Interesting and moving story but as a writer of OERs, I wonder if Dana and her readers know that what she quoted is pretty much the norm?
Interesting and moving story but as a writer of OERs, I wonder if Dana and her readers know that what she quoted is pretty much the norm?
Steve - I don't know - certain words are used in the narrative now to qualify and enumerate how a rated officer should be viewed. When it comes down to it though - it depends on the character of the Rater and SR - are they doing those they rate and the Army a favor by providing an honest assessment, or are they sugar coating it? A more quantitative assessment might have been "out of the 10 officers I rate, this officer is number 1" or what have you. CO grades no longer get blocked, so I don't think they don't need to worry about busting profile on them.
However - given the number of U.S. citizens willing to serve in the military, under any conditions - I'd say she was of superior moral fiber then those unwilling to sacrifice something.
I'd also note that duds, are duds, and don't generally get any kind of good reviews these days - conditions have changed the consequences for keeping them in leadership.
So - I'll take the rater and SR at what they wrote - and wonder about what causes people to change, what that means in the face of war, and how are we going to take care of them so that we can sustain a flow of qualified volunteers to fill demanding leadership positions. I hope the reporters follow the story, I think its to our benefit to think about these issues.
Best Regards, Rob
Last edited by Rob Thornton; 12-02-2007 at 04:32 PM.
Point taken. My perspective is skewed--I only rate LTCs so there has been a lot of weeding out by that point. One of mine just came out on the O6 list last week, so I guess I'm not killing them.Originally Posted by Rob Thornton
A concern:
Court-martial charges for attempting suicide? I know it's possible.
I do not, however, think it wise.
It's already difficult to get people (especially military personnel) to seek psychiatric help when they need it. And mental illness is going to be one of the signature post-war issues for the current generation.
I'd say there was a significant nolle prosequi interest here that should have been heeded.
One of my former subordinates was nearly drummed out of the Army because he once answered a hypothetical question about suicide in a class by saying that years ago, during his divorce, he considered the possibility of suicide.
They took away his weapon, while in a war zone, put an armed guard on him 24/7, made him walk around with his boots unbloused and with engineer tape on his helmet on LSA Anaconda, took away any meaningful work and generally harrassed him for a couple of MONTHS, before we were allowed to go home.
And then they harass us in our civilian lives, trying to get us to "admit" we have PTSD/MTBI. I have no idea what their plan is for us, as Reservists, but I'd give large amounts of money that any "help" will be reserved for Active Duty types, but the stygma will be real, and lasting.
I can see the Army Reserve giving us the choice of mental treatment at our own expense, or kicking us out. (Actually, I can see them forcing us to get the help, AND kicking us out. Every day is Blue Falcon day in the good old Army Reserve, dontcha know) They are starting to do that with hearing loss, right now. More and more of us are getting medical review boards. We had two students pulled out of class yesterday to go before a medical review board with little notice.
Drew
I can only say that in the intel world, one never ever fessed up to such things lest you lose your clearance and thereby lost your career.
Best
Tom
My mother in-law is one of the formost experts in PTSD for the VA (well was she is now retired). She used to work at the VA Hospital in Richmond VA. I have argued with her, pleaded with her, and finally cussed her out in front of my wife. She is sure that all soldiers are broken and we must be fixed. Not nearly house broken enough if we've ever worn a uniform we are surely the victims of violence. From her point of view of course it is valid as she only see's military members once they've had a substantial mental break. If the only sample you've see is 100 percent messed up then .... Still the negatives of trying to find help (other than the bottom of a bottle) are far outweighed by any treatment. And that REALLY sucks.
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
I pray that changes.
I'll be blunt: Hell yes, I've considered suicide. Been hospitalized for it. I was 15 at the time; teenage stuff plus disability stuff equals one screwed up mind.
I have depression. It helped make college hell for me, but though I will admit there are days it feels otherwise, generally speaking, I'm stable (I could never call myself normal), if vigilant. I take my meds religiously, see the usual professionals like clockwork.
But I'm open about all this. Nobody could ever coerce me with it - and my usual habit when I have depressive episodes is to shut up about anything and everything, not talk.
So why should my mental health issues, so long as they remain treated and stable, be any bar to a clearance? Something happens, I'd give up any clearance temporarily.
And moving aside from me...How the hell does that idea make any sense?
You say "You have a mental illness, you lose your clearance" is the worst idea. 1 in 5 Americans have depression. Shouldn't we be encouraging people to get help?
We don't pull clearances from alcoholics or those with drug problems instantly - we condition their clearance eligibility on getting help, I'm given to understand.
If you say "If you've had suicidal ideations or depression or any other mental illness, no clearance for you", what does that do except give people lots of motivation to leave their issues untreated, hide them from everyone (usually badly), and lie to you?
(Actually...Does anybody know the current policy? I remember hearing they were taking out the mental health questions to encourage people to get treatment, but then I never heard anything more about that.)
Good observation. However, even if her earlier rater and senior rater comments are completely honest and substantive, the leadership environment for a med officer at Walter Reed is completely different than that for one serving at a detention facility in Iraq. Like many other combat vs non-combat, strategic vs tactical, etc. positions, an individual may serve with distinction in one, but fail miserably on the other side. Not everyone can make the switch - and attempting to live up to personal performance goals in such a completely different environment can be an incredible stressor upon the one who can't seem to make the adjustment.
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