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Sep-01-2009 02:46printcomments

PTSD Training in the Army

The worst thing is that Combat Vets cannot get realistic help from the Army or VA.

Oregon National Guard soldier on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Oregon National Guard soldier on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan. Salem-News.com photo by Tim King

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - Some may think I’m a bit off kilter with the above title but I believe every Infantry Battle Veteran will understand what I am writing. I think you Gyrenes will agree.

First days in The Army of Brutal Basic Training were a stressful shock to most rookies. I had been brought up in logging camps and forest fire camps and on fire lines where the language and profanity made the air as blue as the smoke.

I thought I had heard it all before but I soon learned that the crudest profanity was the fuel that ran the Army (Marines also?). We soon found out that General “Blood & Guts” Patton, my boss, was the Army’s pre-eminent unequaled profanity expert.

I have written of some of my Army experiences and responders have written back, “The Army is not a Democracy”. “Amen,” I say. It is a form of brutal slavery. The lowest rank, private, has no rights what-so-ever and the sooner he (or she) learns that the better.

You have ALL seen a D.I. (Drill Instructor) screaming in a rookies face. That was the easy part. Every rank, whether it is stripes or brass, knows and uses literally the power of life and/or death of anyone of lesser rank. This really shows up in combat and if that isn’t STRESS what is?

“Sergeant, I want you and your squad to TAKE OUT that machine gun”. If they are lucky maybe one Private and the Sergeant MAY survive. Is that STRESS??? That is the ultimate of PTSD training and the ultimate result.

The Army (and Marines) idea of “we have to break rookies down before we can build them up” is scatology in action. My own grandson, a recent graduate of Fort Benning Basic Training and several field training exercises, told me he thinks he has PTSD level 2 or 3. He is/was no different from myself or a million other Combat Infantry PTSD Victims.

Most people don’t know or comprehend that Infantry Battle Training is training to be a psychopath with the knowledge of how to kill anyone in about a dozen different ways. The new recruits had no idea they were being trained to be psychopathic killers. We were previously trained for “fair play” and killing was not on the menu.

The young guys, 18 years old, were the worst hit by this training. The result to me is obvious. These Combat Vets have the highest rate of suicide. The worst thing is they cannot get realistic help from the Army or VA.

The decisions for help have been made by people who have NO CONCEPT of no-quarter combat or even the mind numbing of Basic Training.

The Armed Services admit to about 300 thousand PTSD Victims. It is most likely that there are a million with half of them in the severe upper levels of 7, 8, 9 and 10. The tens are most likely the suicides.

Hoorah to my Combat Infantry Buddies!!

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Do you have a a question, comment, or story to share with Dr. Leveque?
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More information on the history of Dr. Leveque can be found in his book, General Patton's Dogface Soldier of WWII about his own experiences "from a foxhole".
Order the book by mail by following this link: Dogface Soldier

If you are a World War II history buff, you don't want to miss it.




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Brandon Chase September 1, 2009 5:57 pm (Pacific time)

Editor: Did you even read my post? I am a service-connected combat vet from a time when you were probably still in diapers. What I posted was correct and I might add that even though there is still bull going on out there by so many uninformed, the Vietnam Combat veteran ("combat" being the operative word, also have much lower incarceration rates than their civilian peers). As I said the suicide rates are high at first, then they taper off and eventually fall below the rate of their same age cohorts. I have no doubt that I am far better informed than you or the writer of this article, that is if you say my comments are inaccurate. PTSD has been going on long before Bush was in office and will continue to get worse with Obama, mainly because he is doing so much to hurt my fellow service-connected veterans. You should keep in mind it is the congress that funds us, so the democrats talk a great game, but they have failed us, as usual. Get to know the facts not pursue some radical agenda of hate that no doubt obfuscates the pertinent facts for you.

Editor: Brandon, I am not hateful in the slightest way but I hate to see things go the way they have.  You are blaming a political party while calling me out for being honest.  I respect your service, but you  really have to take a bow for claiming that you know more about PTSD than Dr. Leveque.  Do you smoke Einstein in Science?  Maybe you believe you know more than everybody about everything, but you aren't a highly decorated WWII combat veteran who became a Pharmacologist, Forensic Toxicologist and Physician specializing in PTSD treatment for several decades.  Dr. Leveque also trained the first doctors in Tanzania and Uganda in history while working as a professor for the University of London for 20 years.  All you would need to do to already know this is to read the bio at the bottom of each of his articles, or read about him on the staff page.  President Obama inherited a rotten deal; he didn't choose these wars and in fact voted against the invasion of Iraq.  He now has the damaged good from Bush's wars and the one and only thing I am sure of is that this was all started, 110% by the Republicans.  Yes, Democrats went along with it, but geez, everyone and their uncle had a yellow ribbon on their car.  The fervor was driven by the GOP.  I believe you are blaming the wrong guy and being politically over-zealous. 


Anonymous September 1, 2009 11:00 am (Pacific time)

According to the Veterans Administration there are approximately 24 million living veterans. As per the Centers for Disease Control, who archive considerable stats on a wide variety of issues, the suicide rate for Vietnam veterans for the first 5 years after returning from combat was slightly higher than their civilian cohorts (less than 10% of Vietnam veterans are combat veterans that had high exposure to combat). After 5 years it went steadily down to where it became less than their civilian counterparts. Also crime rates for veterans, which include the ones from our current conflict(s) is much much lower that their civilian peers. A while back the New York Times put out some data that was completely misleading, they printed a correction in the back pages, plus other articles by informed writers provided counter info, but from that misleading article our veterans are still being stereotyped by the uninformed, misinformed and of course those whose agenda could care less about using facts and/or using primary source info. I personally trained with individuals that eventually became combat warriors, none that I was around were psychopaths, nor can anyone provide concrete data that there is a high degree of psychopathic/homicidal crime rates in our combat veterans above and beyond their civilian peers. Hollywood and other irresposible people paint an outlandish picture of those who have served our country in times of war. What this "false" stereotyping does is just makes more hardship for our veterans as they re-integrate into society. There needs to be some class action lawsuits against these morons who insist on hurting my fellow combat veterans.

Editor: Brandon Chase (The name you used before when leaving a comment) So, you think we have it all wrong eh?  You think the number of suicide cases is lower among combat veterans than their civilian counterparts?  What GOP-backed group is paying you to publish such smelly garbage anyway?  Seriously, I am curious; is it worth it to sell out your soul at the sake of people who have actually served in combat? 

So here is our friend Brandon who occasionally forgets his own name, to explain that the war-related issues in our population are all Hollywood's fault.  Damn, I didn't expect to receive such revealing information.  So we writers are also surely to blame right?  It couldn't possibly be the fault of W. Bush who lied through his teeth to start the Iraq War and spend nearly a trillion and thousands of American lives getting a little revenge for his daddy?  In the future just talk to a wall man, it will do everybody more good, and keep your lame and ridiculous assertions out of our comment section. 

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