Deeds not words. Enough band aids, we must act. It is time we all act to help our troops transition home.
We spend years and millions of dollars training our troops to fight. We take young men and women, most of whom have never been trained to shoot, and teach them how to aim at a stranger and successfully kill them. Now that sounds harsh, but it is the truth. In the Civil War only about 10% or less of soldiers could actually pull the trigger in the battle. After a century of developing sophisticated war training, that number in Iraq and Afghanistan is over 90%. Think about that. Training takes someone from 10% or less to over 90%. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many ways to develop PTSD other than shooting at someone, and in the military, our troops are exposed to them all.
This is where we fail. There is no boot camp to leave the military. There is no training to learn how to deal with the black box where your mind stores things you’d rather not deal with. The only troops who get any mental health care while on active duty are typically those who have physical injuries. Care for mental health issues like PTSD are ancillary to that. And care is usually just diagnose and drug.
We will NEVER properly care for things like PTSD, suicide, depression and other trauma induced conditions of service unless we create a sort of “life bootcamp” where there is time and training for troops to make the transition back to civilian life. NEVER. Everything else is a band aid or emergency care after life has been threatened. In reality, the care of the veteran is left up to the veteran and the hope that they either heal on their own, or find someone good to help them at the Veterans Administration or in their community. Now there are many good people at the VA. But the VA is passive. Someone has to be discharged and voluntarily come to them to get help. Waiting for that to happen can be too late. It needs to happen near the end of service, while they are still on active duty and before they are discharged and leave the care of the military. Troops in World War II had months at the end of the war to decompress, think about home, and begin to plan for “life” surrounded by friends. And they still had problems transitioning. At a minimum, we should at least do a limited, but better planned version of that journey home WWII troops were able to make. A couple of weeks away from the base, with other troops, no uniforms, unpacking what they’ve experienced and planning for whats next. It would save lives. My entire Ladder UPP program is based on the need of this process, and I have seen it save lives.
And for those wondering, TAPS, the transition class that troops take when they are being discharged is not about learning to live. It’s about paperwork, Powerpoints, how to write a resume, and a myriad of vet resources doing a show and tell. We owe our troops more. Much more.
This post today is just a start. Check back in the coming weeks for more ideas on what this “life bootcamp” should look like.
If you needed a reminder, here is an article from just two days ago about a young former Marine who suffered from PTSD and took his own life.
WE ARE FAILING THEM! Enough bandaids. Let’s train them to live and cope with this hell while they are still on active duty and are surrounded by the resources and friends that can help them fully make the transition home.
