As Congress struggles to understand the shocking report of a massive increase in suicides in the Army, they might want to study the case of Army Pvt. Adam Lieberman to see how some officers treat soldiers in mental distress. Lieberman was experiencing severe mental problems after a year in Iraq qith the Ist Battalion, 67 Armored Regiment — known as “the Death Dealers.” When he tried to kill himself, he wrote his suicide note on the wall in his room. The Army reportedly responded to the suicide attempt by charging him criminally and cut a deal with this mom. If she re-painted the wall, his charges would not include defacing of government property. After she painted the wall with the help of her handicapped sister, they charged him anyway with the crime.
When he attempted to end his life with pills, Lieberman painted the following words on the wall: “I FACED THE ENEMY AND LIVED! IT WAS THE DEATH DEALERS THAT TOOK MY LIFE!” They never told the mother, who finally reached her son in the hospital days later. She says that his battalion commander, Lt. Col. Lance Kohler, at Fort Carson, Kansas, told her that she would only be notified for sure if he had succeeded in the attempt. When she asked why he was not put into a mental health treatment area of the hospital, Kohler allegedly said that he was given legal assistance instead because they wanted to criminally charge him. She said that she was told that he faced a charge of petty larceny for breaking a candy machine, going AWOL to say goodbye to a friend, and defacing government property.
The mother then went to her son’s commander, Capt. Phelps. She says that Phelps told her that if she didn’t want her son charged on the defacing count, she could get paint and equipment from supply and re-paint the wall. She did the job, but says that they charged her son anyway with the offense.
Under this logic, if a soldier jumps from a window and splatters over a bench or crushes a car’s roof, they would be guilty of the same offense if they survive.
The military continues to enjoy immunity from tort lawsuits under the infamous Feres Doctrine. In the case of a private employers ignoring the signs of mental illness and self-medication that the mother has described, there would be a serious threat of liability. Ultimately, most suicide attempts are not treated as a matter for liability for an employer. However, Feres has been blamed for decades in producing a lack of response or concern in many cases.
For the Salon article, click here.
Prof. Turley,
I agree that this is a glaring example of a total disregard for the health of a soldier and veteran that served our country in war. This commanding officer should be put on trial for dereliction of duty because it is his job to watch out for his men and women in uniform. Then they should make him paint, by hand, the Pentagon.
“Then they should make him paint, by hand, the Pentagon.”
With a toothbrush.
rafflaw,
I agree, this is dereliction of duty. Officers are trained to spot signs of mental distress. This is an active part of their training at this time. Nevertheless, there are still multiple instances of soldiers being punished for exhibiting PTSD, instead of being given the help they need. I hope the public outcry over this cruel, completely unprofessional and derelict behavior will cause punishment for the officers and be a stong incentive for the army to clean up its act.
In light of last weeks report on the increasing number of Iraq related military suicides this seems a grisly joke. Cutting all ethical, moral and legal considerations out of the argument, it shows a clear stupidity by the base commander in a PR sense. However, you can’t of course cut ethics, morality and legality out of the picture and what you get is typical military SNAFU, by a Captain who should never have graduated from “The Point” or OCS.
After reading this, i wonder why ANYONE would want{trust} to be in the military.The Army is just like life. The higher up you are , the more you can be arrogant, with an ego to match. While the front line grunts have to take all the crap–or pay the price. The ads on TV are a scam.Think long and hard about going into the military. jsa
Suicides have been rising during the five-year-old war in Iraq and nearly seven years of war in Afghanistan.
The 115 deaths last year and 102 in 2006 followed 85 in 2005 and 67 in 2004. The only Army records immediately available go back to 1990, and show no year with a higher number of suicides than 2007. The figure in 1990 was 102.
from Chicago Tribune
This is not the norm in the military. This is negligence by a few very irresponsible and negligent leaders who should be help responsible. In the marine corps we are trained and briefed at least monthly on suicide awareness so I know that at least in the corps these situations are few and far between.
chris:
I tend to agree with chris here on this being aberrational conduct. His reports that the Marines do have a substantive suicide awareness policy was confirmed by a retired Marine Captain I know. I am more concerned that the Army literally couldn’t see the handwriting on the wall in this case,and prevent this tragedy for all concerned. I don’t think it would have taken one of Belshazzar’s royal magicians or even Daniel himself to be able to read the truth in this omen, just someone with compassion and common sense.
I will have to agree with the sentiments that this is an exceptional case.
These deaths are preventable, like drunk driving fatalities.
There is a pattern here:
http://www.salon.com/news/special/coming_home/2009/02/09/coming_home_intro/?source=newsletter
Eric Shinseki is assigned a monstrous task.
These suicides must be prevented. For a parent to know that their son or daughter survived the shooting and the IED’s in Iraq or Afghanistan, only to take their own life due to ambivalence by the armed forces, could lead the parents over the emotional cliff. PTSD is a real injury that must be dealt with quickly and properly by the armed forces and the VA.
Is it negligent infliction of emotional distress that they asked the mother to paint over his suicide note or the boy would be criminally charged?
C.L.,
I think it is worse than a negligent infliction of emotional distress. I think it borders on criminal abuse to put a mother of a soldier who was obviously having emotional troubles that pushed him to the brink of suicide. This officer at least should be relieved of his duty. That is just one father’s opinion.
I agree
Although I wont agree that this is ambivalence on the part of the military as a whole. These very few cases represent negligence on the part of a few defective officers, but I think as a whole the military has a very proactive suicide awareness program.
First hand knowledge,
“Nothing new here”
I am a Vietnam Era veteran with PTSD. The military has never adequately dealt with the damage done to people serving in wartime, and the results are always the same. Roughly 50% of those who serve on the frontlines end up dead (suicide, overdoses, self-destructive behavior, or victims of violence), or in prison (drug charges, drug related crimes, or violence directly related to symptoms of PTSD). This is well documented, yet you will still find military personell in positions of power who think it is a joke; and many of them are behaving badly because they, too, are suffering from untreated PTSD. Lives are ruined, and families are destroyed unnecessarily, because help is available, but just like me, most are not diagnosed or treated until years later, if they are fortunate enough to survive until that happens. Another great American tragedy.
Posted in response to the solon
article.http://letters.salon.com/news/special/coming_home/2009/02/09/coming_home_intro/view/index2.html?show=all
Vietnam is on of the worst tragedies ever bestowed upon our armed men and women as far as the way they were treated post war. That is why there is a much more proactive approach to suicide awareness. While I will concede that it isn’t perfect, i wont say that the military is negligent in their training of suicide prevention. I would also challenge that the number 50 percent does not apply to Iraq war veterans.
Chris
A volunteer soldier from the day he enlists is told to unconditionally obey and respect his superiors. I get it. You won’t say the military is negligent in their training of suicide prevention.
Senate Armed Services Committee has refused to investigate these cases as they’ve escalated over the years.
Did you get to finish the PDF book by Bob Altemeyer, “Authoritarians”?
I read about the first chapter. I got out of the military, because I think the young men and women who serve could be treated a lot better. But on this I really think that, at least in the Marine Corps, there is a good suicide prevention program. The amount of suicides are rising, but are still lower than than men and women of the same demographics on the civilian side. So considering what we ask of our armed services, I would say they are doing a decent job.
I never did thank BIL or Mas for their kind words.
http://jonathanturley.org/2009/02/06/terrifying-report-more-soldiers-dying-from-suicide-than-combat/#more-7844
These guys are really phenomenal. They write with intelligence and compassion.
Chris the armed services are doing a massive job. The issue is politically a military that is subservient to a Democratic government is always a slave to policy makers. I don’t think Iraq was a threat to our way of life before the war. You consider Iran and North Korea a threat right now. So all efforts at diplomatic policy must be exhausted before violence becomes our policy. If we want national security then we need world security. For world security lets make sure everyone is fed first.
CCD,
Well argued!
CCD,
You are welcome and thank you for your service. I have many friends from that conflict, none without a scar of some sort whether you can see it or not.
As far as global security, you raise a good point.
For global and local peace, the recipe is simple to define, but hard to make. It’s all a matter of scale.
People need to be
1) Fed
Government that works for the people, not the legal fiction of corporations.
2) Have clean water
3) Have equitably distributed and accessible health care, education and other social services.
4) Have a functional criminal justice system that operates equitably and as a trier of fact – no more, no less.
5) Freedom of expression and religion as constrained by disallowing coercion but especially physical coercion.
6) Not subject to repression or cruelty in the name of profit or ideology.
7) The ability to expel from the system and punish those who abuse the public trust and break the social contract.
Corporatism. That was Mussolini’s preferred term for fascism. Corporations are the NUMBER ONE PROBLEM facing not just the U.S., but the world. Governance must be reality based, not how the greedy and amoral wish reality to be. As programmers and physicists know, garbage in – garbage out. Corporations are garbage. Pure trash that has so far deviated from the original intent as to become toxic. And they have help, their graft peddling scumbags on K Street. I could tell you why I hate these things in detail but to this last point, I recently read a nice summary of everything I hate about corporations at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-slater/why-free-market-capitalis_b_163958.html
It should be self-evident upon examination that numbers #’s 1-7 are being hindered when not outright stopped, by #8.
It’s the last one that’s going to kill us or we are going to kill corporations as currently formulated. The fascist Boards of Exxon and Halliburton might want to keep that in mind. The time for their departure from process and punishment for crimes committed is rapidly approaching. How nasty it gets is up to them . . . all the way until it’s no longer their choice but the collective ours. Personally, I’d get a kick out of seeing their headquarters on fire and their upper management running for their venal little lives in front of an angry mob, but I’d settle for a trial and prison orange. We the People is the most powerful force on Earth. The governors only can rule with the consent of the governed – it’s that way in ANY political system, from monarchy to eudaemonic utopia. Corporations ignore this FACT at their peril. Those are the real battle lines: authoritarian elitist fascism vs. libertarian populist democracy. All of our global problems have their roots in THIS conflict and/or the conflict of Theocrats. The only difference is that the battle against authoritarian elitist fascism is not televised as a distraction to keep We the People from visiting Exxon and flicking our Bic’s. The corporatists even go so far as to use religious conflict to further their fascist agenda.
The solution seems self-evident. If your problems are rooted in a fiction, dispose of the fiction and those who abuse it, Q.E.D.
Buddha:
Like Gerry Spense, I have always thought that corporations found culpable of criminal conduct or crimes against humanity (ala Krupps and its slave laborers in Nazi Germany) should face a death penalty of sorts. Their directors should be fired along with their senior officers and the State should take control until a new board and officers can be elected. The entity is a creation of law and should be regulated. Just because it makes money and employs scores of people doesn’t immunize it from state control when its actions reach the margins. To argue otherwise would immunize other “businesses” like the drug trade which is both profitable and a source of widespread employment.
Buddha,
I like your 7 points. They make a lot of sense. We are in grave danger of corporatism in the US and the world. The new financial plan due out this A.M. will, by all accounts, take from the poor to give to the rich. It is corporations who determine our monetary policy and our military “adventures”. We must stop this by protesting strongly.
BIL
The shift is on. The ideas you post above will be the norm.
Jill
I’m happy there’s a Light Flyweight niche here in Turley land.
Buddha,
What is so interesting about your 7 points is that they are in effect apolitical. I mean this in the sense that thinking people on both the right and the left can easily accept them both philosophically and politically while still maintaining their respective philosophies. The key of course to my last statement was “thinking people.” The problem, that those of us who want to see change in the world face, is from the ideologues both political and religious. They become entangled in their own dogma and thus remove themselves as agents for change, becoming instead ego oriented defenders of their positions. To me that is why your 7 points are a tour de force. They cut through the dogma and crap to get to the essence of what is necessary to develop a humane and just humanity.
When you eloquently speak of corporatism I again sit at your feet. This is the essence of the imbalances in human experience most people suffer from today. By giving them the legal fiction of legal entities that in effect gives them rights above those of real people, a monster has been created. This is an all-powerful monster, amoral by definition, whose only responsibility is to serve the cause of greed.
Political discourse too often fails to distinguish between the corporate ruthlessness we have seen and the action of businesses and people trying to create or sell products and build an entity they can pass on to their children. The corporate world today seeks only to make money and in so doing literally has gutted viable businesses and manufacturers(losing people their jobs, health and retirement benefits)in the service of maximizing profit. This is why the US has lost its position as manufacturer (that whole thing is for another, longer discussion)to the world and we have in effect become like the “Hessians” we fought in the Revolution.
The religious/authoritarian aspect has been extensively discussed, elsewhere in depth on JT’s site, so needs no exposition save to confirm your thoughts that too often these vile entities work hand in glove (Whaddya want? I like cliches)towards similar ends. Thank you for your comment which concisely sums up most of what I believe politically, but did so with the elegance of simplicity.
mespo, Jill, CCD, Mike S.,
Thank you all for your kindness.
One lives to be of service.
As a clinician specializing in PTSD and chronic complex PTSD, I continue to be horrified by the failure of the military adequately to address what is in fact an eminently treatable condition.
This is indeed a sickening account of abuse of power.
You might want to change something in the OP, however, Ft. Carson is in Colorado, not Kansas.
chris
“1, February 9, 2009 at 4:12 pm
This is not the norm in the military. This is negligence by a few very irresponsible and negligent leaders who should be help responsible. In the marine corps we are trained and briefed at least monthly on suicide awareness so I know that at least in the corps these situations are few and far between.”
A few bad apples?
Frankly, if it had been my son, I’d have had words with the battalion commander. And by ‘words’, I don’t mean words.
Not to be nitpicky, but there’s no Fort Carson in Kansas — there’s a Fort Riley in Junction City, but Fort Carson is actually in Colorado Springs, Colo.
This does not, however, change the disgusting treatment of this Soldier — and his family — by his commanding officer. The guy should receive a dishonorable discharge for failing to protect one his guys.
I think every person in the U.S. military and the U.S. govenment, and U.S. citizens who supported the war and occupation of Iraq, resulting in the death of 1.25 millian Iraqis, after the CIA helped install Sadam in 1963, and Reagan armed him in the 1980s, should kill themselves.
thats not cool man
Haa Chris,
H from the B, long on passion short on logic. Little balance.
“thats not cool man”
Neither was the U.S. overthrow and subversion all over the planet since WW II of democratically elected govenments and governments that represented the will of their citizens, the national security state’s assassination of a president in 1963 who was beginning to turn against them and go in some progressive directions and the cover-up of same, their assassinations of King, RFK, Malcolm X, the war and occupation of Viet Nam and murder of 3 million in south east Asia, the support for the murder of one million progressives in Indonesia, etc, etc. Don’t get me wrong; I’m no apologist for Stalin, China’s “cultual revolution, etc., etc. A big problem is that most U.S. citizens don’t know their own history and believe a fairy-tale version of it.
“H from the B, long on passion short on logic. Little balance.”
Of course the conclusion of my post was hyperbolic; that should have been understood. As one who for example scored 148 on an I.Q. exam and 100% on a stae solid geometry Regent’s exam as a kid, and was a 16 year old electrical engineering student on scholarship , my logical analysis abilibility is o.k.
I believe people should be held responsible for their actions.
Iraq didnt represent the will of its citizens. Youre a retard
Retard.
Nice.
Fuck you troll. I’ve been polite the last time to you, poser.
HOWIE B:
I wouldnt go throwing the IQ around in these parts, I have a feeling that 148 is easily trumped.
Howie from the Bronx
My reply is stuck in moderation purgatory. I completely agree, “people should be held responsible for their actions.”
Howie,
In my lifetime, because of various G&T programs at school, I’ve probably taken somewhere in the area of 35-40 IQ tests, in differing formats.
Seriously, if you have to tell someone your test score, well, I’m betting 108 is probably more in the ballpark. For one thing, that wasn’t a cogent defense but reflexive ad hominem snark. A 148 with no skills is like 427 on an engine rack. You don’t sound intelligent. You sound like a angry bitchy little girl.
IQ scores are of limited value and intelligent people know this. That’s why they never mention it. Mentioning it, in fact, reeks of insecurity and in polite society is considered boorish. Yeah, walk up to someone and start arguing based on your IQ. You’ll make an impression all right. What’s next? You’re going to tell us how “bad” you are? How big your pee pee is? How many women you’ve slept with? How you could just kill a man by looking at him hard? How you can turn lead into gold?
Bron is so very right. Speaking for myself, if I were insipid or insecure enough to tell you my Stanford-Binet scores, you’d run hide under the bed. I’m pretty sure mespo and many of the other regulars would give you a fright too. You’ll need to do better than that not to get mauled in here. Truly, an amateur effort at best.
Howie,
I am impressed with the viciousness of your posting where you suggested people who supported the war in Iraq should kill themselves. Noone has been more against the war in Iraq and the people who fell prey to the fear tactics of the Bush regime, but I don’t want anyone dead! As to this business about how well you scored on IQ tests and the rest, I honestly can’t tell you what my score was/is because in my day the Nuns wouldn’t tell us. And that is probably one of the few things that the Nuns did that I agreed with. My first reaction is who gives a flying you-know-what. Secondly, in court, the facts and the argument that you bring is what matters, not your IQ or your grade point average. I think someone asked a famous trial attorney if he was the best lawyer in the world and his response was no, but that he was the best prepared.
raff,
They didn’t tell you in my day either. I only know mine because my dad was sleeping with one of my teachers and she showed me my file.
Howie sayed:
“…my logical analysis *abilibility* is o.k.” & “stae solid geometry Regent’s…”
If you improved your spellin’ scores, you ‘dun’ far overtrumped me…
Welcome HftB, but this ain’t Mensa…
Buddha:
“They didn’t tell you in my day either. I only know mine because my dad was sleeping with one of my teachers and she showed me my file.”
************
Just to clarify, you didn’t go to Catholic school with rafflaw did you? Oh the horror!! Sorry, couldn’t resist.
BIL,
If I may, “angry bitchy little girl” is an incredibly sexist phrase. How about angry little “person” or a*hole or f*ker or….”?
No Blood for Hubris: The reporters who help inform us are also terribly neglected in this sad PTSD tale.
mespo,
rofl . . . um . . . no. My dad is quite a character, but even he draws the line at nuns.
doglover,
Sure. That works too. No sexism intended, I just liked the image. It carries a certain value load of “petulance”.
doglover
Could you please elaborate?
The reporters who help inform us are also terribly neglected in this sad PTSD tale.
CCD
Reporters observe horrors like mass graves, mass killings, children shooting and children being killed. Reporters get kidnapped, shot at, blown up, and are witnesses to all sorts of atrocities. They do these things while not carrying a weapon. Historically, the networks have provided no support for the reporters or their crews. Not until the last(current) Iraq war did the networks begin providing some measure of instruction; the Networks trained them for chemical warfare pre-Rummy’s fast take-down of Saddam. PTSD? Not ever addressed. And it’s a problem.
***
Buddha -> Thank you!
doglover:
Incredibly interesting perspective. I would like to know if there is any research about observational PTSD. DSM IV and NIMH define the disorder as having a component of threat against personal safety.I did not know it could be developed from empathetic experiences. Can you tell me more?
mespo,
My understanding of PTSD has been that it included witnessing as well as actually going through an experience or culmulative experiences. Here’s what the military says:
“PTSD is an anxiety disorder caused by witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event;…” Doglover is correct about reporters/medics, civilians etc…everyone can be effected. Many reporters don’t come home the same as when they left. But I leave more details to doglover who made this important point in the first place!
Yes, I believe Jill is right – the cumulative affect for some reporters is part of the difficulty and witnessing trauma is included in the diagnosis. The U.S. Dept of Veterans affairs has done some work on it as well. They’re also doing some interesting work with ptsd and guided imagery.
The movie version, or myth, of the reporter is they are in control and unaffected. Aloof and selfish. They are not seen as helpless or as victims because they can actually do something about what they see – report it. However, journalists do not just bear witness, but oftentimes are part of the story. They are not stones. As well, I know reporters who have witnessed things they are not allowed to report. They’re a complicated bunch.
doglover,
I hear a very interesting report on battlemind. Many times I’ve heard PTSD described as mental weakness which is both insulting and inaccurate. If a person is unaffected by seeing horrific things on a battlefield or otherwise, that is of concern. Battlemind acknowledges that PTSD symptoms are actually excellent coping behaviors in dangerous, fluid situations. The key becomes turning the skills off when no longer needed, once one has returned to safer, saner conditions in one’s life.
“As well, I know reporters who have witnessed things they are not allowed to report.”
*******************************
One wonders who gets to make that call and for what reasons.
“Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages.”
–Samuel Johnson (from The Idler, 1758)
There does seem to be a disconnect in the military between acknowledging and appreciating ptsd on the battlefield and at home. Perhaps with this new generation the two will meld.
****
One instance: a reporter was forbidden to report on a mass grave found during the Kosovo war ~ Samuel Johnson was prescient!