Army sent mentally ill troops to Iraq

[donsu]

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040312-042634-9733r

The Army appears to have "inappropriately" deployed soldiers to Iraq who already were diagnosed with mental problems, according to documents obtained by United Press International.

More than two dozen suicides by U.S. troops in Iraq, and hundreds of medical evacuations for psychiatric problems, have raised concerns about the mental health of soldiers in Operation Iraqi Freedom. An Army Medical Department after-action report obtained by UPI suggests that the Army sent some soldiers to war who were mentally unfit in the first place.

"Variability in predeployment screening guidelines for mental health issues may have resulted in some soldiers with mental health diagnoses being inappropriately deployed," the report said. That could "create the impression that some soldiers develop problems in theater, when, in some cases, they actually have pre-existing conditions."

-snip-

A number of veterans' advocates say signs of widespread mental problems among soldiers from Iraq shock them -- one in 10 soldiers evacuated from the war on terror to an Army hospital in Germany were sent solely for mental problems. The Pentagon says that number is not out of line. It also is investigating more than two dozen suicides in Iraq and Kuwait but says the rate is not alarmingly high.
-snip-
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one contributing problem may be the drug Lariam:

"One drug used by the Pentagon to prevent malaria in Iraq, Lariam, is unsuitable for people with mental problems, according to the Food and Drug Administration."

like the bloody hands bushgang really cares about their military slaves.

[neebob]

1. Or maybe

SOMEONE at the Pentagon is still trying to justify his greedy bullshit war, so he ordered a study that would enable him to blame others for its consequences.

[KharmaTrain]

2. Death & Mental Torture as "Routine"

I'm so sick of this rejoiner when such stories leak out. This number of casualities is "routine" or "normal" for this type of action. That assumes we invade countries all the time and that each war is the same, like a baseball game.

In the rush to play with his war toys, Bunnypants could have cared less who he sent, how prepared they were and their own true health and welfare. All he wanted were those oilfields and the "glory of raising that flag in Baghdad". It led to lies that are returning as casualties that are going to fill our VA Hospital for years to come, along with destroying not only the lives of those sent into this killing pit but their families who will have to live with their personal hells for years and decades to come.

The kabosh being put on the military is virtually air-tight...few speak out and do so at tremendous risk. No, this isn't Viet Nam, this is a completely new animal and one that is going to leave scars on the American psyche for the a generation.

[baldguy]

6. I like you avitar.

Bush is toast. Bush is toast. Bush is toast. Bush is toast. Bush is toast. Bush is toast. Bush is toast. Bush is toast. Bush is toast. Bush is toast. Bush is toast. Bush is toast. Bush is toast. Bush is toast. Bush is toast.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. I knew it! I knew it!

I stated in a previous post that many of these boys who are enlisting are doing so because their families can no longer financially nor emotionally take the burden of their mental problems. What a conundrum for the Administration. They won't provide the social services to help them, and they can no longer dispense them in the military without it being noticed by the increasing level of suicides.

[donsu]

4. thanks for bringing this up - hadn't thought about this aspect before

but I do know a family that can get no help with an addicted daughter (drink/drugs) whose mind is not rational or sane. they are going mad trying to keep her out of trouble or trying to kill herself.

the law says that since she is an adult the family can't constrain her or stop her from her destructive ways. they can only follow her around picking up the pieces.

she's produced one (not perfect) child which was taken away and is preg. again.

the local mental hosp. will only keep her 24 hrs. after attempts at suicide.


jeez

[beanball]

5. Rummy&Shrub

" A couple of real nuts"