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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 05/13/2006 : 22:27:44
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This AP article at CNN.com rang a bell. A few minutes after reading it, I realized what bell was ringing in my head. It came from a book that literally kept me sane during my Vietnam deployment. History doesn't exactly repeat, but some aspects of it do, again and again.
Joseph Heller's brilliantly funny 1961 novel of WWII, Catch-22 is centered around the struggles of American bomber pilot Captain John Yossarian and his comrades stationed on an Italian island, and their attempts to avoid combat missions and the near-certain death associated with them. The problem is, the Army bureaucracy has ways of dealing with people like Yossarian:quote:
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle. 'That's some catch, that Catch-22,' he observed. 'It's the best there is,' Doc Daneeka agreed.
Now fast-forward about sixty-two years, and move spatially to the south-east. It looks as though US commander in Iraq have read Heller's classic.
From the above article: quote:
Commanders, not medical professionals, have final say over whether a troubled soldier is retained in a war zone. Col. Elspeth Ritchie, the Army's top mental health expert, and other military officials said they believe most commanders are alert to mental health problems and are open to referring troubled soldiers for treatment.
Ritchie acknowledged that some deployment practices, such as sending service members diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome back into combat, have been driven in part by a troop shortage.
"The challenge for us ... is that the Army has a mission to fight. And, as you know, recruiting has been a challenge," she said. "And so we have to weigh the needs of the Army, the needs of the mission, with the soldiers' personal needs."
Ritchie insisted the military works hard to prevent suicides, but it is a challenge because every soldier has access to a weapon.
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Maj. Andrew Efaw, a judge advocate general officer in the Army Reserves who handled trial defenses for soldiers in northern Iraq last year, said commanders don't want to send mentally ill soldiers into combat.
"But on the other hand, [the com mender] doesn't want to send a message to his troops that if you act up, he's willing to send you home," Efaw said.
Your comments?
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 05/14/2006 : 03:57:50 [Permalink]
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Our peace group invited a psyciatrist to speak. He was an officer in the National Guard returning from Iraq. I think officers are required to propagandize for the military, I dunno.
One of the things he talked about was the idea that it was better for a lot of the people with PTSD to get back into combat after a short rest. To do otherwise would be to let them think they're crazy, and that would make them worse.
The old 'get back on the horse' philosophy. Makes sense for some, I'm sure.
I think this was part of what Alice's Restaurant was about. You can't have crazy people doing things that only a crazy person would want to do.
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I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears
But it's alright-
Jerry Garcia
Robert Hunter
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