As the Army struggles to stem the tide of rising suicides, it seems to be at a loss to how to overcome the stigmas attached to seeking help for the underlying causes. It seems to understand that the Warrior Culture is adverse to asking for help but while the leadership is truly seeking a means to turn the tide that has brought suicide rates up to the same level as the civilian population, it has not realized the self-destructive tactic of encouraging victimization.
The military leadership continues to search with noble motivation for a solution, currently encouraging Soldiers to demonstrate strength by admitting mental wounds. But it describes the symptoms of PTSD and depression as causes of suicide. It describes these as mental illnesses, even as it has created less boring mandatory briefings for the troops to endure. Shrinks continue to prescribe medications to overcome chemical inbalances that lead to the symptoms, not the causes.
It has however realized that the illnesses which are symptoms are caused by feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, but not what the root causes are. The Military creates Warriors capable, motivated, and
The military has a habit of taking a simple, successful program and developing it into a cumbersome, complicated problem. There are so many examples of this that it becomes redundant to point to AAR's, OER's, Counseling Statements, NCOER's, and weeks upon weeks of mandatory briefings. Each of these has a noble, positive purpose that once discovered was forcefed into a paperwork feeding frenzy that destroy the purpose itself in too many cases.
Muttered too often these days is "If I have to sit through one more 'suicide awareness' briefing, I'm going to kill myself." Those uttering such phrases are not suicidal but would prefer to train and tired of the training distractors that eat up their time. They are often fans of their own sarcastic irony, even as they often realize the danger of being referred to a shrink for their "suicidal tendencies."
Yet, the Army has more than once not only cancelled training, but also pulled Troops out of the field, during training exercises in knee-jerk reaction to correct issues. In Roughneck Nine-One, SFC Antenori tells of just such an event from approximately 2002, as Fort Bragg responded to a rash of negative actions by returning Troops that led to his SF team being brought back in at the very climax of an exercise. More recently, FT Campbell Troops were stood down for 3 straight days of "suicide awareness."
Overcoming depression for a Warrior is not a matter of victimizing the Warrior. It is not a matter of taking pills. It is not a matter of justifying their feelings. For a Warrior, it is a plan of action to overcome the challenges that have led to the loss of control. A Warrior often trudges through the bogs of mud mentally and physically, despite conditions that would cause others to quit. As the upper eschelons see the Warrior successfully complete extraordinairy missions, it adds to the taskings, it adds to the weight a Warrior must physically and mentally carry.
For the peace of mind of risk averse commanders in their desire to bring home every Warrior, they order Troops to wear 30lbs of body armor and kevlars, even while the Troops navigate mountains against an unencumbered enemy. They order Troops to take safety classes during their non-duty hours.
A Soldier bears a difficult burden. To excel, he must remain in physical shape, increase civilian education, learn military leadership, and balance multiple tasks. "We do more before 9am than most do all day long," is not just a motto, it is true. And as the military adds to the rucksack of requirements, it takes a toll on the time management of the things a Soldier must do.
At one point in my career, I bought my own rucksack, because the Army large ruck could barely hold all that I had to carry. My new ruck had more pockets and easier access to all things I did carry. Colleagues warned against it, that the new ruck would just end up packed full, with greater weight. They were right.
As the Military finds new, lighter, better equipment, the Warrior's load never lightens. As the weight and size of one thing decreases, twice as many are added to the ruck. Warriors push themselves to their limits, finding their limits and going beyond until the limits are extended. But there will always be a limit beyond their capacity, mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Because the Military is so efficient in communications at both the spoken as well as the electronic variety, there is a glutton of information passed, to the point that much goes unread/unnoticed. An order by Secretary Gates can literally be implemented and known by every service member within 24 hours. When sufficiently important, a message from a Soldier in the field can be on the President's desk within an hour of it's initial transmission.
But with the advancement of communications, a General can watch a squad level engagement on the other side of the world in real time. The danger comes in when he tries to command that battle from the safety of his office. The burden comes when he uses that technology to apply uniform and equipment regulations on a Warrior climbing from 7500 to 9000 feet. The weight is added when a Commander in a FOB orders body armor with all attachments be worn in such an environment because he's unwilling to risk writing a letter home, that the Warrior is willing to risk to win the battle.
Relationships are strained. Financial obligations are strained. Time Management is strained. Emotions can be strained by deployments. Warriors are expected to adapt and overcome but that rucksack, physically and mentally can become heavier than they can bear. And once a Warrior has tired from the weight, once he has fallen beneath the weight of ten pounds too much, it requires lightening the load by more than just the ten pounds to recover and return and push towards a limit of twenty pounds more.
The problem is not a lack of mandatory "suicide awareness" training. The problem is that the Warrior has limits. The problem is he has only so much time and resources to manage across a broad spectrum. The problem is not that he is unwilling to push his limits to a new point and push that further, but that to find his limit, he must fail at a point past his limit. The problem is that when he fails at a limit 10x that of his civilian peers, he must not consider himself a failure, but step back and accept he can only do 9x his civilian peers, until he can exercise his limit to 11x those peers.
The problem is that the "zero defect" command adds 20 lbs to the workload of all when one fails at 10lbs the limit. Warriors are not victims. But when the weight becomes too great, the answer is not more mandatory briefings but a better planned exercise plan. If "hopelessness" is a symptom, then the answer is to find the adverse condition and work through a solution. If a Soldier can only manage time 9x as well as a civilian peer, rather than 10x that peer, he's still a success and shouldn't have his time load increased to 11x to compensate for the burdensome load.
But telling him he is strong for admitting he's mentally weak isn't the way to support his strength. Telling him to admit mental illness based on symptoms of the challenge is not a solution to the underlying problem. If he falters under a 110lb ruck, adding 10lbs isn't going to help, nor will making him sit for three days under a 120lb ruck, when he needs to be training with the 100lbs he can handle.
Stumble It!
