NOVANEWS
August 18, 2010
by Michael Leon
by Michael Leon
– “[We understood the Iraq War] was going to be different, and that it was going to be house-to-house and urban combat. And that type of warfare requires a surge, if you will, and the ability to have mental- health-care treatment available, closer to the front, and also available when they come back home. The harder and uglier the war is, the more the psychological toll is on the human mind. In that meeting [in the spring of 2002], they [DoD staff and Dr. William Winkenwerder, then-Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs] looked at us as if we were people from outer space, wondering why we were there. They patted us on the back and told us they had everything under control, and they would be able to take care of any contingencies that might pop up. And that turned out not to be true.
“What does [Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter] Chiarelli not understand about combat? Soldiers engage in high-risk behavior on deployment. The report is written in such a way to blame the soldier, and not the leadership of the military for its part in not inculcating people so that they have resiliency and understand how to deal with stress; because there are not any real programs that train the force as a whole. Also, the leadership treats this problem as a lack of moral character, and a lack of intestinal fortitude, when it is really a medical issue. …
“I had this conversation with a guy in the [Bush] White House, the liaison to the Department of Veterans Affairs. This was during the Bush Administration. He said, if we were to keep every promise that we made to the veterans, it would bankrupt us as a nation.”
– Veterans’ advocate, Steve Robinson, who has challenged the President and the Defense establishment face-to-face on their shameful neglect of the health problems, especially mental-health issues, faced by returning Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans. –
From EIR [Executive Intelligence Review]:
Aug. 12—On July 29, the Army released its “Health Promotion, Risk-Reduction and Suicide Prevention Report,” the result of a 15-month effort, directed by Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli. Chiarelli explained to reporters at the Pentagon that the investigation that produced the report was prompted by the fact that in January 2009, the suicide rate in the Army hit 20 per 100,000 population, exceeding the civilian rate of 19 per 100,000 for the first time.
In addition to suicide, the report addresses other indicators of stress on the force, including high-risk behaviors, such as substance abuse, and the number of soldiers who enter the mental-health system voluntarily as well as involuntarily. Then it lays out what Chiarelli described as a “campaign plan” to try to drive down the suicide rate, and includes more than 250 recommendations in an attempt to identify and mitigate the problems that stem from “nearly a decade of persistent conflict.”
To get an assessment of the report, EIR [Executive Intelligence Review] turned to veterans’ advocate Steve Robinson. Robinson retired from the Army in 2001, after a career serving in Ranger and Special Operations units. Upon retirement, he went into veterans advocacy, initially working on health issues arising from the 1991 Gulf War.1 He has since become a sought-after expert on the full range of veterans’ physical and mental-health issues that arise from exposure to combat, has testified numerous times before Congressional committees, and has advised the White House and the Department of Defense.
In the Spring of 2009, Robinson was told by the White House that they wanted him to take a position in the Department of Defense on the implementation of policy and programs for returning combat veterans and wounded warriors. Robinson waited nearly 18 months for the Senate to confirm retired Marine Maj. Gen. Clifford Stanley to be Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. After interviewing Robinson, Stanley said he wanted to hire him, but then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued a hiring freeze for all Office of the Secretary of Defense agencies, preventing Robinson from being hired. Robinson was interviewed by Carl Osgood, EIR’s Pentagon correspondent, on Aug. 4 and 12, 2010.
Carl Osgood: I want to start with the report that came out on July 29, the “Health Promotion, Risk-Reduction and Suicide-Prevention Report,” which General Chiarelli presented to reporters. Probably the best thing for me to do is just read a line from the introduction, and get your response to that.
You are, of course, well aware that the suicide rate and other symptoms of stress have been growing in the Army since 2004, and that there has always been an air of mystery about why this is happening—at least the way the Army talks about it. And they say in the introduction:
No one could have foreseen the impact of 9 years of war on our leaders and soldiers. As a result of the protracted and intense operational tempo, the Army has lost its former situational awareness, and understanding of good order and discipline within its ranks. This report’s comprehensive review exposes gaps in how we see, identify, engage, and mitigate high-risk soldiers.