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**gkruCRi1** · 08-06-2010, 05:19 PM

I was just listening to this on my drive into work, on NPR. Yes, Pram my friend, even a conservative like me can enjoy NPR.

Unfortunately, and I know this from experience, the military has the "just suck it up" attitude for many situations. I think the care many of us recieve is given only lip service. I don't know if it has to do with some kind of strange class system that has developed from having an officer/elisted split. We recieve a lot of training to help combat mental problems and looking for signs of suicide and such but that training isn't implemented on a practical level.

Joe soldier is having a hard time ( could be family, finances, TBI ). He's not suicidal and doesn't want to hurt anyone but he definitely needs some help. This help could come in the form of some kind of break in normal duties or some kind of retreat ( vacation ) but normal problems generally are met with, "Suck it up and do your job." The problems then compound and, eventually, could lead to serious outcomes such as suicide. Then, all of the sudden, it's a tragedy. Wrong. It's only a tragedy because it looks bad on an OER or NCOER. That is the tragedy.

We had a soldier that had problems because of TBI as his truck was blown up. These problems showed in his work. He wasn't a bad guy. He didn't do anything what I would consider "bad" or malicious. He simply didn't seem to be "squared away". He got multiple counselings from his PSG and eventually he was given an article 15 and he was busted down from SGT to SPC. This was the real tragedy.

Thank you, FishJoel.

As a civilian, I wonder if there's somewhere that I can volunteer my time to assist. I'm not a professional counselor or anything, but if I could help a soldier get a budget created and a computer set up to allow for easier management of finances, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

The other problem is that TBI is really not well understood. I can't tell you how many patients I've seen with diffuse TBI that just struggled with the most day-to-day chores. The brain is a sensitive thing, and having that massive concussive force pass through it (resulting from nearby explosions) is going to inevitably cause difficulty.

08-06-2010, 05:19 PM	#12
gkruCRi1 Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 505 Senior Member	I was just listening to this on my drive into work, on NPR. Yes, Pram my friend, even a conservative like me can enjoy NPR. Unfortunately, and I know this from experience, the military has the "just suck it up" attitude for many situations. I think the care many of us recieve is given only lip service. I don't know if it has to do with some kind of strange class system that has developed from having an officer/elisted split. We recieve a lot of training to help combat mental problems and looking for signs of suicide and such but that training isn't implemented on a practical level. Joe soldier is having a hard time ( could be family, finances, TBI ). He's not suicidal and doesn't want to hurt anyone but he definitely needs some help. This help could come in the form of some kind of break in normal duties or some kind of retreat ( vacation ) but normal problems generally are met with, "Suck it up and do your job." The problems then compound and, eventually, could lead to serious outcomes such as suicide. Then, all of the sudden, it's a tragedy. Wrong. It's only a tragedy because it looks bad on an OER or NCOER. That is the tragedy. We had a soldier that had problems because of TBI as his truck was blown up. These problems showed in his work. He wasn't a bad guy. He didn't do anything what I would consider "bad" or malicious. He simply didn't seem to be "squared away". He got multiple counselings from his PSG and eventually he was given an article 15 and he was busted down from SGT to SPC. This was the real tragedy. Thank you, FishJoel. As a civilian, I wonder if there's somewhere that I can volunteer my time to assist. I'm not a professional counselor or anything, but if I could help a soldier get a budget created and a computer set up to allow for easier management of finances, I'd do it in a heartbeat. The other problem is that TBI is really not well understood. I can't tell you how many patients I've seen with diffuse TBI that just struggled with the most day-to-day chores. The brain is a sensitive thing, and having that massive concussive force pass through it (resulting from nearby explosions) is going to inevitably cause difficulty.
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