Pentagon, Big Pharma: Drug Troops to Numb Them to Horrors of War

[donsu]

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/72956/


The DoD is flirting with the idea of medicating soldiers to desensitize them to combat trauma -- will an army of unfeeling monsters result?
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In June, the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health acknowledged "daunting and growing" psychological problems among our troops: Nearly 40 percent of soldiers, a third of Marines and half of National Guard members are presenting with serious mental health issues. They also reported "fundamental weaknesses" in the U.S. military's approach to psychological health. That report was followed in August by the Army Suicide Event Report (ASER), which reported that 2006 saw the highest rate of military suicides in 26 years. And last month, CBS News reported that, based on its own extensive research, over 6,250 American veterans took their own lives in 2005 alone -- that works out to a little more than 17 suicides every day.

-snip-

But I find myself extremely anxious in the face of some of these new suggestions, specifically what is being called the Psychological Kevlar Act of 2007 and use of the drug propranalol to treat the symptoms of posttraumatic stress injuries. Though both, at least in theory, sound entirely reasonable, even desirable, in the wrong hands, under the wrong leadership, they could make the sci-fi fantasies of Blade Runner seem prescient.

The Psychological Kevlar Act "directs the secretary of defense to develop and implement a plan to incorporate preventive and early-intervention measures, practices or procedures that reduce the likelihood that personnel in combat will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other stress-related psychopathologies, including substance use conditions. (Kevlar, a DuPont fiber, is an essential component of U.S. military helmets and bullet-proof vests advertised to be "five times stronger than steel.") The stated purpose of this legislation is to make American soldiers less vulnerable to the combat stressors that so often result in psychic injuries.
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the sub conscious still knows - pills or no pills

[tom_paine]

1. Drugs are bad...except when the Bushies and Big Pharma are making big $$$$

from them.

[acmavm]

2. Back to the days of the 'asassins'?

[lyonn]

3. Could the bottom line be that the troops are confused

about what and why they are in Iraq, fighting, killing and being killed? Truly don't have a clue as to the answer as troops are trained to accept their orders. Someone needs to explain to all of us what we are "now" doing in Iraq. One day they tell us it is so much better for the troops and Iraqis, then they start dropping 40,000 lbs of bombs on suspected enemies - it sounds like BS to me - no plan to do anything but wait until a new administration takes over. It's like a President's dog craps on the floor and waits for someone else to clean it up, hell, not his responsibility..........

Drugs, that's the answer.

[niyad]

4. k & r for this most important topic

I found this section more horrifying, if that is possible, than the rest:

And it's not just the inherent conscientious objector our military finds inconvenient: current U.S. military training also includes a component to desensitize male soldiers to the sounds of women being raped, so the enemy cannot use the cries of their fellow soldiers to leverage information. I think it not unreasonable to connect such desensitization techniques to the rates of domestic violence in the military, which are, according to the DoD, five times those in the civilian population. Is anyone really surprised that men who have been specifically trained to ignore the pain and fear of women have a difficult time coming home to their wives and families? And clearly they do. There were 2,374 reported cases of sexual assault in the military in 2005, a 40 percent increase over 2004. But that figure represents only reported cases, and, as Air Force Brig. Gen. K.C. McClain, commander of DoD's Joint Task Force for Sexual Assault Prevention and Response pointed out, "Studies indicate that only 5 percent of sexual assaults are reported."

so, we, as women, and the men who do care about them, are PAYING to have men trained "desensitize them to the sounds of rape" , and, by extension, desensitize them to the committing of those rapes.

we MUST find a way to end this insanity now--sadly, a friend and I were just talking about what it was like after vietnam, and what it is like, and going to be like, now, as all these people come back into our society. I despair for all of us.

[lovuian]

5. They don't get it we are spiritual beings and War is against

our nature... continuous war will make the psyche sick

thats the reality and drugs will only make them doped up but no better

Our Army is sick fatigued its because of the War

US have been occupiers and oppressors in Vietnam and it caused severe illness there and now Iraq war is proving it also

I'm not surprised at all