Comments on: Put Up or Shut Up http://blog.psaonline.org/2009/11/10/put-up-or-shut-up/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:45:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: J.W. Mason http://blog.psaonline.org/2009/11/10/put-up-or-shut-up/comment-page-1/#comment-2135661 J.W. Mason Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:24:56 +0000 http://blog.psaonline.org/?p=2737#comment-2135661 Mr. Isenberg makes a cogent argument for not just military commanders (from the commander-in-chief himself, President Obama to the JCS and many layers below) but ALL military professionals (yes, including recruits and enlisted) to enact a paradigm shift and stop thinking of mental health problems (to include clinical depression, PTSD, and a whole range of legitimate maladies) as we did in the old days---as a character flaw or evidence that someone lacks the “right stuff.’ In fact, our greatest commander-in-chief President Abraham Lincoln (who fought against the Black Feet indians) suffered life-long depression and suicidal ideations (after the death of his mother at age 9, the demise of his first love Ann Rutledge at age 22 in 1837 and after the deaths of his children at various times in his life). The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments have to do a better job (and Congress has to appropriate more money OR redirect funds for antequated missile defenses and other wasteful platforms into) funding and mitigating these very serious long-term (i.e. life-long) mental health effects suffered by our warriors. This means that American people need to realize that the appropriations for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are reflecting INSUFFICIENT funds when we factor in this tremendously expensive but obviously essential expense—treating our soldiers BEFORE deployment (to build valid, safe coping mechanisms), during their tours (and yes, Isenberg hits the nail on the head, that we need to REDUCE the number of tours), in-between their tours, after their tours and MOST IMPORTANTLY, after they’ve completed their service years! If we include these hundreds of billions of dollars in our annual war funding appropriations (or projected war funding for future conflicts), it will be another reason to be extremely cautious about committing our most valuable treasure (our people, our fighting men and women) for often minimal or questionable long-term geopolitical reasons. And, ANOTHER THING THAT HAS TO CHANGE ABOUT MILITARY CULTURE is something that the mainstream and even alternative media have missed about the Fort Hood murders—how is it possible for America to spend tens of billions for homeland security and screen people and yes even employees of institutions they are entering for weapons or bombs at airports, government buildings, corporate headquarters, schools, heck—even the Holocaust Museum or other historical or cultural sites around this nation BUT WE DON’T PREVENT military personnel from bringing an arsenal of weapons onto a U.S. military base? Da—why the hell not? Okay, I know about military culture. Why would base security stop and “harass” a major or even enlisted personnel entering a base and search their car, etc? He/She is “one of us!” No one envisions that a military professional would EVER harm another military professional. I fully understand the long-standing sentiment and it applies all over our nation not just at Fort Hood. BUT people, we now live in a world where terrorism, suicide attacks, truck and car bombs are pervasive. Ah, but while those things happen elsewhere that threat still has not materialized wholesale in the U.S.A. This is wrong-headed and DANGEROUS THINKING. The military has to change that culture. Why do soldiers need firearms on a military base? Obviously, military weapons are needed in various training and exercise scenarios on or around military bases BUT no one needs to have a personal weapon at a military base. Do we allow people to bring weapons into political events, concerts, etc? We don’t want personal weapons brought into other government facilities so why do we allow them on military bases? Okay that is part of the machismo that characterizes part of the military mindset—we’re all aware and unfortunately too accepting of this paradigm. IT NEEDS TO CHANGE and NOW is a great time to start! While there are scenarios where we would still experience these mass shootings, after we change the two paradigms I’ve mentioned above it will be MUCH HARDER to carry out successful and murderous shootings involving our most valued treasure—our young men and women warriors. Mr. Isenberg makes a cogent argument for not just military commanders (from the commander-in-chief himself, President Obama to the JCS and many layers below) but ALL military professionals (yes, including recruits and enlisted) to enact a paradigm shift and stop thinking of mental health problems (to include clinical depression, PTSD, and a whole range of legitimate maladies) as we did in the old days—as a character flaw or evidence that someone lacks the “right stuff.’ In fact, our greatest commander-in-chief President Abraham Lincoln (who fought against the Black Feet indians) suffered life-long depression and suicidal ideations (after the death of his mother at age 9, the demise of his first love Ann Rutledge at age 22 in 1837 and after the deaths of his children at various times in his life). The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments have to do a better job (and Congress has to appropriate more money OR redirect funds for antequated missile defenses and other wasteful platforms into) funding and mitigating these very serious long-term (i.e. life-long) mental health effects suffered by our warriors. This means that American people need to realize that the appropriations for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are reflecting INSUFFICIENT funds when we factor in this tremendously expensive but obviously essential expense—treating our soldiers BEFORE deployment (to build valid, safe coping mechanisms), during their tours (and yes, Isenberg hits the nail on the head, that we need to REDUCE the number of tours), in-between their tours, after their tours and MOST IMPORTANTLY, after they’ve completed their service years! If we include these hundreds of billions of dollars in our annual war funding appropriations (or projected war funding for future conflicts), it will be another reason to be extremely cautious about committing our most valuable treasure (our people, our fighting men and women) for often minimal or questionable long-term geopolitical reasons. And, ANOTHER THING THAT HAS TO CHANGE ABOUT MILITARY CULTURE is something that the mainstream and even alternative media have missed about the Fort Hood murders—how is it possible for America to spend tens of billions for homeland security and screen people and yes even employees of institutions they are entering for weapons or bombs at airports, government buildings, corporate headquarters, schools, heck—even the Holocaust Museum or other historical or cultural sites around this nation BUT WE DON’T PREVENT military personnel from bringing an arsenal of weapons onto a U.S. military base? Da—why the hell not? Okay, I know about military culture. Why would base security stop and “harass” a major or even enlisted personnel entering a base and search their car, etc? He/She is “one of us!” No one envisions that a military professional would EVER harm another military professional. I fully understand the long-standing sentiment and it applies all over our nation not just at Fort Hood. BUT people, we now live in a world where terrorism, suicide attacks, truck and car bombs are pervasive. Ah, but while those things happen elsewhere that threat still has not materialized wholesale in the U.S.A. This is wrong-headed and DANGEROUS THINKING. The military has to change that culture. Why do soldiers need firearms on a military base? Obviously, military weapons are needed in various training and exercise scenarios on or around military bases BUT no one needs to have a personal weapon at a military base. Do we allow people to bring weapons into political events, concerts, etc? We don’t want personal weapons brought into other government facilities so why do we allow them on military bases? Okay that is part of the machismo that characterizes part of the military mindset—we’re all aware and unfortunately too accepting of this paradigm. IT NEEDS TO CHANGE and NOW is a great time to start! While there are scenarios where we would still experience these mass shootings, after we change the two paradigms I’ve mentioned above it will be MUCH HARDER to carry out successful and murderous shootings involving our most valued treasure—our young men and women warriors.

]]> By: SBGirl http://blog.psaonline.org/2009/11/10/put-up-or-shut-up/comment-page-1/#comment-2135526 SBGirl Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:03:11 +0000 http://blog.psaonline.org/?p=2737#comment-2135526 Helping Fight PTSD. www.freezeframe4vets.org Visit Often! Helping Fight PTSD.

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