Samantha Torrence - The new Army seeks to be more conducive to a family friendly environment and give more support to soldiers. However the efforts to change military culture from punitive to positive are being met with some resistance by Army leadership. One area that has become of interest is the reaction to the increased amount of soldiers diagnosed with PTSD. The question on the minds of military leadership, “How do we deal with this compassionately while maintaining discipline?” Right now, compassion seems to be put on the back burner as the old leaders come to grips with the new culture and their attitudes battle against the change.As with any change in culture there are going to be upsets and incremental changes that sometimes belie logic with their lack of efficacy. The treatment of soldiers with PTSD at Fort Drum, NY is just such an example of a military culture in chaos from these changes. Currently there are multiple soldiers at Fort Drum with various disorders, most commonly PTSD, who are facing punitive action from their chains of command. Leaders attempting to clean up the military, after an embarrassing revelation in Army Times that leaderships is subpar, have been put in a compromising position: treat and rehabilitate soldiers or chapter them out and clean up?
There is a common practice in the military to suffer for the sake of suffering. This attitude sometimes compared to Machismo attempts to build character in soldiers but has had the negative affect of causing physical and mental harm to the military members. Instead of reporting illnesses soldiers will commonly keep pain to themselves and the result is usually a detrimental and even handicapping injury. Soldiers that do report their pain are accused of trying to get out of work or “shamming.” Leaders are concerned that soldiers are taking advantage of the new regulations for mental health treatment to get out of responsibility. That concern may be extending the stigma against reporting a mental illness.
The stigma of weakness associated with mental illness is not only holding soldiers back from proper treatment it is also setting them up for failure. Soldiers who want to “Suck it up” or “tough it out” and have serious injuries as a result can be charged with malingering. Article 115 of the UCMJ describes malingering as :
“Any person subject to this chapter who for the purpose of avoiding work, duty, or service”—
(1) feigns illness, physical disablement, mental lapse or derangement; or
(2) intentionally inflicts self-injury; shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
Elements.
(1) That the accused was assigned to, or was aware of prospective assignment to, or availability for, the performance of work, duty, or service;
(2) That the accused feigned illness, physical disablement, mental lapse or derangement, or intentionally inflicted injury upon himself or herself; and
(3) That the accused’s purpose or intent in doing so was to avoid the work, duty, or service. Note: If the offense was committed in time of war or in a hostile fire pay zone, add the following element
(4) That the offense was committed (in time of war) (in a hostile fire pay zone).
Malingering, as described above, takes a person to willfully attempt to further harm themselves or feign illness to avoid duty. However, as the entire UCMJ is subject to interpretation there have been many times people who are simply living up to the tough guy stigma have been accused of “shamming” when they are truly injured. These types of Catch 22 situations are common in the military and are often used as ways to thin the herd.
The punitive actions taken against soldiers with PTSD who have breakdowns and seek civilian treatment range from counseling statements to article 15 punishments that at times result in a court martial. All of these reactions do a disservice to our troops and demonstrate a true failure in leadership across the board in the military. That there are tales of men and women still being dishonorably discharged for mental breakdowns after they have served the United States should shock all of us. Sadly military leaders either do not understand mental illness and make medical decisions when they are not trained to, or they use the mental instability of a soldier as an excuse to get rid of him or her. They do so with impunity as they feel invulnerable to federal laws due to the Ferris Doctrine.
On July 28, 1932 this type of impunity fell upon General Douglas MacArthur and Major George S. Patton when they attacked unemployed military veterans who had gathered in Washington D.C. to demand their promised Bonus be paid. Many of the veterans had wives and children with them and they lived in a tent city. The first attack was ordered by then President Hoover who wanted the Bonus Army cleared out of D.C. The initial attack, which included six tanks, scattered some of the protesters to retreat across the river to a main encampment. After the veterans retreated Hoover said to disengage. However, MacArthur ignored those orders and continued. Veterans and some of their family members were killed in the incident.
Today veterans and their families are vulnerable to the pain, trials, and danger of living with severe mental illness. Some members have flash backs, others slip into depression with violent tendencies, and still others have psychotic breaks. No matter the illness there are workers in the VA and behavioral health facilities across America who observe the poor treatment and dangerous consequences of corrupt military leadership and its "machismo" reaction to mental illness. The most heartbreaking observation of all is that the American Public refuses to hold the military accountable for their actions for fear of being labeled unpatriotic. If public opinion, public rage, and a public outcry were demonstrated in great numbers perhaps it would affect military policy in such a way as to force military leadership to become educated about mental illness or at the very least be forced to comply with the recommendations of the medical professionals that counsel them. Until that happens our military members with mental health issues are on par with the Bonus Army of old that was denied what was promised to them and then ground into the dirt for demanding better treatment.
