He was at least on his third tour in Iraq. Sgt. John M. Russell has been identified as the soldier who killed five of his comrades at a stress clinic at a Baghdad army base yesterday. According to The New York Times, he had been reffered to counseling the week before, probably due to concerns about his mental health. His weapon was taken away, but he somehow managed to find and load another one. He has been charged with five accounts of murder and one count of aggravated assault.

As harrowing as Sgt. Russell’s rampage is, it is telling of a deeper problem within the US military. Soldiers like Sgt. Russell who are in their third or fourth tour are very susceptible to Post-Traumatic Stress disorder (PTS), as well as other mental illnesses that are plaguing the military due to the extraordinary pressures put on American soldiers in a two-war scheme. Inescapable stress, when not treated properly, becomes a rattled grenade.

The military’s response to mental illnesses within its rank makes the problem worse. Most of the soldiers considered at-risk, and possibly suicidal, are put on “Suicide Watch.” They have their shoelaces, belts and guns taken away to prevent them from killing themselves. They have a pair of soldiers escort them everywhere they go, making sure they don’t endanger themselves or the rest of the base. They have to wear bright orange vests that clash with the sea of dark green around them. They are made “pariahs.”

This stigma put on soldiers with mental illnesses does not help them overcome anything. As one recruit put it,

“You’re in an isolated state. You’ve got the reason you’re on suicide watch to begin with on top of the fact that you stick out like a sore thumb. It’s like you’re walking around in a zoo, and you’re the animal.”

The military used to prepare you for war and duty through physical duress (drills, yells, kicks in the back of the head), but now it’s much more mental. Drill sergeants are not only well known to make fun of soldiers on suicide watch behind their back and in their face, but they also foster an attitude amongst the rest of their comrades that they are just not “fit” to be in the military.

Other soldiers follow the drill sergeant’s lead.

“I think it was a case of a kid who played too much Halo and got scared when he found himself in the real Army.”

“In basic, guys will say they’re suicidal or gay. They do a lot of things to try to get out of the Army.”

The soldier shuffling around the base in his floppy boots, pants almost falling down, and a bright orange vest on is “fodder” for ridicule. As one therapist stationed at base in Kentucky put it, “it makes them more suicidal.”

A study in 2001 showed that while the suicide watch program had problems, it was “appropriate” and “less costly and resource intensive.” In the end, it was deemed good enough. But the reality, as Sgt. Russell’s actions have brutally demonstrated, is very different. Soldiers deemed to be at-risk are not supported by the military, but instead are being abandoned, like many other youth in need.

For people offering up their lives and freedom to serve the nation, good enough is not that at all.

The Daily Beast-Elspeth Reeve: Military Mayhem

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Tags:   iraq · military · post traumatic stress · War4 Comments