WP: Battle-Hard G.I.'s Learn To Release Their Pain

[Pirate Smile]

Battle-Hard G.I.'s Learn To Release Their Pain
Team Helps Soldiers Beat Trauma

By Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, June 14, 2005; Page A01

BAGHDAD -- When three Minnesota National Guardsmen died in a roadside bombing in February, their home towns grieved in the usual way. Flags flew at half-staff. Streets were renamed in honor of the fallen. And neighbors spoke of a war brought home in painful relief.

But the soldiers who were left behind -- a company of about 150 builders, farmers, policemen and students -- still had 10 months remaining on their year-long deployment. And haunted by the deaths of men some had known since childhood, they had to find a way to carry on. So before the unit even held a memorial service, the commanding officer called in the specialists: a combat stress control team from the Army's 55th Medical Battalion, whose slogan is "serving the best by controlling the stress."

A group of trained therapists, led by a lieutenant colonel who is also a clinical psychologist, debriefed each soldier individually, and encouraged them in group sessions to share their feelings about the incident and their memories of the dead.

"They showed us it's okay to actually talk about this, to not just clam up," said Capt. Troy Fink, 35, the commanding officer and only full-time soldier in Delta Company of the 1st Battalion, 151st Field Artillery Regiment, which is based in Morris, Minn. "I've still got some guys who hurt pretty bad. I hurt some days. It's important to maintain that certain image in front of my soldiers, but sometimes we all need a release."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/13/AR2005061301811.html

[Skittles]

1. these scars are deep and long-lasting

ask any Viet Nam combat veteran

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Yeh but the teams may hel;p to ease some of the pain