I also think the MOS is very relevant to this thread about PTSD and mental health among troops!

Your opinions, and you are welcomed to them.

Who do you think is more likely to suffer from PTSD?
AN Infantrymen patrolling the streets of Sadr City, or a clerk working in the green zone?

Another,
Who do you think is more likely to reenlist?

another,
when you see a soldier being interviewed on CNN, is he Infantry or rear echelon?

I expect no answers, but I hope I made people think about it!

Army Spec. Jeans Cruz helped capture Saddam Hussein. When he came home to the Bronx, important people called him a war hero and promised to help him start a new life. The mayor of New York, officials of his parents’ home town in Puerto Rico, the borough president and other local dignitaries honored him with plaques and silk parade sashes. They handed him their business cards and urged him to phone.

But a “black shadow” had followed Cruz home from Iraq, he confided to an Army counselor. He was hounded by recurring images of how war really was for him: not the triumphant scene of Hussein in handcuffs, but visions of dead Iraqi children.

In public, the former Army scout stood tall for the cameras and marched in the parades. In private, he slashed his forearms to provoke the pain and adrenaline of combat. He heard voices and smelled stale blood. Soon the offers of help evaporated and he found himself estranged and alone, struggling with financial collapse and a darkening depression.

At a low point, he went to the local Department of Veterans Affairs medical center for help. One VA psychologist diagnosed Cruz with post-traumatic stress disorder. His condition was labeled “severe and chronic.” In a letter supporting his request for PTSD-related disability pay, the psychologist wrote that Cruz was “in need of major help” and that he had provided “more than enough evidence” to back up his PTSD claim. His combat experiences, the letter said, “have been well documented.”

None of that seemed to matter when his case reached VA disability evaluators. They turned him down flat, ruling that he deserved no compensation because his psychological problems existed before he joined the Army. They also said that Cruz had not proved he was ever in combat. “The available evidence is insufficient to confirm that you actually engaged in combat,” his rejection letter stated.

Yet abundant evidence of his year in combat with the 4th Infantry Division covers his family’s living-room wall. The Army Commendation Medal With Valor for “meritorious actions . . . during strategic combat operations” to capture Hussein hangs not far from the combat spurs awarded for his work with the 10th Cavalry “Eye Deep” scouts, attached to an elite unit that caught the Iraqi leader on Dec. 13, 2003, at Ad Dawr.

There is more to this story!

http://www.tondan.com/2007/06/17/soldier-who-captured-saddam-is-sick-but-left-to-rot-by-va/

Notice Disarrno, that they dont seem to avoid his unit designation here.

That is not true anymore. In the past the Army National Guard didn't do that much. Now they are and have been right up on the front lines with everyone else. When they activate you you are sent over there with the same time requirements as the regs. And no matter your MOS you are sent to where they need you.

This is strange, since most National Guard units I have helped train were out of shape. They were old and incapable of passing a PT test! As Infantry, since those are the ones I helped train, they are useless.
To operate as an effective Infantry unit today requires team work skills with very little communication necessary between members other than a few hand signals. Most Guard Infantry units I have came in contact with do not train enough to gain the skills required for this kind of cohesion. Heck most couldn't even tell you what a range card is, or how to properly cross a danger Zone. I have seen them melt barrels with no thoughts to rate of fire limits or to attempts to change barrels.
You are right, I have no idea what kind of madness Bush is employing in Iraq right now, but to send them into combat would take desperation, and IMO would constitute premeditated murder!

Have you seen them in front-line combat roles?

Have you worked with any Iraqi Army units? My curiosity concerning their competence is immense!


These NG Units do an excellent job. I am only keeping their role real!
Support!

As I have said. The Guard isn't like that anymore. The Guard units are now full of veterans from wars and conflicts. They are a mixture of different services. Just in my unit alone there are around 12 former Marines and alot of Rangers. They have been in action already before Iraq. Trust me when I say this because I didn't think it was like that before I got into it. They changed my mind. And don't forget that the guard also has other responsibilities. Going to hurricane hit areas and used to patrol the borders in Texas and Arizona. Also used to combat drugs. Regs don't do most of that.

Nope Regulars are busy learning the art of war or practicing the art of war. No time for hurricanes and such.

Are you NG or Marine Reserve?

I have tracked down most of the NG units that are currently deployed. Where they are deployed, and what their duties are!

There are 10,000 of them.

I just didnt think this thread was a good place to list it.

Its easy for me to get sideways. This thread is about the mental health issues facing our troops.
My mind trailed towards those who are most affected, (Infantry), and I dont want to let my MOS pride go off too far!

I was Infantry, and therefore I am Infantry!
The real deal,
They fuk your head up for life!
I'll die Infantry!

Maybe I have PTSD?
Id never seek help, I really wouldnt.
I'd just keep saying it isnt me.
Its everyone else thats fk'ed up!

They don't get the help they deserve.

This is about the Veteran's Affairs Hospital in my city.

The vets can only get a psych. appt. every 6 wks. That appt. is mostly to discuss meds. There has been a surge of pts. coming in from this war and add that to the quantity of previous pts.

With this last presidency, the monies to the hospital have been cut. They are understaffed.

Even the drug/alchohol rehab time has been cut to 14 days.

News Flash. Our men and women are already coming back in bad shape and not getting the help they deserve!

That just goes to show that when the Bush Administration says they 'support the troops', it's only lip service.

An average of 18 military veterans kill themselves each day, and five of them are under VA care when they commit suicide, according to a December e-mail between top VA officials that was filed as part of the federal lawsuit.

SOB'es

But but but, the Congressmen and women need the pork barrel money to pay for their public centers in their own name in their home state, or to fund research on the processes of fruit flies, or some other dumb pork project.

Now, many pork projects actually have serious relevence, not all are completely insane, but pork for this year is expected to be 17.2 BILLION!

Billions of that are to fund completely ridiculous things.

Filter that off of there to serve the Veterans. But nope, the Congressmen and women who loved to end the 'culture of corruption' decided to restart it immediately when they came into office and go further than any other Congress before them.

Horrible.

Bush has no power over finances for these things, it is the Congress that has the money. It is they who you should blame. Though Bush is obviously such a much easier target for you and others.

It is Congress. Cut the pork you 'culture of corruption' crusaders and funnel that into Veteran's Affairs.