The Hidden Enemy

This is a very well done documentary about the use of psychotropic drugs in the military with historical context. 

http://www.cchr.org/videos/the-hidden-enemy.html

From the website:

THE HIDDEN ENEMY DOCUMENTARY
EXPOSES THE COVERT OPERATION
BEHIND MILITARY SUICIDES 
 

In early 2013, the official website of the United States Department of Defense announced the startling statistic that the number of military suicides in 2012 had far exceeded the total of those killed in battle—an average of nearly one a day. A month later came an even more sobering statistic from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: veteran suicide was running at 22 a day—about 8000 a year.

The situation became so dire that the U.S. Secretary of Defense called suicide in the military an “epidemic.”

Some have claimed that this spate of self-harm is because of the stresses of war. But the facts reveal that 85% of military suicides have not seen combat—and 52% never even deployed.

So what unsuspected factor is causing military suicide rates to soar?

According to the new documentary The Hidden Enemy: Inside Psychiatry’s Covert Agenda, all evidence points in one direction: the soaring rates of psychiatric drug prescribing since 2003. Known medication side effects of these drugs such as increased aggression and suicidal thinking are reflected in similar uptrends in the rates of military domestic violence, child abuse and sex crimes, as well as self-harm.

Pull the string further and you’ll find psychiatrists ever widening the definitions of what it means to be “mentally ill,” especially when it comes to post traumatic stress disorder in soldiers—and PTSD in veterans. And in psychiatry, diagnoses of psychological disorders such as PTSD, personality disorder and social anxiety disorder are almost inevitably followed by the prescription of at least one psychiatric drug.

Exclusive:Recording Shows that Army Punished Soldiers Who Asked for Help

After three combat tours, Sgt. Dennis Tackett was kicked out of the Army for punching a man in the face while drunk. It didn’t matter that he had been diagnosed with PTSD (by the Army) and had tried to get help (from the Army) for the drinking it led to. It didn’t matter that he was in the late stages of a medical discharge that would get him out soon anyway — with benefits. What mattered to the commanding general at Fort Carson, Colo., who spoke to him that day in November 2012 was that he had tried to fight the discharge with the help of a pair of civilian watchdogs, Georg-Andreas Pogany and Robert Alvarez.


“If you had not gotten involved with those advocates, it would have gone differently,” Tackett remembers the commander, Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson, telling him. Anderson is now commander of Fort Bragg, N.C.


A recording obtained by Al Jazeera America suggests Tackett and soldiers like him were retaliated against because of an increasingly rancorous relationship between commanders at Fort Carson and the civilian advocates.


Read the entire story here.

Death Memorial

Cpl. Andrew White, USMC

Our youngest son, Cpl. Andrew White, USMC, was home from Iraq five days when his older brother, SSgt. Robert F. White, 82nd ABN US ARMY, was killed in action in Afghanistan on September 26, 2006.


On 12 February 2008, Andrew died while being treated by the VA for PTSD.  He was taking 60 mg. Paxil, 4 mg. of Klonopin, and 1600 mg. of Seroquel.  He died in his sleep.


Since then, his mother and I have been on a mission to find answers so that no other family will suffer these losses while their loved ones are being treated for PTSD.


With the help of several new friends, we have found that at least 57 others have died in similar circumstances — some from these same meds, while other deaths are still under investigation.
If you know of any families that have lost loved ones while taking these meds, please contact us through this website.  We have been to Congress with our story and the stories of at least eight other families (five in West Virginia).  Our goal is threefold:

1. Collect the stories of other soldiers who have died from meds while being treated for PTSD.
2. Lobby Congress to force the DOD and VA to use less medication and more counseling for PTSD, and
3. Lobby for an in-depth investigation into why the VA and DOD continues to prescribe the lethal mix of antidepressants, antipsychotics and pain killing drugs.

Stan and Shirley White, Cross Lanes WV
To contact the Whites, email us and we’ll forward your message.

A Navy Seal's Tragic Secret

PTSD and Suicide
VIDEO

Death Memorial

Statement of Stefanie E. Pelkey
before the Committee on Veterans Affairs
House of Representatives
27 July 2005

My name is Stefanie Pelkey and I am a former Captain in the U.S. Army. This testimony is on behalf of my husband, CPT Michael Jon Pelkey, who died on November 5, 2004. Although he was a brave veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, he did not die in battle, at least not in Iraq. He died in a battle of his heart and mind. He passed away in our home at Fort Sill, Oklahoma from a gunshot wound to the chest. My Michael was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) only one week before his death by a licensed therapist authorized by Tricare.

The official ruling by the Department of Defense is suicide, however, many people, including myself; believe it was a horrible accident. We also believe that he would not have been sleeping with a loaded pistol if it weren’t for the PTSD.

When I met my husband, we were both officers in a Field Artillery unit in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. Michael was working as the assistant Operations Officer for the unit. He was responsible and hard-working. He loved life, traveling, and having fun. He hailed from Wolcott, Connecticut and was one of six siblings. He received his commission from the University of Connecticut. Being a soldier was a childhood dream.

We were married in November 2001 and our journey as a military family began. Michael deployed for Iraq with the 1st Armored Division in March 2003, three weeks after our son, Benjamin, was born. He left a happy and proud father. He returned in late July of 2003. It seemed upon his return that our family was complete and we had made it through our first real world deployment. Aside from his lack of appetite and a brief adjustment period, he seemed so happy to be home.
He noted several concerns on his DD Form 2796, post-deployment health assessment, to include diarrhea, frequent indigestion, ringing in the ears, feeling tired after sleeping, headaches, and strange rashes. He also noted on this form that he had felt that he was in great danger of being killed while in Iraq and he witnessed the killings or dead coalition and civilians during this time. However, the most worrisome notation on this form was the admission of feeling down, depressed, and sometimes hopeless. He also noted that he was constantly on guard, and easily startled after returning from his deployment.

A few days after returning to Germany, he reported to his primary care physician on July 28, 2003, as a part of a post-deployment health assessment. He expressed concerns to his primary care physician that he was worried about having serious conflicts with his spouse and close friends. The physician referred him to see a counselor, however, the mental health staff on our post was severely understaffed with only one or two psychiatrists. Michael was unable to get an appointment before we moved from our post in Germany to Fort Sill, Oklahoma only five days later.

There was no time for therapy and doctors’ visits, as we were packing our home and taking care of our then six-month-old son. When we got to Fort Sill, we both settled into our assignments. Everything seemed normal for a while. Michael was in the Officers Advanced Course for Field Artillery and I was a Chemical Officer for a Brigade. We settled into our home and about six months later, the symptoms of PTSD started to surface, only, we did not know enough about PTSD to connect the dots.

When my husband returned from Iraq, there were no debriefings for family members, service members, or forced evaluations from Army Mental Health in Germany. As a soldier and wife, I never received any preparation on what to expect upon my husband’s return. If only the military community had reached out to family members in some manner to prepare them for and make them aware of the symptoms of PTSD, my family’s tragedy could have been averted. I believe that it is crucial that spouses be informed about the symptoms and make a point in telling them that PTSD can happen long after what psychiatrists call an adjustment period. Spouses are sometimes the only ones who will encourage a soldier to seek help. Most soldiers I know will not willingly seek help at any military mental facility for fear of repercussions from commanders and even jibes from fellow soldiers. My husband worked around many high ranking officers and was most likely embarrassed about seeking help. What would they think of an officer having nightmares, being forgetful, and having to take anti-depressants?

Months after arriving in Oklahoma, there were several instances in which I found a fully loaded 9mm pistol under Michael’s pillow or under his side of the bed. I would yell at him and tell him that the baby could find it and get hurt. Then I would find it under the mattress or in his nightstand. I could not seem to get through to him that having this weapon was not necessary and it posed a danger. These episodes alone started to cause marital tension. Finally, after about two months of haggling over the issue of this weapon, Michael finally agreed to put his pistols away. I thought the situation was resolved. As a soldier myself, I could understand that having a weapon after being in a war might be somewhat habitual for him. Little by little, other symptoms started to arise, including forgetfulness. Michael would not even remember to mail a bill or pick-up his own prescriptions. This became a great problem for him. How could a Captain in the US Army forget to mail bills and miss appointments? He was not like this before his deployment. One of the greatest tests PTSD posed to our marriage was that Michael began to suffer from erectile dysfunction, which would cause him to break into tears. He did not understand what was happening. I did not know what was happening.
On other occasions, he would over-react to simple things. One night, we heard something in the garage around 8 pm. It was still fairly light outside and it could have simply been a child or an animal. We lived in a small town with very little crime. Michael proceeded to run outside with a fully loaded weapon and almost fired at a neighbor’s cat. These over-reactions occurred on several occasions.

The symptoms would come and go to a point that they didn’t seem like a problem at the time. We would later laugh about them and make jokes about the little scares we had. He would always make excuses and tell me that we needed to be careful, so I let it go. There were times that everything seemed just right in our home and he seemed capable enough. He was succeeding in his career as the only Captain in a research and development unit at Fort Sill. It was a job in which he was entrusted with researching and contributing to the Army’s latest in targeting developments.

We soon bought a new house and he was so proud of it. We were finally getting settled. Then the high-blood pressure and severe chest pains surfaced along with erectile dysfunction. Finally, the nightmares began. This would be the last symptom of PTSD to arise and it was the one symptom that I feel ultimately contributed to my husband’s death. These nightmares were so disturbing that Michael would sometimes kick me in his sleep or wake up running to turn on the lights. He would wake up covered in sweat and I would hold him until he went back to sleep. He was almost child-like in these moments. In the morning, he would joke around and tell me the boogie man was going to get him and sadly, we both laughed it off.

However, at this time, I do want to point out that Michael was seeking help for all of the symptoms I have discussed. He was put on high blood pressure medication. He also complained of chest pains and was seen on three occasions in the month preceding his death. He even sought a prescription for Viagra to ease marital tensions. However, no military physician Michael ever saw could give him any answers. No doctor ever asked him about depression or linked his symptoms to the war.

Michael tried to seek help from the Fort Sill Mental Health facility but, was discouraged that the appointments he was given were sometimes a month away. So, he called Tricare and was told that he could receive outside therapy, if it was “Family Therapy” so, we took it. Family therapy, marital counseling, or whatever they wanted to call it, we were desperate to save our marriage. After all, the symptoms of PTSD were causing most of our heartaches. In the two weeks prior to his death, we saw a therapist authorized by Tricare as a couple and individually. This therapist told Michael that he had PTSD and that she would recommend to his primary care physician that he be put on medication. She also told him that she had a method of treating PTSD and she felt she could help him because he was open to receiving help. He was so excited and finally expressed to me that he could see a light at the end of the tunnel. He finally had an answer to all of his problems and some of our marital troubles. It was an exciting day for us. Not to mention, two weeks before his death, he interviewed for a position in which he would be running the staff of a General Officer. He was so proud that he was given the job after speaking with the General for only fifteen minutes. He was beaming with pride and so excited about his new job. Things were looking up for him.

He met with the therapist on a Monday. Tuesday, we celebrated our third wedding anniversary. It was a happy time. I felt hope and relief with the recent positive events. Michael must have felt something else. Friday my parents were visiting. I was at a church function and my father returned from playing golf to find Michael. He looked as if he were sleeping peacefully, except for the wet spot on his chest. His pain was finally over and his battle with PTSD was won. No, he wasn’t in Iraq but, in his mind he was there day in and day out. Although Michael would never discuss the details of his experiences in Iraq, I know he saw casualties, children suffering, dead civilians, and soldiers perish. For my soft-hearted Michael, that was enough. Every man’s heart is different. For my Michael it may not have taken much, but, it changed his heart and mind forever.

There were no indications of suicide but, plenty of signs to indicate PTSD. He suffered greatly from the classic symptoms of PTSD. It’s plain to see in retrospect. His weapon became a great source of comfort for him. He endured sleepless nights due to nightmares and images of suffering that only Michael knew.

My husband served the Army and his country with honor. He was a hard worker, wonderful husband and father. He leaves behind a 28-month-old son, Benjamin. One day I would like to tell my son what a hero his father was. He went to war and came back with an illness. Although PTSD is evident in his medical records and in my experiences with Michael, the Army has chosen to rule Michael’s death a suicide without documenting this serious illness. I have been told by the investigator that any PTSD diagnosis must be documented by an Army Mental Health Psychiatrist to be considered valid. At the time Michael sought help, he knew it was an urgent matter and was not willing to wait a month or even a few days. He knew it was time. Michael sought the help Tricare offered us and took it. Due to the fact that we were in family therapy and the fact that it was coded as family therapy, Michael is not going to get the credit he deserves. He is a casualty of war. I have heard this spoken from the mouth’s of two Generals. He came home from war with an injured mind and to let him become just a “suicide” is an injustice to someone who served their country so bravely. He loved being a soldier and he put his heart into it. I will be submitting petitions to have the PTSD officially documented and to have my husband put on the Official Operation Iraqi Freedom Casualty of War list. There are many soldiers who have committed suicide due to PTSD in Iraq and received full honors and benefits. Army Master Sergeant James C. Coons of Katy, Texas committed suicide and was found dead in his room at a hotel for outpatients being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical. Although Coons died outside a combat zone, his family’s petition to have him counted as a casualty of combat was approved. Michael deserves the same honors.

There are so many soldiers suffering from this disorder and so many families suffering the aftermath. I don’t want my Michael to have died in vain. He had a purpose in this life and that was to watch over his soldiers. I intend to keep helping him do so by spreading our story.
My husband died of wounds sustained in battle. That is the bottom line. The war does not end when they come home.

Stefanie Pelkey

Army to study use of 'off label' drugs to treat PTSD

SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — The Army will conduct a multi-year study to evaluate a “range of pharmaceuticals” often prescribed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder but not approved specifically for that purpose, according to a bulletin released this week by the American Psychiatric Association.

To date, only the antidepressants Paxil and Zoloft have gained U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to treat PTSD, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. However, doctors have been prescribing other antidepressant drugs, as well as antipsychotics and even painkillers, depending on a patient’s symptoms.

Army doctors said a lack of evidence-based guidelines regarding such so-called “off-label” medications is the driving force for the study

Read the entire story here.

Military Matters Podcast: Polypharmacy with Dr. Fred Baughman

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Are our military members being given psychiatric drug cocktails to treat PTSD and TBIs?  Neurologist, Dr. Fred Baughman discusses this topic in this week's podcast.

Marine Veteran Writes on “The Fog of Drugs.’

From Anonymous

Dr. Baughman, I read the piece that you wrote about SSgt Bales (attached) and it prompted me to seek you out for further information. I am a program manager at __________ Community Services ___________, I manage a __________housing program for homeless veterans, many of which are prescribed these psychiatric drug cocktails. This issue strikes close to home for many reasons but mainly because I have seen first hand the negative impact these cocktails have on our veterans. It seems to put them in a fog rendering them to act or exist in a manner where they are unaware of the negative effects (slurring of speech, drowsy look, slow processing etc) that the cocktails are having on them.

We at _________-are making efforts toward spreading education and awareness of the negative effects as well as the alternative treatments that are available for veterans to assist them in dealing with the many afflictions they face. We see too many veterans go by the wayside due to being stuck in this ‘fog of drugs’. They are dependent and on the rare occasion admittedly addicted to the painkillers and pych-drugs feeling lost or hopeless without them.

We are also seeking alternatives for the treatment of PTSD and many other mental health diagnosis through such things as: pet therapy, music, art, recreation etc…to supplement the traditional treatments of talk therapy, drugs, EMDR etc.

We hope to either start the movement or join a movement which encourages and fosters alternatives to the very thing of which you wrote about---the Military Pharmaceutical Complex.

I am sure you are a busy man however I’d like to request a meeting with you to discuss a strategy about how best to go about this. We are well connected within the __________ Veteran’s community and would love to if nothing else put this topic on the table for discussion with our community leaders and advisors. Ideally, we would love to have you come and speak to our veterans but any help you would be willing to give is welcome and needed.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Respectfully,

__________,

USMC Veteran

Marine’s suicide is only start of family’s struggle

For most of his 26 years in the military, Maj. Jeff Hackett was a standout Marine. Two tours in Iraq destroyed him.

Home from combat, he drank too much, suffered public breakdowns and was hospitalized for panic attacks. In June 2010, he killed himself.

Hackett’s suicide deeply troubled Gen. James Amos, the commandant of the Marine Corps. Hackett had been plucked from the enlisted ranks to lead Marines as an officer. He left behind a widow, four sons and more than $460,000 in debts. To Amos, Hackett was a casualty of war — surely the family deserved some compensation from the federal government.

Read the entire story here.

Linked by trauma, officer seeks recognition for soldier he never knew

WASHINGTON — Spc. Jacob Andrews and Maj. Andrew DeKever served in the same brigade in Afghanistan in 2009. Separated by rank, role and age, they never met, but both men returned from war with psychological wounds.

One sought help and recovered. The other was abandoned by the Army and hanged himself.

Read the entire story here.

Private Needham's War

48 Hours Mystery:
Video and written story here.

Death by Polypharmacy

This is a link to a discussion with Stan White on the topic of polypharmacy used as a "treatment" for PTSD.

Here is a link to an article discussing the same issue.

War Torn

The Life and Lonely Death of Noah Pierce

The last days of Private Scheuerman

Trailer for War Torn

Soldier Suicides And The Dumbing Down Of Military Mental Health Care

by Scott Mendelson, M.D.

Another sad story in the press. There have been four more suicides at Fort Hood, Texas. Military suicide numbers keep climbing. The rates of depression, PTSD and suicide are reaching startling proportions among soldiers and veterans. New programs begun by the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration are said to be designed to expand mental health care, and to make it more effective, palatable, and accessible to soldiers and veterans. They don't. As a psychiatrist employed by the VA who sees these broken soldiers on a daily basis, I find it infuriating and heartbreaking.

The new Mental Health programs, referred to by the Department of Defense as the acronym RESPECT-mil, and by the Veterans Administration as TIDES, are based on the Hamburger Helper model of health care. That is, if real care is too expensive, then dilute it with cheap care, fluff it up, advertise it well and make it look there is more there than there actually is. This brilliant new idea of the Veterans Administration and Department of Defense is intended to direct the psychiatric care of patients away from the people actually trained to provide this care, i.e., psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, and psychiatric nurse practitioners, and to place their care in the hands of less expensive people with weeks rather than years of training in mental health. This perspective includes the notion that mental health care is best provided away from stigma in the primary care setting, and that soldiers can be managed by primary care doctors helped by nurses with eight weekends of training to become what are called, "Champions."

To read the rest of the story, click here.
Source: The Huffington Post

Discharges for adjustment disorder soar

Source: Stars and Stripes
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Aug 14, 2010 12:34:17 EDT

Two years ago, under congressional pressure, the military changed its policy on separating troops dealing with combat stress for pre-existing personality disorders — an administrative discharge that left those veterans without medical care or other benefits.

Now, veterans advocates say, the personality-disorder discharges have been replaced with similar discharges for “adjustment disorder.” And once again, Congress seems poised to jump in.

Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond, R-Mo., plans to send a letter to President Obama asking that the military provide detailed data showing how many people have been discharged for adjustment disorders. In the meantime, Bond’s staff has been gathering more general data that shows discharges for “other designated physical or mental conditions not amounting to disability” — a broad category that includes adjustment disorder — have increased from 1,453 in 2006 to 3,844 last year, an increase of 165 percent.

Over the same time, discharges for personality disorder dropped from 1,072 in 2006 to 260 last year.

“We request your assistance to ensure that a new loophole has not been created that abuses the administrative discharge system by erroneously discharging members of the armed forces who are experiencing symptoms of PTSD and/or TBI, rather than providing them with compassionate medical care worthy of their service and sacrifice,” states a draft copy of Bond’s letter.

The letter asks that the military provide the number of adjustment disorder discharges, by rank, with deployment information.

Shana Marchio, Bond’s spokesperson, said the issue initially was brought to the senator’s attention by Steve Robinson, a former Army ranger who has been active in veterans issues and now works as a veterans advocate.

“We’re hoping to create another good, bipartisan coalition to address this issue,” Marchio said. “The good news is that the Pentagon has moved away from personality disorders, but we feel this could be another piece of the same problem.”

Marchio expects the letter to go out after Labor Day.

She said the biggest issue is that these troops don’t get the treatment they need for post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury.

According to the psychiatric manual used to diagnose mental health issues, the DSM-IV, adjustment disorder occurs when someone has difficulty dealing with a life event, such as a new job or a divorce, or after someone has been exposed to a traumatic event. The symptoms can be the same as for post-traumatic stress disorder: flashbacks, nightmares, sleeplessness, irritability, anger and avoidance.

According to military and Veterans Affairs Department policy, if those symptoms last longer than six months, the diagnosis should be changed to PTSD. With a PTSD diagnosis, a person may be medically retired with an honorable discharge, a disability rating of at least 50 percent, and medical care.

“This is a case of inappropriate discharges,” Robinson said. “There are no medical benefits for these guys, and there are hundreds of cases.”

Pentagon officials did not respond to requests for comment for this story, but Marchio said Army representatives talked to congressional staff members about the issue last week.

“While this was a positive step, our office didn’t hear the answers we needed to hear about the rise of the discharges and has asked for additional information,” she said. “The Army has since assured Senator Bond’s office that they will provide, no later than the day after Labor Day, our office the data needed to evaluate the rapid rise in the use of these discharges.”

‘Tools to self-destruct’
During his 2008 deployment to Iraq, Army Pfc. Michael Nahas, 22, said he lived through two roadside bomb explosions and one rocket-propelled grenade attack, and watched people die in another explosion in Mosul, where he served with the 4th Infantry Division.

Two months after he returned home to Fort Carson, Colo., he said he began feeling anxious and guilty about people who he believed had died needlessly.

He went to the post mental health clinic for help. Over the course of three weeks, he had three appointments — and a lot of medication, including 14 milligrams of Xanax a day, he said.

“I was drooling on myself,” he said. “I could barely function.”

His mother and veterans’ advocates verified his doses.

After enlisted supervisors in his chain of command found out he was going to behavioral health, Nahas said they made fun of him, including calling him “crazy” and telling him daily to kill himself so he’d no longer be a problem to the unit.

A division spokesman declined to address Nahas’s account in detail.

“The allegations made by Mr. Nahas were thoroughly investigated,” said Army Lt. Col. Steve Wollman. “Some of the allegations were unsubstantiated and some of them were substantiated. Appropriate corrective actions were made and the investigation is closed. Due to the nature of individual cases we do not talk specifics out of respect for the privacy of the soldier.”

Nahas said the stress and a subsequent reaction to his medication led him to attempt suicide in February by jabbing IV needles into his arms to bleed out.

“I tried to kill myself,” he said. “I was so out of it I was drawing pictures on the wall with my own blood.”

In a photo of the aftermath provided by his family, blood fills a bathtub and a red smiley face gazes down from the tile.

His wife found him curled up on the floor and called for help, and Nahas survived.

After his suicide attempt, he spent time in an inpatient clinic where he was diagnosed with PTSD, and then went back to his unit. But rather than beginning the medical evaluation and retirement process for PTSD, his battalion chain of command gave him an administrative discharge for adjustment disorder at the end of April, and sent him back to civilian life.

“I don’t understand it,” Nahas said. “I was told I had PTSD, and then I was told I didn’t. I always tried — I was a good soldier. I mean, they told me that.”

His mother, Mary Nahas, said her son is now being treated at a VA center, and will undergo testing for traumatic brain injury in August.

“They give them the tools to self destruct,” she said of the Army. “He’s broken. He joined to become something.”

Retired Army Lt. Col. Mike Parker, a veterans’ advocate who specializes in the military disability process, said he has seen several cases of PTSD being called “adjustment disorder” or “chronic adjustment disorder.”

“The problem is when you see people having adjustment disorders because they’re adjusting after combat,” Parker said. “That should be called PTSD.”

Geor-Andreas Pogany, a former soldier who was medically discharged for a brain injury, said he is working with five service members with combat experience who are in the process of being discharged for adjustment disorders.

One of them is Spc. Daniel Upshaw, who served in Rustimiya, Iraq with the 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment as a Bradley mechanic in 2008.

Upshaw said that for about a month after he came home to Fort Carson, everything seemed fine.

“Then it started,” he said. He had nightmares and problems sleeping, and he started drinking a bottle of booze every night. “I’d drink until I knocked myself out. One night, I finished a bottle and then went to sleep with a loaded gun in my hand, hoping I’d shoot myself in my sleep.”

He sought help, and his chain of command sent him to behavioral health. At an inpatient clinic, he was diagnosed with PTSD by a psychiatrist. Then, he said, a counselor at behavioral health changed his diagnosis to adjustment disorder and recommended an administrative discharge.

His case manager and Pogany fought that decision, and Upshaw is now waiting for a medical discharge at Fort Carson’s Warrior Transition Unit, and a 90-day treatment program through VA.

“The whole thing was extremely stressful,” he said. “They want to know why the suicide rate is so high. I can tell them.”

Jason Perry, a former Army JAG who helps people with their medical retirement cases, said he has seen “dozens” of similar cases.

“It’s very common,” he said, “and it’s completely illegal.”

Nothing is Too Good For Our Boys So That’s What We'll Give Them: Nothing: Part 3

This is a link to an article about suicide which mentions the problem with Marine suicides. Marine suicides and other non-combat deaths are not categorized as such in the current Department of Defense announcements.

article submitted by Pamela Baragona Robinson

More:
Bragg Steps Up Suicide Intervention Program

Obama's New Rules for PTSD: How Much Trauma is Enough?

Cilla McCain has written a piece on PTSD at the Huffington Post:

Click here to read the entire article.

Dying in Their Sleep

Cilla McCain has written a blog post about Andrew White and polypharmacy at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cilla-mccain/dying-in-their-sleep-the_b_618429.html

More on the topic of VA healthcare:

"Disposable Soldiers"
http://www.thenation.com/article/disposable-soldiers

"How Specialist Town Lost His Benefits"
http://www.thenation.com/article/how-specialist-town-lost-his-benefits

"How the VA Abandons Our Vets"
http://www.thenation.com/article/how-va-abandons-our-vets

G.I.'s Describe Despair and Isolation in Trauma Units

COLORADO SPRINGS — A year ago, Specialist Michael Crawford wanted nothing more than to get into Fort Carson’s Warrior Transition Battalion, a special unit created to provide closely managed care for soldiers with physical wounds and severe psychological trauma.


A strapping Army sniper who once brimmed with confidence, he had returned emotionally broken from Iraq, where he suffered two concussions from roadside bombs and watched several platoon mates burn to death. The transition unit at Fort Carson, outside Colorado Springs, seemed the surest way to keep suicidal thoughts at bay, his mother thought.


Click here to read the rest of the story in the New York Times.

Once Branded a Coward, He Fights for PTSD Victims

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ??? They call him the angry guy now. Even his friends. And at this moment, on a snowy evening when he should be home, putting his son to bed, Andrew Pogany is, in fact...

To read the entire story, http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/19/branded-coward-fights-ptsd-victims/

--submitted by Lois Vanderbur

Medicating the military

Use of psychiatric drugs has spiked; concerns surface about suicide, other dangers

By Andrew Tilghman and Brendan McGarry - Staff writers

Posted : Wednesday Mar 17, 2010 12:18:59 EDT

At least one in six service members is on some form of psychiatric drug.

And many troops are taking more than one kind, mixing several pills in daily “cocktails” — for example, an antidepressant with an antipsychotic to prevent nightmares, plus an anti-epileptic to reduce headaches — despite minimal clinical research testing such combinations.

The drugs come with serious side effects: They can impair motor skills, reduce reaction times and generally make a war fighter less effective. Some double the risk for suicide, prompting doctors — and Congress — to question whether these drugs are connected to the rising rate of military suicides.

Read the rest of the story by clicking here.
 
--submitted by Lois Vanderbur