The Army’s Medical Department just published a journal devoted to the use of dogs in Army medicine. I wanted to highlight the publication here on Time’s Battleland. Both dog- and soldier-lovers can read it for free.
Army …
PTSD
Between A Rucksack and a Hard Place
The Los Angeles Times’ story last weekend on “our medicated military” reactivated the long-standing debate about Soldiers and other Service members being prescribed anti-depressants and other psychiatric medications while on …
Veteran #11-03021-133
The Army veteran of combat in both Afghanistan and Iraq wasn’t named in a recent Department of Veterans Affairs’ inspector general’s investigation. So we’ll just refer to him by the IG report’s number. Plainly, he had a family who cared about him, and VA personnel who sometimes did their best – and sometimes …
Afghan Civilian Massacre: Base Allegations
Charges of improper diagnosis related to PTSD at Madigan Army Medical Center, at Joint Base Lewis-McCord have been in the headlines. The alleged shooter in the Afghan massacre was from the Washington state post, as was the …
Afghan Massacre: Potentially Toxic Exposures?
In the national quest to understand what motivated Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales to leave his compound in the middle of the night, and allegedly gun down 16 men, women and children, there have been many motives already put forth. These include a “witches brew” of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury …
Witches’ Brew: Alleged Afghan Slayer’s Growing List of Mitigating Circumstances
The trickle of mitigating circumstances trying to understand the motive of the Army soldier who allegedly slaughtered 16 Afghan civilians last Sunday has turned into an avalanche over the past 24 hours.
According to a defense attorney retained by his family, and news reports of rumors, innuendo and perhaps some facts, Staff Sergeant X …
Afghan Massacre: Rush To Judgment
For the past few days, Washington’s, America’s, probably much of the world’s airways have been filled with commentary about the horrific killings in Afghanistan allegedly committed by an American soldier. Radio, TV and the blogosphere have been inundated with reports, predictions, and speculation—why he did it, what it means for …
What We Need to Learn From The Afghan Massacre
Our nation is struggling to understand the horrific act of violence by one U.S. soldier last Sunday that left 16 Afghan civilians dead – many of whom were children.
Though apparently planned, this was an irrational act—one …
Wars’ Amputees: 4 of 5 Say “Life Is Full”
Nine of 10 have mental disorders. Two of every three suffer from PTSD, and 40% suffer from traumatic brain injury. Nine of 10 are on 100% disability. Four of five also suffer from diseases of the nervous system, and diseases of …
Scapegoating Doctors
This is a hard post to write. It is with deep sadness and conflicted feelings that I have learned about the controversy on PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) diagnoses at Madigan Army Medical Center. I want to defend my former …
They Don’t Seem to Get Better…
That might be one conclusion to be drawn from this wrenching chart in a new Congressional Budget Office report on how the Department of Veterans Affairs is handling wounded troops suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. The chart shows that nearly all the troops afflicted with both ailments remain …
Chiarelli: A True Model for Future Military Leaders
General Peter Chiarelli retired three weeks ago. He was the Vice Chief of Staff (VCSA) of the U.S. Army, which means the service’s second most powerful general with four stars, his only boss being the Chief of Staff of the Army. …
When is it War?
If you were in Iraq in 2008, just after the wave of troops for the troop surge had crested with 160,000 or so American troops in country, you might have had a pretty good reason to think you were involved in a war. …