Mental Health and Marital Stability of Deployed Soldiers and Marines...
Secretary Gates' announcement that all Army deployments would be extended to fifteen months came on the heels of a recommendation for shorter deployments and/or longer intervals between deployments by the government's most recent Mental Health Advisory Study of anxiety and depression among Soldiers and Marines deployed in Iraq. The study found an increase in mental health and marital problems among the 1,320 Soldiers and 447 Marines surveyed. The Final Report, dated 17 November 2006, stated that although the main cause of mental health problems was the amount of exposure to combat conditions, Soldiers reported deployment length and marital problems as the main source of their non-combat related stress (Marines reported less non-combat related concerns due to their shorter deployments).
Soldiers suffered higher rates of mental health problems than Marines, unless they shared "similar deployment lengths and histories." Soldiers with multiple deployments were more likely to suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ("PTSD") than soldiers deploying for the first time. Likewise, Soldiers deployed for six months or longer were more likely to suffer from PTSD than Soldiers deployed for less than six months. Not surprisingly, marital concerns have increased with recent deployments (most likely related to the length of the deployments). In fact, TWENTY percent of the Soldiers--and thirteen percent of the Marines--surveyed reported a planned or pending separation or divorce. Overall, the Study found that â??deployment length was related to higher rates of mental health problems and marital problems.â?? One of the key recommendations for improving Soldier and Marine mental health and well-being was to â??[e]xtend the interval between deployments to 18 â?¦quot; 36 months or decrease deployment lengths to allow additional time for Soldiers to re-set following a one-year combat tour.â??
The Final Report can be read in its entirety at Link.
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Soldiers suffered higher rates of mental health problems than Marines, unless they shared "similar deployment lengths and histories." Soldiers with multiple deployments were more likely to suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ("PTSD") than soldiers deploying for the first time. Likewise, Soldiers deployed for six months or longer were more likely to suffer from PTSD than Soldiers deployed for less than six months. Not surprisingly, marital concerns have increased with recent deployments (most likely related to the length of the deployments). In fact, TWENTY percent of the Soldiers--and thirteen percent of the Marines--surveyed reported a planned or pending separation or divorce. Overall, the Study found that â??deployment length was related to higher rates of mental health problems and marital problems.â?? One of the key recommendations for improving Soldier and Marine mental health and well-being was to â??[e]xtend the interval between deployments to 18 â?¦quot; 36 months or decrease deployment lengths to allow additional time for Soldiers to re-set following a one-year combat tour.â??
The Final Report can be read in its entirety at Link.
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They send you away from you family to a remote tour somewhere else for a year (remote means without any family member) and then ship you off to Iraq or Afgan. You are never home. Infidelity, trusting, financial hardships, all kinds of problems that causes problems in marriages.
I was one. My son was 3 and my daughter was 1 and I was sent to Korea for a year without them (which literally broke my heart), my ex-husband betrayed me and we couldn't overcome it, we just didn't have the time.
This is part of the cost of the war that gets overlooked. CHildren losing parents to deployments (temporarily OR permanently) and/or divorce. Soldiers who are afraid to seek mental health help who simply self-destruct. We have a real problem here at Hood with soldiers returning from the war and then dying in car accidents b/c of a misguided sense of immortality mixed with an addiction to adrenaline (due to a failure to readjust to non-combat conditions). We have counters at each gate telling us how many days it has been since the last soldier automotive fatality. The highest I have ever seen it go is 32 days. Usually it is 7 to 14 days in between deaths.
Oh, and I love how we report "casualties." When we say 23,000 or 28,000 or 32,000 wounded, we are talking about 19 and 20 yr old men and women returning to the U.S. as amputees. I had to be at WRAMC for my son and I had never seen so many amputees in my life. They were EVERYWHERE and most of them were SO YOUNG. It was, quite honestly, overwhelming.
There has been some much hope and humanity lost. And everyday, we are losing even more. We are crippling (physically, psychologically, emotionally) an entire generation of young men and women for a war that did not need to be fought. It breaks my heart and pisses me off at the same time.
I really feel for the people who have been there three or even four times. And to hear Cheney talk about committment and service to country when he was never willing to serve himself is plain disgusting.