PTSD and Kimberly Dozier
1stCavRVN11B sent me a link to a Free Republic discussion about a CBS article which highlights the Army’s failure to address PTSD issues among the troops effectively. I’m no doctor, I’m an infantryman, so I really have no comments on the PTSD portion of the discussion. However, I have lots to say about the author of the CBS article, Kimberly Dozier.
Now, Ms. Dozier is probably a fairly courageous journalist in that she survived an IED attack in Iraq two years ago and certain members of her team did not. More than likely, she was saved, by members of the military, including doctors and medical professionals. You think she might have learned a bit about the rank structure of the military while she was there.
In the article, she writes about the suicide of First Sergeant Jeff McKinney, who killed himself in front of his troops a year ago last July. In the article, Dozier calls McKinney a “commander”. Really? I’m pretty sure most first sergeants would bristle at the hint that they command their companies. But you discover why Dozier did that a few lines down when she starts jabbing at Army leadership about an unsourced, unsupported incident;
“We’ve got a rough and tough, sort of macho culture that says none of that soft squishy touchy feely stuff,” said Brigadeer General Loree Sutton, director of the military’s Center for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. “Well, we need to bring the brain out of what has been a black box.”
But that’s fighting Army tradition.
Commanders at one army base posted a fake “Hurt Feelings Report” — portraying a crying cartoon face — to mock soldiers seeking help for combat stress. Selections on the form included: “I am a crybaby,” “I want my mommy” and “All of the above.” It was tacked on the barracks bulletin board, next to the sign-up sheet, for the mental health clinic.
Emphasis mine. Do ya know what I wonder? What Army base? If Dozier was trying to prove a point, that should have been included in the paragraph. And knowing how badly the media likes to throw fingers at the military culture, it makes me think the story is BS because she didn’t name the base.
On top of that, I seriously doubt any commander would ever instruct his senior NCO advisor to post those notices, nor do I think a senior NCO advisor would allow any commander to make that mistake even if the commander were so inclined. It’s not just a feeling I have, it’s the way things are. Period. No base commander would condone that flyer.
Dozier called McKinney a “commander” so she could tell that story. If it even happened, it was probably some junior NCO who posted the notice as a joke. It was never intended to be taken seriously – and in Dozier’s telling of the story, all NCOs are commanders, too. So “commanders at one Army base posted” the fake notice. Here’s a screen shot of the alleged notice from the CBS video;
Here’s the Hurt Feelings Report which has been on the internet for over a year. And the World of Warcraft Hurt Feelings Report. It makes me think that some jokester printed it off the internet and just put it on the same bulletin board that a sign-up sheet happened to be on. Unless Ms. Dozier has more information she’d like to share.
Category: Politics
This is why I stopped watching the news on basic cable. Too much retardedness seeped through. They think that anything mildly sarcastic/sardonic/satirist that Military personnel put up on bulletin boards/blogs/websites, etc. is put there to demean somebody and is meant as a huge insult. These retards have no concept of a sense of humor, even if it is gallows humor. Soldiers, Police Officers, and Fire and Rescue personnel all develop gallows humor because it helps us cope with the harsh reality and sometimes, the horrors that we have seen or do see on a daily basis. I am not a Combat Arms Soldier, I grew up in an Infantry household. Dad has that sense of humor, I forced myself to develop it, after visiting villages that still see a significant portion of their population die out each year from diseases that were wiped out in the US generations ago. This “Crybaby form” is an example of the mantra “If you don’t laugh, you’ll go crazy!” Hell, I have done something similar. Back during the summer, I found an actual Shit List form, where an NCO or person can keep track of people who have wronged them in some way and what they will do about it. I distributed it as a JOKE to all of the Senior NCOs and Team Sergeants in my Unit, everyone had a good laugh.
PTSD is a rare disease but is used daily to obtain Vet benefits. Can’t blame the vet’s, free money.
Dozier along with millions of Americans are suffering from a far more dangerous disease called BDS which will kick in on Jan 21, 2009 when the democrats realize GWB is gone but they’re still crazy.
Regular CNN viewers are 82.75% more likely to murder their families and commit suicide (depressive news leads to depression) than conservatives who only watch CNN once in a while for the comedy value. I read these stats in the fart stains in my shorts. Same place the Lame Stream Media gets they’re news reports.
I few of us countered a MoveOn and Code Pink sponsored “reading of the names” on the lawn of the Capitol on evenng. They had an IVAW type that complained we should pack up our free speech because we “hurt his feelings”.
Swear to God, that was a reason he gave.
If I were an editor, I would not allow anything to be printed that was “unsourced”.
That is why I’m a blogger and not an editor…
How many times have we heard “A source within the Pentagon who doesn’t want to be named…” etc?
Mess decks rumors sound down right credible by comparison with what today’s “journalists” a putting out!
That is because Scuttlebutt doesn’t have Dan Rather or Peter Jennings, or Chris Matthews anywhere near the mix. Just the people on your left and right who know what INTEGRITY is, what it means, and live up to it as a Core Value. The media in general, and journalists in particular, have forgotten what that word means. Walter Cronkite knew, but apparently that has become the Lost Ark of Journalism.
Scrapiron said: PTSD is a rare disease but is used daily to obtain Vet benefits. Can’t blame the vet’s, free money.
Define ‘rare’ please?
The balance of your observation is troubling. If someone suffers a hearing loss and can establish a military service connection… is compensation ‘free money’?
Speaking as a person awaiting a VA decision on that very service connected disability, that money from the VA is not free. I gave up a piece of myself, in this case, part of my hearing in the line of duty. That is why it is defined as compensation. The VA COMPENSATES you for injuries suffered in the line of duty, therefore, it ain’t technically “Free Money” as so described.
Nothing from the Government is ever “free”. It is sad how few people actually realize this!
PTSD is no joke. It is an insidious problem that is hard to treat because of the shame involved. For too long we have been told to “Suck it up and move out”. But what happens when the Soldier can’t suck it up any more?
Might I suggest that you guys go read a great post on PTSD by Grim over at Blackfive:
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/11/on-ptsd-or-more.html
Perhaps it will shed a some light on the ignorance of some.
Matt-
You’re right about the shame that people can feel about admitting they need help. Hopefully, the services are now paying more attention. While I might agree that some people do milk the system, it isn’t right to force a troop to suffer because of perceptions of stigmas attached to this condition.
It’s easy for some folks to criticize PTSD. They’ve never woken up with sweat-soaked sheets, or woken up their partner talking or crying or screaming in the night. They’ve never had to drink themselves to sleep to keep the dreams away, the sounds, the smells, the voices, the faces…
I’ve known those guys. They weren’t guys who couldn’t hack it. they were guys who didn’t know how to let it go, who put all those things into boxes in their minds, locked away and forgotten. Then someday, the boxes started to open, or something picked the locks and what was inside got free again.
There are, indeed, some who game the system, but they are pretty easy to spot. The doctors at the VA are pretty good at separating the wheat from the chaff. I know from this.
It ain’t free money. Every frikkin’ dime of it was earned, with interest, many times over, and I can guarantee you that there’s not one veteran I know who wouldn’t trade every last bit of that compensation for a quiet night’s sleep, or the ability to trust the world around them again. To feel normal.
Anyway, that’s been my experience.
Seen too much of it in people from every walk of life myself. You needn’t have been in combat to have PTSD. Rape victims come to mind, along with those that have endured family violence and so on.
Law enforcement, emergency medics and fire can suffer from it, so one thing is apparent from it. There are situations that may and do trigger it.
And now thanks to soon to be ex Pres Bush an amendment to a law the left and elitists wanted passed is closer to taking guns ownership rights away from those classified with it or ADHD, ADD or anything else described in the law he signed off on last December (2007).
Is it real? I believe so….I’ve had more than one employee in the past with signs of it.
TSO wrote: If you are referring to what I think you are, it is a bill I worked on myself, and it does no such thing. Can you be more specific so I can look into it?
streetsweeper: So what you’re saying is I need to buy as many guns as possible before I leave the military and my PTSD diagnosis crosses over into the civilian system? Because that’s what I’m hearing. I don’t plan to go about unarmed for the rest of my life.
Also, yeah, PTSD is no joke and I only wish it were rare. There was another story in the stars and stripes about another soldier who killed himself because of it.
We do need to change the damn culture. NCOs like 1SG Grisham of Soldiers Perspective are leading the way, but there are all too many 1SGs and commanders that do think it’s bullshit.
I had a battalion commander once that said he didn’t believe in mental illness. So the commanders and 1SGs discouraged seeking help. We had five suicides that year. It happens. Maybe not at base level, but it happens. Commanders can be stubborn jackasses just like others.
Getting back to the supposed “report” cited by Kimberly Dozier in the CBS news “story”, it’s hard to believe that a news organization got taken in by this! Actually, we should believe it because the MSM (including MSNBC and the New York Slimes) have both posted false reports that originated from either hoax websites and/or radio shows. I’m not saying that PTSD is not an issue, but it’s hard to believe that Dozier is taking things so seriously to be taken in by a joke (Hurt Feelings Report). This is one of the reasons I hate speech fascism (political correctness).
Again, this is what the left does, they take things that were made as a joke, and turn them into a big deal. This is what has become of journalism.
Streetsweeper,
I only wrote about veterans and PTSD, since this is a MillBlog. But I have also seen it’s effects amongst first-responders and in many other professions.
Grimm’s article over to Blackfive is well worth the read, and he hits the nail square.
respects,
I have a copy of the hurt feelings report at my desk. I keep it prominently posted. I keep it handy for those who get their panties in a wad over trivial stuff, i.e., EO, CO2, POSH, etc. Nobody is shooting at you, nobody is trying to kill you.
Having been diagnosed and treated for PTSD on two occasions, I don’t take kindly to anybody who thinks it is not serious. When any of my students or coworkers are displaying some PTSD symptoms, I advise them to seek help. When that same person is just being a little daisy, I give them a hurt-feelings report. Easy to separate typical whining from a cry for help. Also too easy to lump them together because you don’t have the skills, training, experience, maturity, empathy, etc. to tell the difference.
Then again, we still have Neanderthals in the ranks who can’t work with women. I am all for allowing women in the ranks- #1 they smell better (most times) and #2 they are better to look at (most times).
Matt Said:
I am all for allowing women in the ranks- #1 they smell better (most times) and #2 they are better to look at (most times).
From a former zoomie, ROGER, WILCO! 😉
I have no problems with women serving in any capacity in the military. The only requirement(s) should be that they are able to pass the tests required for the MOS/Rate. If they are physically, mentally and emotionally qualified for the job, they deserve the same consideration as the males.
respects,