Last year I featured a few articles written by CPT Jeff Leonard, a California-based Army Reserve officer who served in Iraq with the 114th Medical Detachment as a combat stress specialist. They deal with his life in Iraq, and his duty traveling around a portion of the country, talking with GIs who’ve found the stress level of combat high enough to affect their performance, which is a major concern of the Army. A good soldier, CPT Leonard worked hard to relieve the stress by working with soldiers to overcome the natural fears a man develops when his life is in danger on a daily basis. Along the way, we learned of CPT Leonard’s own fears, and that was a very personal, revealing look into a man trained to help others.

He wrote of the pain felt by men who were supposed to be professional healers and who conducted memorials for dead soldiers, agonizing over the deaths of men they respected and loved. He wrote of soldiers second-guessing themselves after failing to save a life, and of his task to help these men get past combat’s inevitable consequences. He wrote about how to make contact with a wounded man, a bit of “us guys together” – not stage fakery, but the honest and open expression of caring about the troops.

In one of my articles I called CPT Leonard one of the bravest men I have ever heard of, and I stand by that statement today.

Waiting to go back to his family, CPT Leonard wrote openly and honestly about what he had learned about Iraq, combat, and himself. As I recall he came in for some disapproving comments in that piece. Combat and killing is very glamorous to those who’ve never been there.

DefenseLink published an article several days ago that I‘ve wanted to feature for several reasons. It deals with a similar section of counselors in Afghanistan. Company C of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Support Battalion deals in shattered nerves and minds, as CPT Leonard did. The Sky Soldiers have a long and treasured reputation as a fine unit and have earned the (sometimes grudging) respect of the paratrooper community.

They operate from Forward Operating Base Fenty somewhere up in Afghanistan, where the real war against terror – the Taliban and al Qaeda, continues unwon. The Combat Stress Control Detachment works with an Air Force Detachment doing the same job at FOB Fenty. This is a good thing for the 173rd because everyone knows the Air Force is a glide outfit: they get three hot meals a day, clean underwear every other day, clean sheets, and if they run out of ice cream, they fly a load in on a C5 Galaxy. It’s true. Really. Just ask any soldier. Plus they always load their beer pallets on a C-130 and test fly the bird up to around 15,00 feet for an hour. Makes the beer r e a l cold.

A small team of airmen and soldiers work hand in hand to help deployed servicemembers battle stress here and at some 20 surrounding forward operating bases.

The issues troops for which troops seek help vary, team members said.

“It depends a little bit on where the individual is based out of,” said Air Force Lt. Col. (Dr.) Jeffrey Wiser, a psychiatrist with the Combat Stress Control Detachment. “I think a lot of people in the forward locations deal with combat stress reactions. FOB Fenty and some of the areas south and east of here tend to be more operational stress, home-front issues and difficulties within the unit.”

OK, all kidding about the Air Force aside, working on a base in Afghanistan is not a skate job. Dull, unchanging days of 16 hour shifts, seven days a week, bitter cold winters and nasty hot summers with the unending threat of rocket or mortar attacks do not make a happy trooper. While out in the boonies you have a better chance of getting killed, the boredom on a base like that creates its own problems. Things happen at home and you’re not there to deal with them. Wives are forced to do double duty, handling the tasks that are “Daddy’s job.”

And let’s not forget that women also serve in Afghanistan and they also have issues.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Laurie Wienclawski, a mental health technician on the team, said the team sometimes helps troops hours or days after they have witnessed tragic or shocking events. “The 173rd has lost a lot of people. Being back home, you hear about soldiers being killed and wounded in action. Until you are deployed and actually live it and see it and hear about it, it doesn’t seem real until you are actually there,” she said. … Wienclawski said she hoped being a woman would make it easier for troops to talk to her. When she hit the ground, she found out that was not the case. Now, she said, she can best relate to troops by finding things in common with them, like family situation or background.

Not all soldiers realize they’re suffering from stress. Some, wrapped up in that macho “super warrior” syndrome refuse to believe combat stress exists.

Servicemembers don’t always come out to seek help with their problems. Some internalize issues, and only people who really know them notice a change in their behavior, daily routine or sleep patterns, the combat stress experts said. It is important for everyone to know the typical behavior of their battle buddies, or to know their “baseline,” the experts said.

Back in 1999 the DoD realized the dangers of combat stress and developed a program to deal with it. This program has undergone continuing change as adaptation to the realities of war became apparent.

Recently the Army developed the “Battle Buddy” program, given to each soldier as part of his training to teach GIs to watch each other or signs of stress or depression. (Power Point presentation)

Like CPT Leonard, the teams travel to outlying bases because some soldiers are prevented by circumstances or inner reluctance to ask for help.

Since not everyone comes running with their issues, the Combat Stress Control Detachment sends out a small team to surrounding FOBs to “canvas” the neighborhood and see if someone needs their assistance. Weiser said Army Spc. Christopher Truax, a mental health specialist with Company C, is great at “mixing with soldiers and engaging them in conversation and prompting them to come in for evaluations or a more extensive interview.”

Truax, who studied psychology in college, learned about his military occupational specialty on the Internet. He said he finds his job rewarding. “We don’t wait for someone to come and see us; we go see them,” Truax said.

He usually travels with Army Capt. Bryan O’Leary, a 173rd Airborne Brigade psychologist working with the Combat Stress Control Detachment.
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Team members travel for three to four weeks at a time visiting remote locations. Since some places are really hard to get to, the team spends a lot of time at flightlines and trying to jump on convoys. There is no way to give out actual appointments, but they always notify command elements and aid stations that they are on the way so servicemembers can get the word.

In addition to their physical health, soldiers must be mentally healthy to complete the mission and – the most important duty – come home to their families.

It’s a good thing the 173rd has decided its troopers aren’t iron men.