Are you doing enough to ensure your Mental/Behavioral health is being adequately maintained?

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 16:35:00 -0400

Behavioral health remains the most challenging factor of actively serving and separated members of the U.S. Military leading to the nationally recognized campaigns actively seeking to quell the 22 veteran and active duty suicides per day. The question that needs to be asked is “Can we do more?” During my time serving this wonderful country, I have attended the memorial services of four close individuals that I had the pleasure of working with. I have since asked myself, “What could I have done to keep those individuals alive?” There is no definitive answer to this question, but there are steps we as the community can take in preventing a further increase in losses of individuals we call close.

Step 1: As a community, we need to eliminate the negative stigma associated with seeking help. The primary reason this stigma exists is due to concerns regarding individual’s security clearances. As an intelligence professional, I can confirm that individuals seeking Behavioral Heath help will not result in a revocation or denial of a security clearance. Per the Department of Defense Central Adjudication Facility (DoDCAF) “Between 2006 and 2012, only one in every 35,000 people either applying for the first time or seeking to maintain their clearance were either denied a clearance or had their clearance revoked after answering “Yes” to the dreaded Question 21 on Standard Form 86 (the question that pertains to mental health history).” As of 2017, answering “Yes” no longer results in a revocation of a security clearance unless deemed a threat to national security.

I will say that I have sought help following the deaths of each individual lost to Suicide that I personally knew. I am proud to say that I have sought the treatment I knew I needed even though I didn’t know I actually needed it.

Step 2: For the actively serving community and even those who are retired or separated, use ACE. For those who may not know what ACE stands for, it means Ask, Care, Escort. Simply ask the question “are you planning on hurting or killing yourself?” Do not be indirect with the question as you may not get a truthful answer. Care for the individual. Be there for them, listen to them, and let them know that you care about them. Escort them to the appropriate medical facility for treatment.

Step 3: Never be afraid to take a “resiliency” day. Everyone at one point or another begins to feel overwhelmed and just needs a day or two to decompress and relax. Taking time away from something and finding yourself again allows an individual to forget or get out of an environment that affects them negatively.

Last, but not least, know who to call in the event that your or someone you know is planning on committing suicide.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: [login to see]
If there is an emergency or someone has attempted to take their life: Dial 911 immediately
Do you want to talk to someone? Log on to depression-chat-rooms.org

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Jun 11 at 2020 4:35 PM

SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 16:35:48 -0400

Yes I am.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jun 11 at 2020 5:27 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 17:27:40 -0400

I am actually helping people with PTSD. I know how it feels. Allow me to expound on some thoughts. I will use the term soldiers but it applies to all SMs.

- There is a lot of fears associated with PTSD:
1 The fear of never being fixed and life would be forever dark.
2 The fear of losing your career.
3 The fear of the immense pain.
4 The fear of losing your family.
5 The fear that pain becomes overwhelming.
6 The fear that nothing matters.
7 The fear of not knowing who to ask help from.

- None of my therapists could connect with me. I had to fix myself.

- Leaders need to be compassionate:
1 Let the soldier focus on healing.
2 Support the soldiers and establish a therapy and MEB plan.
3 Understand that soldiers with PTSD will make mistakes.
4 Empathize with how the soldiers feel and think.

- Not enough emphasis is put on preventing suicide. Don't hurt yourself is not enough. We need to
achieve the epiphany of eliminating reasons to die with reasons to live.

- The army, VA, and SS can do a better job of describing and how they relate to each other:
1 MEB.
2 Actions by the VA.
3 How to apply for SSDI.

- We need to paint the battlefield and some of the important tasks are:
1 Therapy.
2 Marriage counseling.
3 Get sober.
4 Understand all the entitlements. As a case in point, the VA does not publicize Caregiver Funds which
pays the spouse to take care of the person with PTSD or other wounds. Off the top of my head it can be $500-
$3500/month depending on the severity of the veterans wounds.

I have written a PTSD paper to help others. There is a dichotomy to it. I focuses on understanding PTSD and providing realistic coping skills. I don't want anything but some feedback to those who read it. It is called Love Squared. https://www.wellnesswishes.org/veterans

Veterans | Wellness Wishes I Ohio 501c3

No veteran in America should ever be homeless or hungry – EVER. Wellness Wishes will be the mechanism to convey the gratitude or our country by funding veteran assistance programs, and making a difference in their lives, as they have made in ours.

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 13 at 2020 12:33 PM

SCPO Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 13 Jun 2020 12:33:07 -0400

Nope, never have. I haven't seen a shrink since Kindergarten.

Response by Maj Walter Kilar made Jun 15 at 2020 7:04 AM

Maj Walter Kilar — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 07:04:43 -0400

I want to latch onto this post to say that the recommendations here absolutely apply even after we leave the military. While we are in the military we tend to overlook our mental health because of the stigma or personal shame--despite assurance that it is okay in our mandatory briefings and mandatory training. Once we leave the service, there is nobody forcing us to attend briefings or to remind us that there is no shame in taking advantage of these services. To make matters worse, many of us return to a civilian world without many like-minded veterans to lean on.

The points presented here by SSG Private RallyPoint Member are absolutely important to active duty and separated/ retired veterans alike. The only thing I would add for those not on active duty is that you need to be more active in seeking out battle buddies in the civilian world. Have a good mix of non-military and military buddies, but never forget your brothers and sisters in arms who "get you" and may also be ashamed or embarrassed to admit that they have the same issues with maintaining mental and behavioral health.

Response by PFC Donnie Harold Harris made Jun 17 at 2020 1:26 PM

PFC Donnie Harold Harris — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 13:26:24 -0400

Yes, we can do more. Legalize Pot is a planet reshaper.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 18 at 2020 9:22 PM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 21:22:50 -0400

People assume seeking help will mess up a clearance. it’s really frustrating to hear about leaders saying it will.

Response by SFC Christopher Taggart made Jun 22 at 2020 10:27 AM

SFC Christopher Taggart — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 10:27:00 -0400

I have been very fortunate to keep working, during this pandemic. I would like to comment on this article, but I won't because it'll sound like complaints, but I do want to "thank" my sub-division for NOT checking up on me.

Response by PFC Donnie Harold Harris made Jun 24 at 2020 2:03 PM

PFC Donnie Harold Harris — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 14:03:55 -0400

How is that even possible? We have Individual impressive thoughts about ourselves. We have family and wife impression we Are not worked properly trust left out and lied to at work threw false info and rumors. An the Government will wack us down at any second by police Irs or Other ways We have sickness in all formed everywhere. We have never handled cancer or Drunk drivers and Pot is illegal in most areas. Besides worrying about earth quacks and steroids There's News about UFOs. Yes, we love you too.

Response by SSG Roger Ayscue made Jul 4 at 2020 12:57 AM

SSG Roger Ayscue — Sat, 04 Jul 2020 00:57:13 -0400

I have since becoming a civilian developed several self-control techniques that I use to choke down the frequent desire to choke the living crap out of a moron

Response by SPC Chris Early made Jul 23 at 2020 2:52 PM

SPC Chris Early — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 14:52:58 -0400

As a veteran this is something i deal with everyday, i never knew i had a problem until it was almost to late. Unfortunately in this world mental is not a big enough problem, if it's not a physical issue the wolrd doesn't care. How do you recover from a mental drama when you still have to experience it everyday you wake up and keep pushing on as you deal with your mental issues.

Response by CPT Richard Fematt made Jul 29 at 2020 7:52 PM

CPT Richard Fematt — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 19:52:58 -0400

I highly recommend watching the documentary "The Hidden Enemy" which discloses the Military's Mental Health Department agenda on treating PTSD! This documentary should be mandatory for all military leaving the military or are currently experiencing PTSD! Military soldiers, sailors, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard are committing suicide and the medications they are placed on have a lot to do with them dying! Medications are not the answer as this documentary will reveal only Big Pharma are the winners in this war on PTSD!!

Response by SPC Luis Serrano made Aug 12 at 2020 7:02 PM

SPC Luis Serrano — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 19:02:20 -0400

My own experience VA doctors do not have a clue about PTSD and even with my family members they don’t take it seriously

Response by SSG Glenn Williams made Aug 30 at 2020 7:52 PM

SSG Glenn Williams — Sun, 30 Aug 2020 19:52:44 -0400

Just a little over 5 years ago our son who was in the Air Force took his life. He was suffering from PTSD after deployments as a Flight Engineer in a Combat Search and Rescue team. After his last deployment, which ended badly, we knew he needed help and we encouraged him to seek that help. We also told him that due to the stigma we would pay for off-base counseling so his career wouldn't be affected. He decided to seek help through the Air Force and was immediately grounded, his job taken away, ostracized, and made fun of. He entered into a dark spiral, tried to self medicate through retail therapy and alcohol but ended up sitting alone in the dark drinking. During this time, no one from his unit checked on him. On his last day, he reached out to his ex-girlfriend numerous times and she did nothing until it was too late.

My thoughts on this are changes needed to get rid of the stigma need to be driven from the top down. Each leader in the chain needs to be held accountable for ensuring their subordinates are able to ask for and receive the help they need. If any of them fail they should receive punishment IAW the UCMJ.