Do you believe that is is important for military personnel to seek psychological healthcare during their careers?

1SG DeyShuan Shepherd — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 19:07:59 -0500

Response by CMC Robert Young made Nov 4 at 2013 7:31 PM

CMC Robert Young — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 19:31:57 -0500

It should be an absolute. The military lifestyle has a special set of stressors that are absent from other professions. My experience in civilian law enforcement produced many similar events and challenges. To ignore these is to invite disaster. I would support some type of mandatory screening or review periodically particularly for service members who have encountered significant traumatic events.  We owe it to ourselves, and to our families to do everything in our power to ensure our continued good health.

Response by SFC James Baber made Dec 24 at 2013 11:46 PM

SFC James Baber — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 23:46:58 -0500

I think in today's environment it is a must or should be mandatory, mainly to protect the individual from all they are exposed to from OPTEMPO to repetitive deployments. It would be a deficiency to any SM who doesn't receive at least once during their career.

Response by CW2 Joseph Evans made Dec 25 at 2013 12:21 AM

CW2 Joseph Evans — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 00:21:47 -0500

Absolutely. And the stigma needs to go away. If that means everyone gets it so the few who need it, will, I'd support it.

Response by Cpl Ray Fernandez made Dec 25 at 2013 12:33 AM

Cpl Ray Fernandez — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 00:33:24 -0500

I think there's too much stress on a service member to have to suck it up and deal with it alone. We need to remove a lot of the stigma and perception of weakness that is given to a person that asks for help. At the very least we need to focus on stress management. The last thing we need is to lose more people to burn out or worse.

Response by 1SG Steven Stankovich made Dec 25 at 2013 7:52 AM

1SG Steven Stankovich — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 07:52:34 -0500

I think that it is very important for military personnel to sit down with the psychological folks during their careers.  We as a military are under a very large amount of stress from many different lanes.  It is very difficult to try to balance your duties as a service member, your responsibilities to your unit, your responsibilities to your Soldiers, your responsibilities to your family, etc., when you are battling other things.  The medical community is there to assist service members and I believe that it is the duty of all leaders to ensure that they are not only assessing their personnel, but also themselves, and seeking out the help that is right there available.  It is not a sign of weakness to seek out help.  It is the responsible thing to do.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 27 at 2014 1:29 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 01:29:00 -0400

I agree the more training and understand we have. the quicker we can push the stigma out of the Army.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 12 at 2014 7:02 PM

MSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 12 Apr 2014 19:02:02 -0400

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." We should promote the use of psychiatric or psychological care and remove the stigma associated with it.

Response by CPT Jeff Harrod made Feb 25 at 2017 7:30 PM

CPT Jeff Harrod — Sat, 25 Feb 2017 19:30:37 -0500

I wish that I had. Unfortunately I did not. I have since gotten help from some great social workers. I would advise all to take any help you can get at any time you can get it. Don't sit back and think that you are the only one with issues. We are ALL train wrecks in our own way. Seek help early...don't let the wounds fester.