The Military's Mounting Mental Health Problems

"A Fort Lewis soldier and veteran of the war in Iraq turned himself in [April 21]... saying he had committed a homicide, a Pierce County sheriff's spokesman said. The soldier's 28-year-old wife subsequently was found dead, apparently from homicidal violence. ...The soldier ... returned to Fort Lewis last month after serving for a year in Iraq with the 555th Combat Engineer Group." - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 22, 2004

Over the past year there have been an unusually high number of suicides among U.S. troops in Iraq, and hundreds of soldiers experiencing psychological problems have been evacuated from the country. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's recent announcement authorizing the extension -- by at least three months -- of the tours of duty of some 20,000 soldiers set to return home, and the possibility of intensified urban warfare may add to the stress suffered by soldiers serving in Iraq.

In response, the U.S. has increased the use of combat stress control teams, established a toll-free crisis hotline for service members having problems dealing with stress, and set up recuperation centers where soldiers can chill out for a few days before returning to the front lines. Questions about whether these actions are too little too late, and how the soldiers will be treated when they return home remain to be answered.

Twenty-four soldiers -- 20 army personnel, two Marines and two sailors -- have taken their lives during the past year in Iraq and Kuwait. In addition, there have been seven suicides among "newly States-sided troops," including two soldiers who killed themselves while patients at Walter Reed Army Hospital, the Toronto Star recently reported.

The suicide rate for army troops in Iraq has been 17.3 per 100,000 soldiers, compared to the overall Army rate of 11.9 per 100,000 between 1995 and 2002. According to StrategyPage.com, this rate is higher than the rate for all branches of the military during the Vietnam War, which was 15.6, and higher than during the 1991 Persian Gulf War which had a 3.6 rate for all branches.

"The higher suicide rate in Iraq can be attributed to the higher percentage of married and reserve troops, and the lower amount of stress training and screening in basic training for non-combat troops," military analyst James F. Dunnigan, author of The Next War Zone: Confronting the Global Threat of Cyberterrorism, wrote in a recent commentary.

Dr. David N. Tornberg, deputy assistant secretary of defense for clinical and program policy, told American Forces Radio and Television Service that the suicide deaths are a "primary concern" for his office. "It's very important for anyone who is feeling stressed to come forward, to speak to their chaplain, to speak to a mental health practitioner or physician, to speak to someone in your line of authority," he said.

Coming forward, however, often exacts a severe price: Staff Sgt. Georg-Andreas Pogany, an interrogator for the 10th Special Forces Group, was charged with cowardice after suffering a panic attack in Iraq, the Denver Post recently reported. Although "the cowardice charge was [eventually] dropped...Pogany's case at Fort Carson is still unresolved."

Secretary Rumsfeld's tour extensions came a few weeks after the Army issued a report on the mental health conditions of the troops serving in Iraq. A previous "after-action" report written in October 2003, and obtained by United Press International, indicated the Pentagon had "'inappropriately' deployed soldiers to Iraq who already were diagnosed with mental problems."

"Variability in pre-deployment screening guidelines for mental health issues may have resulted in some soldiers with mental health diagnoses being inappropriately deployed," the earlier report stated. That could "create the impression that some soldiers develop problems in theater, when, in some cases, they actually have pre-existing conditions."