When a General Officer Speaks...

Like many of you I grew up watching war films depicting the heroics that were WWII and the men and women who fought in that conflict. Front and center were the soldiers doing the impossible against all odds. Factor in some major performances by leading actors portraying famous General Officers of the period and you have the making of some incredible films.  Many of these classics will be re-run this weekend as we prepare to celebrate Memorial Day.

Fast forward nearly 50 years and the services continue to do a great job of selecting senior officers for “Flag” – a term used to denote those that have attained the rank of General (or Admiral for our Naval brethren) These officers in many cases represent the best of the best and usually have served their country for 22-25 years before attaining this rank.

There are only 11 four star generals on active duty in the U.S. Army. Fewer than one-half percent of commissioned officers make it to the top three ranks of Army general. Congress and the Department of Defense limit the total number of general officers to 302 general officers (generals, lieutenant generals, major generals and brigadier generals) in the U.S. Army.

If you have served in the armed forces or worked in close quarters with military retirees then no doubt you have run across a few General Officers in your day. Most are dynamic and well versed with a penchant for making things happen and a bit of a swagger in their step. I can list many from the Special Operations Community (past and present) as well as the Navy and the Marine Corp who I have been privileged to work with and serve under during peace and war. Great men born from a great country….

Which leads me to today’s posting about suicide and the words of a General Officer…

I will not try to imagine the frustration that comes from loosing men who have taken their own lives upon returning home from the battle but the Commanding Officer at Ft Bliss (in Texas) Major General Dana Pittard’s blunt and outrageous comments about suicide has raised eyebrows throughout the military and the US Department of Defense.  Suffice to say that many in the armed forces are upset and dismayed that a current “2 Star General” would call these warriors “selfish” in addressing the rising rate of suicides within the US Army.

I have attached a link so that you can read the article. In the end as a budding mental health practitioner focused on PTSD I can only hope that this General Officer realizes that the soldiers who serve under him at Ft. Bliss and around the globe look to his words and actions for encouragement and direction. When a General Officer fails his/her soldiers then it is time to go.

As soon as this hits the nightly news in the next day or so and with the advent of the Memorial Day weekend upon us…there will be 301 general officers on active duty in the United States Army quite quickly.  You can read the article at the following link:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/general-s-blog-entry-reignites-army-suicide-debate-20120522?mrefid=site_search

Warmest Regards and Happy Memorial Day!

When is an increase not good for our Soldiers

I recently read an article on MSNBC.com regarding the rise in military suicides. I have attached the web version (link) below for everyone to review. Some sobering statistics.

The figures - as a segment of our national population - are not staggering (an often overly used DC term) however they do show a marked increases over the past several years specifically with our returning combat veterans. At least 125 soldiers were confirmed to have taken their own life in 2008, compared with 115 in 2007, 102 in 2006 and 87 in 2005. This figures show a definitive increase even though the services are rapidly moving to address the matter.

Army BG Sutton who is the director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury states that these men (and women) "have been exposed to the most corrosive environment known to warfare and that they have lost fellow soldiers and friends."

Wow!

Now I don't know about you but BG Sutton's comments do not strike a very solid chord with me. We all understand that what they are seeing in war is not what you see in the video games however lets get past that and focus on the "what to do when soldiers return from combat duty" and how best to help them adapt.

I never made the rank of General nor did I play one on TV however a rational person looking at this would say that since these deaths are all occurring once soldiers redeploy shouldn't we concentrate our collective efforts at that point versus worrying about the prosecution of the war?

Too many times, and in this case too many dollars are being spent incorrectly. Assisting troops as they go through the decompression stage of returning home as well as providing outlets so that these losses decrease should be the core focus of BG Sutton, the DoD and the Veterans Administration rather then discussing what they do in combat. We get that! What we don't get is how we can afford to let this increase over the past several years continue to...well...increase without putting in check what we have supposedly accomplished to date.

No doubt this will be high on the list of the new incoming VA Secretary, GEN (Ret) Shinseki as he prepares for confirmation hearings. Although it is a very somber topic I am anxious to hear how this old soldier plans to fight this campaign

Brian Hayes
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28895624/