Returning troops may lack care

BOISE – It’s been nearly a year since Idaho National Guard soldiers returned from Iraq, but only about a quarter have had in-depth mental health assessments, meaning many could be suffering from anger, anxiety and other lingering stresses related to spending months in combat.

Department of Defense policy requires all returning troops be assessed for mental health issues so that they can be referred to treatment if needed, according to the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C.

But for many troops, the assessment is cursory, coming in the form of several broad questions included in a routine medical health questionnaire. Any further mental health assessments are generally voluntary – and that may leave some soldiers undiagnosed and untreated.

“There are a lot of guys and gals who probably need some help out there but aren’t going to do it because somebody may classify them as losers,” retired Maj. Gen. Jack Kane said. “Voluntary assessments create an ‘us’ and ‘them’ situation.”

So far, about 500 of Idaho’s roughly 2,000 National Guard troops sent to Iraq have had in-person mental health assessments, Lt. Col. Stephanie Dowling said. Of those, about 19 percent have been sent for treatment, she said.

Dowling said that some National Guard soldiers are having trouble easing back into civilian life without being hypervigilant – often due to long patrols and uncertainty over “improvised explosive devices” – homemade bombs that are widely used in the anti-U.S. insurgency and sectarian violence. Others are struggling with anger.

Though National Guard officials are encouraging the troops to get treatment now – before combat-related anxiety turns into a long-term disability – some soldiers are still worried about the stigma they’ll face if they step forward for care.

The Department of Defense says the military is doing more than ever to identify, evaluate and treat the mental health needs of service members, including placing mental health teams in combat areas to help soldiers while in the field.

Still, said Kane, until in-depth assessments are mandatory for returning soldiers, the suffering may go untreated.

“A lot of people would say it’s probably none of my business,” said Kane. “But I would say it’s everyone’s business because we owe those soldiers a chance to put their lives back together and be a whole person. I just want to make sure we don’t have marriages destroyed or worse because someone didn’t catch someone who really had a stress problem.”