4A At the Fort

I'm at [Fort]... Soldier was admitted to xxxxx for treatment of his PTSD... seems he was diagnosed and recommended for treatment 9-10 months ago but somehow the diagnosis and recommendation were either overlooked or ignored... and his depression and anxiety have gotten so bad in the 15 WEEKS he has been waiting for his appointment with a doc... and of course the a$$hat of a SFC he works for kept telling him to "suck it up and drive on" whenever Soldier told him he was messed up and thought he needed to see someone...

and in the 5 days that he has been in this facility (as usual the psych unit at Army Hospital is overfilled and so there are 25-30 soldiers at this private clinic off base... at $1000 per day per soldier you'd think they'd put the money into a new facility at [fort] especially if they are going to continue to send young men to war...)

in the 5 days he has been in the facility, NOT ONE OF HIS NCO's has been to see him... and when he asked his SFC -- who he works for directly -- on the day he was admitted if he would go by his apartment to get him some civilian clothes (he was in his ACUs and uniforms and rank insignia are not allowed) his SFC told him IT WAS TOO INCONVENIENT... so much for that "band of brothers" thing... in addition to Soldier telling his SFC that he REALLY needed help, there were apparently suicide attempts by 3 other soldiers in Soldier's unit in the last 10 days... Soldier was only thinking about it...

frankly, I'm beginning to believe that the Army is doing a damn fine job of sweeping this under the rug and doing all that it can to deny that there is a problem... I spoke with both Soldier's Dr (an MD) and his counselor (a doctorate in psychology)... NEITHER have ever been in the military and NEITHER have ever been in battle... but they tell me they have "lots of training" in treating PTSD... so they say stupid shit like "focus on the positive things" that happened in Iraq and don't focus on the deaths (like there there WERE good things in Ramadi???) and they say stuff like "you might be bipolar" -- like there might have been some symptoms of that BEFORE he got his a$$ shot up and all his friends blown to bits??? or asking him "are you a substance abuser?" there seems to be no convincing these a$$hats that he was a perfectly normal, happy-go-lucky 19 year old BEFORE he went to Iraq... and he was a good soldier who did his job well (well enough that if he weren't hospitalized, he would have made E-5 BEFORE his 3 yr mark!)

I can't seem to find anyone who can tell me what the treatment standards are? when I asked whether these guys are ever cured, the counselor told me that they just help the guys "live with it" -- I presume he means with drugs -- Soldier is already on 3... and I agree that's probably what's necessary in the short term, but doesn't seem to be a plan to ever get these guys OFF the meds...

and what's the difference between "medically retired" and "medically discharged"? I don't know whether this is what will happen, but the civilian doctors keep bantering these terms around... and frankly, the first thing the Army evaluator told Soldier at the ARMY clinic was that his military career would be over if he sought help... and this is how they encourage guys to get help??? they have to choose the Army or their sanity??? f** that.

also, is there someone I should be speaking with at [fort] -- do they have a soldier or patient advocate? I want to be sure his benefits are protected and that he isn't railroaded into some decision or course of treatment that's inappropriate... and I know it's the Army, but this is my 21 yr old son... as I told the doctor, I just want to see my son smile again. He asked, when was the last time you saw him smile? I said, before he went to Iraq. The thought that he could be depressed or have these nightmares for the next 70 years weighs on me.

I'm in [xxxxx] until at least Wednesday but could be longer depending on what's happening with Soldier... been here since this last Wednesday...