US troops with mental health problems forced into combat- the intention is…

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US troops with mental health problems forced into combat: Report
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(AP)
14 May 2006
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Source
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HARTFORD, Connecticut - US military troops with severe psychological problems have been sent to Iraq or kept in combat, even when superiors have been aware of signs of mental illness, a newspaper reported for Sunday editions. The Hartford Courant, citing records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act and more than 100 interviews of families and military personnel, reported numerous cases in which the military failed to follow its own regulations in screening, treating and evacuating mentally unfit troops from Iraq. In 1997, Congress ordered the military to assess the mental health of all deploying troops. The newspaper, citing Pentagon statistics, said fewer than 1 in 300 service members were referred to a mental health professional before shipping out for Iraq as of October 2005.
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Twenty-two US troops committed suicide in Iraq last year, accounting for nearly one in five of all non-combat deaths and was the highest suicide rate since the war started, the newspaper said. Some service members who committed suicide in 2004 and 2005 were kept on duty despite clear signs of mental distress, sometimes after being prescribed antidepressants with little or no mental health counseling or monitoring. Those findings conflict with regulations adopted last year by the Army that caution against the use of antidepressants for “extended deployments.” “I can’t imagine something more irresponsible than putting a soldier suffering from stress on (antidepressants), when you know these drugs can cause people to become suicidal and homicidal,” (and that's what the US is looking forward to probably, so they will kill more Iraqis no regret, no charges because they are crazy /mental distress – they know their soldiers are chickens , they should become beasts) said Vera Sharav, president of the Alliance for Human Research Protection. “You’re creating chemically activated time bombs.” (see =) told ya)
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Although Defense Department standards for enlistment disqualify recruits who suffer “persistent post-traumatic symptoms,” the military also is redeploying service members to Iraq who fit that criteria, the newspaper said. “I’m concerned that people who are symptomatic are being sent back. That has not happened before in our country,” said Dr. Arthur S. Blank, Jr., a Yale-trained psychiatrist who helped to get post-traumatic stress disorder recognized as a diagnosis after the Vietnam War. The Army’s top mental health expert, Col. Elspeth 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. ( to get rid of them maybe – to don't pay more money for their treatment) “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.”
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Ritchie insisted the military works hard to prevent suicides, but is a challenge because every soldier has access to a weapon. Commanders, not medical professionals, have final say over whether a troubled soldier is retained in the war zone. Ritchie and other military officials said they believe most commanders are alert to mental health problems and are open to referring troubled soldiers for treatment. “Your average commander doesn’t want to deal with a whacked-out soldier. But on the other hand, he doesn’t want to send a message to his troops that if you act up, he’s willing to send you home,” ( I think they want such soldiers who act up, it is for they evil advantage I guess) said Maj. Andrew Efaw, a judge advocate general officer in the Army Reserves who handled trial defense for soldiers in northern Iraq last year. ​

*Peace and love*
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Yours Sincerely,
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Cat Stevens
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Cat Stevens' latest threads
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My sig
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Note: Silly , repeated, Irrelevant, and the like, responses, posts, comments will be ignored (it depends on my mood and time if I won't ignore them), taking off the topic is losers' style, if I'm not replying to your relevant post maybe because of this , ask yourself: will you write such response if the writer wasn't a Muslim! ​

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Minister: Suicide bomber a handicapped child

Iraq police say attacker seemed to have Down Syndrome

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6889106/

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Using mentally retarded children to bomb voting stations - it says a lot about what the Iraqi resistance stands for. But forget that, lets get back to hating America!

 

You have to love someone who claims to be a devout Muslim (not a fundamentalist, just devout) yet he seems to post something anti-American every day, sometimes more.

If I met him in a subway station a shopping mall I'd get as far away as possible.

 

man soz laughin dudes "but reading thread title after a peace pipe wowwwwww........classic title ....but maybe it should of been titled all troops around the world with mental health problems forced into combat. .........peace

 

Post#2 belongs to my ignor list....so it is ignored (won't read it)​

paulfreespirit​

They can complain. They can leave the Army.​

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*Peace and love*​

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Yours Sincerely,​

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Cat Stevens​

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Note: Silly , repeated, Irrelevant, and the like, responses, posts, comments will be ignored (it depends on my mood and time if I won't ignore them), taking off the topic is losers' style, if I'm not replying to your relevant post maybe because of this , ask yourself: will you write such response if the writer wasn't a Muslim!​

 

I'm so proud to be on the ignore list. Why, don't I use enough colors and fonts?

 

again 1 new reply from the 'ignore' list
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ignored... save more Time, ​

*Peace and love* ​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens
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Note: Silly , repeated, Irrelevant, and the like, responses, posts, comments will be ignored (it depends on my mood and time if I won't ignore them), taking off the topic is losers' style, if I'm not replying to your relevant post maybe because of this , ask yourself: will you write such response if the writer wasn't a Muslim!​

 

imagine a peacefull world man you may say i"m a dreamer buy i"m not the only one .have a peacefully day people ...........peace . hey man whats a ignore list " has it got something to do with goverments .

 

it is hard to judge a resistance composed of many smaller autonomous cells by the behaviour of one.

it isn't hard to judge the institutionalized behaviour of a unified body.

 

paulfreespirit​

click ​

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*Peace and love*​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​

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Not so hard. Was there a chorus of condemnation? No. There's your answer.

The US Army is still made up of individuals.

If you go to a US Army recruiting station and see Abu Ghraib photos proudly displayed, let me know. Meanwhile, videos of aid workers being decapitated are proudly distributed and used as recruiting tools by the Iraqi resistance. See the difference?

 

You're right. These "terrorists" would concede if only protests were mounted and petitions signed. There is no effective method of condemnation.

Obviously. But certain behaviours are individual, and some are institutional. Recruiting practices are most definetely the latter.

Since when does institutionalized have anything to do with open and unconcealed?

 

I'm talking about other resistance groups. If I was in a resistance group, or any group, I'd certainly condemn anyone who decapitated aid workers in the name of my cause. This has nothing to do with what would make them concede.

Yes and the institutional reaction was to imprison those caught torturing detainees.

I'm talking about the reaction to these crimes. In the US Army, they were punished and condemned. In the Iraqi resistance, they are proudly publicised. This is the difference.

 

AINT THAT THE TRUTH !!!!!
Either the soldiers of the world should have pity taken on them and put into care homes because they arent clever enough to know what they are getting into - or they know they are gonna be called into battle at some point and deserve our utmost ridicule for wanting to fight for regimes that are doing nothing but trying to get them killed

 

why? is the truth a little to too bitter?

it's nice to see that I, an ignorant westerner, will read all of the cut and paste shit that you spew out everyday. but when something like this comes out, you decide you won't read it. what's the matter, will allah splatter your guts if you read it?

Amen

p.s.

if you don't read this, then that's just too bad.

 

taxrefund90​

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Nah, he was added to the list before that post.
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Sh*t why? is the truth a little to too bitter? ==> originally posted by the ignorant westerner, and if they are Sh*t why do you bother yourself by reading them or even by replying, Oh! then those sites which I copy from them publish Sh*t ​

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I didn't read it to know what he wrote and I don't care =) as I said, he was added to the list before that, that's why I wrote Post#2 belongs to my ignor list believe it or not who cares, and yeah I don't know if you are that member who All his posts in my threads are off topic just as this one, I think he has the same avatar, who cares anyway ​

*Peace and love*​

Yours Sincerely,​

Cat Stevens​