with psychological problems into combat is a risk not just to them, but to others as well. It raises ethical questions, such as whether someone with impaired judgment should be armed.

SNIP

Given that a 2004 Army study showed that 9.3 percent of U.S. troops have serious psychological disorders, it is clear they aren't all getting proper help.

The Courant found that at least 11 troops who committed suicide in 2004 and 2005 were kept on duty despite signs of distress, including suicidal ideation, and that in most of those cases their superiors were aware of the problems.

Army Spec. Edward W. Brabazon of Pennsylvania is just one example of a soldier who should have been flagged as unsuited for combat. He had a troubled youth and spent much of his life being treated and sometimes hospitalized for bipolar disorder and attention deficit problems. He took lithium and Zyprexa, an anti-psychotic medication. Yet he was able to go straight from a group home to the recruiting office. Three months into his second deployment to the Mideast, after threatening suicide, the 20-year-old fatally shot himself in the head. "

SNIP

ALMOST ONE IN TEN TROOPS HAS A SERIOUS MENTAL ILLNESS! PEOPLE WITH MENTAL HISTORIES ARE BEING RECRUITED FROM GROUP HOMES AND SENT INTO COMBAT! And yet WE are blaming THEM?

[hobbit709]

1. driven in part by a troop shortage

Bull!!! It's driven mainly by a troop shortage. Why else would they do this.

[cornermouse]

2. They're treating people like machines.

That's how far nuts they are.

[Canuckistanian]

3. Rumsfeld probably slaps them with a leather glove

And tells them to get back into the battle.

Geez, can you imagine all the psychologically damaged soldiers that are going to come flooding back one this "war" is over?

They'll make Vietnam vets seem like the Dalai Lama.

[Redstone]

4. Cracking is fine, and understandable. Murdering civilians is not.

Especially children. That's so far beyond the pale that I can't even think of words to describe far out of the bounds of humanity it is.

Redstone

[pnwmom]

6. Murdering anyone isn't acceptable. But do we place the blame on

soldiers who may have been recruited or retained despite serious psychological illnesses, or on the people who sent them there?

[Redstone]

10. If they're REALLY suffering a mental illness, no. But if they don't have

a diagnosed condition, "cracking under the stress" is NO excuse.

I've seen plenty of stress, and I've never killed children because of it. And yes, I AM talking about THAT kind of stress.

You get goddamned angry when one of your own gets killed. But that's NO excuse for killing children.

You know what? The people who try to excuse this because of "combat stress" (and I do NOT mean you, personally, when I say this) are exactly like the fucking idiots who advocated "just nuking all the fucking Arabs" after September 11.

It's the same revolting mindset.

We're Americans. We'resupposed to be the good guys. Not act like a bunch of Rwandan or Somali butchers.

Redstone

[pnwmom]

12. I agree. But the article says that almost one in ten have diagnosed

conditions before they're even sent there. When they're taking people with bipolar disorder out of group homes and shipping them off to Iraq . . . what can they expect?

[Redstone]

13. But one in ten says the other nine should be able to stop him,

doesn't it?

Redstone

[Xenotime]

11. One leads to the other...

They are being used as drones or tools. Discarded when broken or no longer useful.

[DBoon]

5. It isn't one-in-ten that are doing this

It is more than stressed-out and mentally pushed troops.

There are orders from above authorizing these atrocities.

The troops are following orders.

Not an excuse - but does indicate blame belongs at higher ups

[pnwmom]

7. Read the articles. I'm not talking about stress. I'm talking about serious

mental illnesses. Most of these people should never have been sent into battle in the first place. From the Hartford Courant":

"Causes of suicide are complicated. But sending service members with psychological problems into combat is a risk not just to them, but to others as well. It raises ethical questions, such as whether someone with impaired judgment should be armed."

[DBoon]

9. You are right this is a problem

but it takes more than this to create the sort of massacres we are hearing about.

[Redstone]

14. I read every word of the Courant articles. Although it was wonderful to

see a newspaper remembering what a newspaper is supposed to do, and I saluted them for that series of articles, I wept.

Which tells you that the Courant did a great job.

Redstone

[izzie]

8. My thoughts that it is just the culture.

It filters down from the top and anything goes with these private armies so that also filters out into the real army. Plus they are not fighting a standing army but it is really a guerrilla war. Also they are not getting any place. They clean up a place on Monday and redo it on Friday. We spent one day on Utah Beach and moved and kept the ground. The back ups came in as the front line men moved inland. By the time we got to Germany the western armies were all over and running things. We just send in people and the next day they have to redo it all and they do not know who they are fighting.