Photo By Spc. Douglas York | Spc. Jon Miles, a native of Olympia, Wash., who serves as a mental health specialist...... read more read more
By Spc. Douglas York
Multi-National Division - Baghdad
CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq – Life offers many opportunities to utter idioms or old sayings, which helps people cope with or understand the various circumstances and situations they find themselves in. Soldiers are no different.
Aside from the usual military jargon, a common phrase among Soldiers goes something to the effect: "Spend a day in my shoes and then you'll really have something to complain about."
Thankfully there are people within the Army, the 4th Infantry Division and Multi-National Division – Baghdad, who not only care enough about those "shoes," but also care enough to walk with the Soldiers in them. These folks step outside their own lives and walk down the paths of other troops and talk with them about how to mentally deal with what happens along the way.
"Homefront issues, that's the number-one problem we're seeing in theater," said Spc. Jon Miles, a native of Olympia, Wash., who serves as a mental health specialist with 98th Medical Detachment, Combat Stress Control, assigned to aid the Soldiers of MND-B. "It is an 'equal opportunity' [issue], and it doesn't matter how long you've been in," he added, while addressing Soldiers of Company D, 1st Battalion, 114th Infantry Regiment, New Jersey Army National Guard, at a recent Warrior Resiliency Training class offered on Camp Liberty.
Miles is one of many mental health specialists currently serving in the Iraq theater of operations. He falls directly under the tutelage and guidance of many seasoned veterans in the field, most notably Maj. Thomas Jarrett, a native of Jonesboro, Tenn., Prevention Team leader, 98th Med. Det., CSC, which, in-turn, falls under the umbrella of 4th Inf. Div. and MND-B.
"We serve 4th Inf. Div. and all of the units on Victory and Liberty," Jarrett said. "Also, 17-18 JSSs, so we spend half of our time going out on missions to train people."
Jarrett, Miles and a host of others are a big part of the Ironhorse Division's and the Army's push to ensure that no Soldier in need of mental help goes untreated. No matter the time or resources, each Soldier seeking help will get it.
"I've never lost a patient, and I've had 14,000 patient hours working with clients," Jarrett said, noting that he's been teaching WRT principles since 2005.
The basic aspect of the approaches that Jarrett and many of his colleagues use involves post traumatic growth and stoicism.
"Stoicism is a mental form of training that's designed to teach you to manage your perceptions of everything you see and to control your emotions," Jarrett said. "They [people in history, such as Roman philosophers] spent 800 years developing it," he added, emphasizing how refined the practice is and how much it compares to the Army's Warrior Ethos.
While Jarrett and the crew he travels with around the MND-B battle space generally rely on stoicism and PTG as their first line of defense against post traumatic stress disorder and the other mental obstacles Soldiers in combat must endure, it is one of many techniques at the disposal of mental health professionals.
"We try to have many methods at our disposal, not just one single approach," said Maj. Christopher Ivany, a native of Harker Heights, Texas, who serves as the division psychiatrist with 4th Inf. Div, MND-B. "Any one provider can take many different approaches to helping a Soldier with a problem – depending on what that Soldier needs," he said.
The stoic principles and principles of resiliency are very important and can help a lot of Soldiers; however, there are other Soldiers who require different methods to help them, he said.
"The important thing is to tailor the approach to what the Soldier needs. There's no one-size-fits-all theory or approach that helps every Soldier," Ivany said. "It's a matter of understanding what's going on with the individual Soldier so we can help them most effectively," he added.
Regardless of the techniques being used, helping Soldiers cope with mental challenges is exactly what the aforementioned individuals have been doing since they arrived in theater.
"I think Maj. Jarrett was able to bring out the reality aspects of the training," said Capt. Richard Karcher, a native of Tabernacle, N.J., who serves as the commander of Co. D, 1st Bn., 114th Inf. Regt. "Not only was it important for my Soldiers to get this (training) but for my leadership to get this too," he added.
Ivany agreed with Karcher's assessment of his peer's efforts.
"I think Maj. Jarrett's message in those briefs is a very good one, a very positive one that has been, in some degree, incorporated into the combat stress mini-briefs and strategies for several years," Ivany said. "He does a great job pulling those things together and communicating in an easy to use and interesting way that I really think connects with Soldiers," he added.
All involved know that the most important thing is to help the Soldiers and their leaders recognize signs of trouble within their battle buddies and how to act on those signs.
"I think the most important thing for both battle buddies and the first-line leaders who are in close, daily contact with Soldiers, is to know those Soldiers," Ivany said. "Understand what's going on in their lives both at home and in theater because we know that about nine times out of 10, a Soldier who completes suicide here has had, in the previous 30 days, a loss of an intimate relationship," he added.
It is up to a Soldier's leaders and friends to know him or her well enough to care when they are going through a hard time and to ensure that the Soldier gets the appropriate help they need, he said.
One of the biggest obstacles to overcome with regards to mental heath lies within the Soldier.
"Something that we fight through in the Army quite a bit is the idea that coming in to seek mental healthcare means that you're weak or that you're admitting a weakness," Ivany said. "In reality, it is in my view, and I think the leaders of this division, a sign of strength that you're able to acknowledge that you are working through an issue and would appreciate the help of someone else to work through that issue.
"It's those with courage that are able to come forward and say 'Yeah, I need help with this issue.'"
Miles taught as much during the recent class with the infantry Soldiers.
"What we're teaching isn't the idea of putting on a pair of rose-colored glasses, looking through and seeing everything perfect," Miles said. "What we are doing is telling you how you can take a step back, take the horse-blinders off, and look at the big picture."
However, all agreed that doing so is easier said than done but were unanimous in saying that Soldiers can overcome their roadblocks with help, with care, and with the knowledge of what to look for in themselves and each other.
Ivany elaborated on what Soldiers can look out for in one another, which can help identify if a friend is under mental duress.
"A clear change in a Soldier's behavior, such as withdrawing from the unit, a change in their daily routine, showing up late to work, looking fatigued and tired in the morning, not going to meals with their buddies like they used to or not participating in MWR-type activities that they had with their friends – are all key things," Ivany said. "Certainly any comments about hopelessness or wanting to be dead or things like that should be clear, red flags for buddies and first-line leaders that a Soldier may need help," he added.
In addition to the physical signs, Ivany also pointed out the other behind-the-scenes traumatic events that often signal a Soldier needs help.
"The most common ones here in theater are going through family concerns and issues, marital-relationship problems, workplace conflicts that can be more stressful, and different leadership challenges," Ivany said. "Combat-related stressors are usually easier to identify, such as the loss of a friend or a good buddy to some sort of combat-related incident," he added.
Across the board Ivany, Jarrett and Miles have been successful during their tours in helping MND-B and its subordinate units cope with the day-in-and-day-out grind of a combat zone. In fact, including the more than 8,000 Soldiers Jarrett has seen, either in a large group setting or one on one, have resulted in a 60-70 percent less suicide rate versus the theater average, Jarrett said.
Additionally, they have greatly reduced the number of Soldiers that had to be medically evacuated for mental health reasons by drastically increasing the number of provider to patient contacts by 150-200 percent.
"Our goals all along during this deployment were to make mental healthcare be three things: To be as available to the Soldier as possible; to be effective; and to be free of stigma," Ivany said, recounting the vision which the division's command group asked his section to fulfill. "We've worked through those three issues throughout this whole deployment, so if Soldiers feel like there's care available, they can take advantage of that care without being ridiculed within their unit or even by themselves. And if that care then leads them to a solution, then I feel like we've been successful in what we've tried to do here," he added.
Many people, at one point or another in their lives, may need help in overcoming a traumatic event on some level. One way or another, life's challenges tend to find a way to test our minds and our resiliency.
Thankfully, for the Ironhorse Soldiers and military personnel in general, the idioms regarding whose shoes are the biggest, whose load is the heaviest, and whose burdens are the greatest do not matter because people like Ivany, Jarrett, Miles and others are there to help.
| Date Taken: | 10.25.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 10.25.2008 16:25 |
| Story ID: | 25558 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 87 |
| Downloads: | 63 |
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