Daily, SFTT receives disturbing reports of the tragic consequences of post traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”) among our brave warriors returning from the front lines of Afghanistan and Iraq. With a returning veteran committing suicide every 80 minutes, the ongoing tragedy has triggered the well-deserved attention of investigative journalists, but it still does not resonate in the corridors of power, much less public opinion. This is an unfolding tragedy of our own making and – make no mistake – we ...
Continue Reading →Treating Warriors with PTSD
Last weekend, I had the privilege of visiting Warriors Salute in Rochester, NY which has an innovative and expanding program to treat veterans of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who suffer from PTSD. I was fortunate to attend a training seminar hosted by Dr. Henry Grayson, Ph. D., for the clinical staff of Warriors Salute. Dr. Grayson is the eminent psychologist who founded and directed the National Institute for the Psychotherapies in New York City ...
Continue Reading →Sgt. Robert Bales: A Rush to Judgement
SFTT’s mission is to insure that our frontline troops have the best available leadership, equipment and training. With the growing incidence of PTSD and TBI among military veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, SFTT recently launched their “You are not Alone” initiative to provide greater focus on diagnosing and providing better treatment for our brave warriors who suffer from these debilitating injuries.
While not shy to tackle issues affecting the well-being of men and women in uniform, we ...
Continue Reading →Retired General Argues that U.S. Military Doesn’t Know Who is Fit for Combat
In a remarkable article entitled published March 23 in the Opinion section of the Washington Post, Retired
The article, quoted in its entirety, is a sad commentary on the current state of our ability to evaluate the readiness and mental well-being of men and women serving in harm’s way. SFTT fully concurs with Dr. Xenakis concluding paragraph: “To recover from 10 years of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army must focus not on weapons systems but on people. This ...
Continue Reading →PTSD: The Chain of Hypocrisy
Discussing war is never an easy topic, since most people have very strong views. Personally – and I don’t speak for SFTT on this issue – I tend to agree with Marcus Tullius Cicero who said that “An unjust peace is better than a just war.” Now, one can read whatever they want to into that quotation, but Cicero was the ultimate politician scheming to keep his head in the Roman Senate while far more powerful political and military leaders ...
Continue Reading →PTSD and Alienation
Daily SFTT receives gut-wrenching stories of warriors suffering from PTSD. For many of us, it is difficult to comprehend what goes on in the minds of these veterans and, unfortunately, we are left with the bitter after-taste of the harm they are causing to themselves and their loved ones. We would like to lend a helpful hand, but most of don’t know where to start. This poem from Universal Blogger is one person’s attempt to explain the alienation ...
Continue Reading →PTSD: Happy Talk from the Spin Masters
I have never believed that one becomes wiser with age, but I do believe that watching the same sitcom over and over dulls your interest for the inevitable punch line. Our military seems to react publicly in lock-step trying to explain the shocking story of a decorated Army Staff Sergeant who allegedly murdered 16 Afghan civilians. This horrific incident has caused great distress within the ranks of active duty personnel and it is quite understandable that senior officers would try ...
Continue Reading →PTSD: The Emperor has no clothes
My dad, a retired Air Force officer, used to tell me as a kid that “If you don’t have anything smart to say, keep your mouth shut.” Now I don’t always follow this advice, but I do think that society would be better served if we kept disingenuous chatter to a minimum. Sadly, it would seem that our leaders – both civilian and in the military – are unable to keep their mouths shut when they have little to contribute ...
Continue Reading →The Afghan Massacre: 20/20 Hindsight
In a horrific and developing news story from the battlefields of Afghanistan, a 38-year-old United States staff sergeant is suspected of slaying 16 Afghan villagers. Some news reports suggest that the unidentified Army sergeant is from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, a sprawling installation located near Tacoma, Washington that has earned a reputation “as the most troubled outpost in the U.S. military.”
With all of the facts and evidence yet to be made public, it would appear that a US ...
Continue Reading →PTSD: A Question of Diagnosis
The recent decision by the US Army to sack PTSD screeners at the Madigan Army Medical Center for questionable diagnoses raises more questions that it actually answers.
As reported by Hal Benton in the Seattle Times, “the Army Medical Command has identified some 285 Madigan Army Medical Center patients whose diagnoses of they went through a screening process for possible medical retirements, according to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray.”
The issue here is not to determine whether there has been any ...
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