Should the Military have a limit on Deployments for individuals?
Deployment
Combat
1SG,
While I have had 10+ deployments in my career, 9 considered combat related, I have not had any BH related issues that I have noticed or been talked to about, I have passed all the post deployments assessments, now whether that was because it was a check the block or I actually was fine is something that kept me continuing my career and repetitive deployments with no disciplinary or concerns from COC over the years.
Now for the part of relationships, I would agree to an extent, during my time in service I did lose two marriages, but it wasn't due to my mental health, it was due to me gone all the time, being the job (MP), I also volunteered for special duties besides deployments, I did drug interdiction for a total of 8 years during my career and all the field exercises, and TDY's besides the double digits deployments, both wives said the same thing, they were tired of me being gone all the time, and that we had grown apart from not being around and with each other. That was my doing, not the deployments mentality, I figured the 2nd one was going to be ok since she was military, but of the 6 1/2 years we were married I was gone for 5+ years of it, so it was a natural progression of loss, but with both we are still very good friends with each other, and their are children from the 1st one as well.
While I do think that there are individuals that may have issues and suffer from being deployed multiple times, to blanket them all together is not truly have an open mind on the issue, not everyone is wired the same way and handle things the same way, most people that join the military have a purpose or mindset when they join knowing the possibility of being sent to a war zone and having to come face to face with an enemy as a reality, but some that join also think that they will never leave there little part of the Army world until it smack them in the face with the reality of truth.
BH is a good asset for the military, but I also look at it as an escape outlet for many who want to hide out during their careers also, as I have seen many leaders (NCO and Officer alike) that have spent their 20 year career in the garrison element and have never deployed, even though we have had a dual war function for the last 13 years. I know some jobs or MOSs will be said that they are unable to deploy, but I call the BS card on that as every single SM is replaceable somewhere along the line because that one job cannot have the same person sitting there for 30 years, sometime along the way everyone has to PCS at least every 3,4,5 years to a new duty or assignment, homesteading supposedly went out the window after 9/11. So every SM in the military should have at least 1 minimum deployment sometime in the last 13 years, if not they have been hiding out point blank. And that should also be a BH issue looked into as well wouldn't you agree.
I am very passionate when I hear BH issues and deployments, especially with all the friends and Soldiers and other SMs I have lost and seen sacrifice for their country and fellow SMs over the years only to have someone else say they couldn't deploy because of their job wouldn't let them.
1SG Haro:
You bring up a valid discussion, and I concur, when we are deployed unknowingly psychological stressors bring out unresolved issues.
When I look at my deployment in 2007, many lost loved ones and did not get the closure they needed. I am adamant about ensuring that the stigma is taking away and having Soldiers in your unit get the help they badly need.
What we do not look at is the end result when they retire, unfortunately PTSD does not go away.
1SG Haro:
I will bare my soul, and share with you that I unknowingly had intergenerational PTSD. When I was deployed in 2007 it was a painful deployment for myself and many others.
My only nephew committed suicide, and I was a WO1 cross leveled into a unit. The psychological stressors put me in a thinking trap of us and them.
I did not trust those that I deployed with, this put me in a state of isolation. I did not know then that I was dealing with flooding which is a state of dormant memories that activate.
I did not know that I was trauma bonding with others that had the same pain. I was able to stay in Church and receive much needed support.
It wasn't until recently did I discover that my Father served in WWII, and my Grand Father was MIA for a year and both had small children under the age of 10 when they deployed. I had intergenerational PTSD and didn't even know it.
Air Force should go back to voluntary deployments as a primary means of tasking with non-vols as the gap filling method. Just my two cents.
Another issue I see is as a member of SOF, we have a lot of folks who deploy 6 months out of the year. With the military making a major shift towards Special Operations being the new norm we place a huge strain on the SOF units themselves. But how do we solve the issue of special operations personnel burnout? A draft probably wouldn't help since you can't just toss a drafted enlistee into a special operations unit.
NCARNG Transportation Units
3 are MPs who have left active duty, entered the USAR and later switched to NCARNG.
UNLESS these soldiers actually volunteer to deploy with their new units, I kind of feel like the military could track a SM's file and limit individuals to like, I don't know, say five deployments, UNLESS, like I said, they volunteer beyond that limit of 5 deployments. If they had a choice, I think you would see many opt out of deployment. Just a thought.
SFC Jerry Shriver, of Sacramento repeatedly extended his tour in Vietnam. He was an SF member of Studies and Observation Group, 5th SF that made the cross border incursions into Laos and Cambodia. SFC Shriver was based in Kontum, one of 3 bases that supported such incursions. In his last action, SFC Schiver moved into the action, guns blazing and was never seen again. He had been in Vietnam too long. (SOG, Gary Plaster, MAJ).
No. Some of us absolutely love it. Don't get me wrong, while deployed I miss my loved ones as much as the next guy, but still, this is what we signed on to do. Deployment is where we actually get to do our job and focus on actually being Soldiers, and leave (hopefully) that garrison nonsense behind for a time.
Plus... you know... combat pay ;)
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