Commander recognized by the Navy as a PTSD expert says the Military has tried to SILENCE his criticism of Mental Health care.

USA Today reporter Gregg Zorova published today (22 June) another in a continuing list of damaging exposes of just how unprepared our Armed Forces has been to deal with Mental Health issues even IF our troops were encouraged to seek help.

About a year ago I posted a Blog on Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) about how the Air Force had changed the name of all its Mental Health clinics in an ill fated and vain attempt to down play the seriousness of PTSD in the name of dealing with American social stigma by changing the name of the clinics where Airmen would hypothetically go for treatment if the name were changed to Life Skills Support Centers. The Air Force had to recently bite their medical professional tongues and change the name back to Mental Health clinics, because the ill advised decision made prior to the Iraq War made no sense.

In the latest expose, which of course impacts Marines serving in combat in Iraq called, “PTSD expert says Navy trying to silence him,” since the Marine Corps has no medical branch per se, all their medical support is provide by the U.S. Navy including the impact of "combat trauma," of PTSD. But of course all us Hard Core Warriors know that out of all the Uniform Services the one least likely to be the weakest to be human enough or vulnerable enough to sucumb to Mental Illness would be the Marines - RIGHT!

That is what those to drink the 'Stolen Valor' cool aid would have us believe. If this were true and it IS NOT, then withdraw all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan or at least from combat except Marines plus do not authorize any Marine veteran to apply for VA treatment for PTSD or active duty member to seek assistance for Mental Health privately or otherwise and watch what happens in our society and within the Marine corps in a few short years. Major Hanafin.

Commander (05) Mark Russell, 47, a Navy expert in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder says the service is trying to silence him for criticizing the quality of mental health care in the military. Cmdr. Russell filed a complaint with the Pentagon’s inspector general claiming his chance for promotion has been blocked. He says he was isolated from the media after describing in a 17 Jan USA Today article a “perfect storm” looming in the military’s mental health system.

http://www.usatoday .com/news/ health/2007- 01-16-ptsd- navy_x.htm

After doing a Google search, I learned that Cmdr. Russell spoke at a Medical Conference at Yokosuka Naval Hospital in Japan and that what he had to say about a Storm brewing in military mental health was published in Pacific Stars and Stripes somehow making its way to USAToday back in January 2007.

Note also that the Commander attempted to paint a balanced picture of Pentagon attempts to deal with what it already knew was a growing problem that mental health was just not a priority nor an issue to be taken serious until (1) the Democrats came to control Congress, (2) progressive younger Veterans groups exposed the shame of Walter Reed doing an end run around the mainstream VSOs that support the Bush administration, and (3) the Iraq and Afghanistan War has gone on too long with the total manpower resources of the nation not being expected to share in the deployment sacrifices of our troops that created the mental anguish just as much as combat fatique.

Officer sees 'perfect storm' brewing in military's mental health care system
By Allison Batdorff, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Friday, September 22, 2006

http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=39275&archive=true

Gaps in care — combined with the stress of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan — are creating a “perfect storm” within the U.S. military mental health system, according to a Navy commander who spoke at Yokosuka Naval Base.

Quick to say that his opinions are unofficial — the product of his 24-year military career and not the U.S. Navy or Department of Defense — Cmdr. Mark Russell gave a well-attended lecture called “Broken Promises: The Unspoken Truth of Mental Health Care in the DOD” during the final day of the Multinational Medical Conference.

http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=39275&archive=true

Major Hanafin's comment to Interested Members of Congress: Both Commander (or Dr. Russell, Commander, U.S. Navy-Retired if the show fits, plus his briefing, "Broken Promises: The Unspoken Truth of Mental Health Care in the DOD," must be called BEFORE both the House and Senate Veterans Affairs and Armed Services Committees). Our military family respectfully asks that every reader, every progressive Veterans activists leader in the nation put pressure on your contacts in Congress to MAKE THIS SO.

Russell, a child psychologist and director of Educational and Development Intervention Services for bases across Japan, painted a picture of unmet needs and unrecognized opportunity stemming from the global war on terrorism.

“We are in a crisis situation,” Russell said. “And it’s going to get worse.

“We’re making progress but are far from making good on our promise to provide the best mental health care possible for the men and women we send to war,” Russell told the gathering at Yokosuka, Japan.

More than 56,000 troops, or 10 percent, have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with a mental health diagnosis, making up a third of those in Veterans Affairs care. The cost of mental health care is high, Russell said — the VA spent $4.3 billion on PTSD alone in 2004.

Also, of the 9,145 (out of a possible 178,644) veterans who showed signs of PTSD between 2001 and 2004, only 22 percent were referred on to mental health care. That creates a chasm between a need for care and actually getting it, Russell said.

Another gap falls between DOD guidelines for mental health treatment and the training given to mental health workers, he said.

“Out of 133 mental health providers I surveyed, 90 percent of them had no training in the top four treatments the DOD recommends for PTSD,” Russell said.

There also are problems with leadership, high burnout rates among caregivers and the tendency to treat those suffering from hyper-arousal compared to those who disassociate, he said.

“The bottom line is that we have increased demand and fewer resources to meet that demand,” Russell said.

But the DOD has made significant strides, especially in terms of front-line combat mental health care, he added.

But the DOD could be doing more for the troops, caregivers and for combat mental health in terms of treating the “invisible wounds of warfare,” he said.

“Right now, the DOD is in an historically unique position to lead the world in understanding, assessment, prevention and treatment,” Russell said. “Have we advanced science?”

The military has a “love/hate relationship” with mental health care, he added.

“We like it in war and know that increased mental health is a force multiplier,” Russell said. “But in peacetime, mental health falls to the low end of the totem pole.”

http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=39275&archive=true

Major Hanafin’s comment: Congress needs to get Commander Russell the PTSD expert (NOW or when he retires) and other active duty experts from all the services, but especially the Navy (Marines) and Army in front of Congressional panels and the American public and explain “publicly” what is meant by Mental Health is a, “Force Multiplier during Wartime?”

It’s up to the military health professionals today to “take up the sword,” Russell said.

“I’ve already turned in my retirement paperwork,” Cmdr. Russell he said, and that was back in January 2007.

 http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=39275&archive=true

 (More than enough time for the Pentagon to GET EVEN or know what Commander Russell planned on doing BEFORE he retired. The downgraded Officer Efficiency Reports the Commander received after the Navy called him their expert on PTSD would also have been motivation to retire. JUST A THOUGHT! Major Hanafin”

This Retired Mustang passionately agrees, regardless what I think of Commander Russell, that IS NOT the point or intent of MY BLOG, that “if we permit the silencing and maltreatment of military personnel that dare to care and lawfully communicate known public health concerns, what is the message sent up and down the military hierarchy?” Russell asks in his complaint, a copy of which he provided to USA Today. The Navy confirmed the authenticity of the complaint.

Major Hanafin’s comment: Evidently the Pentagon is trying to prevent another Walter Reed not by taking proactive steps to clean up the Military Medical Profession but to persecute and intimidate any medical professionals that have a track record of criticizing the quality of care patients have been given. In fact, it is folks like Commander Russell that the Congress, and Veterans groups that are not indebted to the Bush administration but truly non-partisan should be talking to or calling as witnesses before the Veterans Affairs Committee, and Armed Services Committee BEFORE the Pentagon purges all such witnesses against what the NEOCONS have done to military medical preparedness not only for troops currently using military medial facilities but for future needs. 

Russell, a 24-year veteran of the Navy, filed the complaint 29 May. He says that after years of speaking out for more and better-trained mental health workers in the military, he received back-to-back negative job reviews in 2006-07, which could end any chance of promotion.

“Unless objective reasonable persons [at the inspector general’s office] review the ranking board results and conclude that I’m a substandard leader and performer,” Russell told USA Today, “then I’m a martyr for giving a damn about [the] mental health of combat vets.”

One boss urged him to retire, Russell says in his complaint. (See Major Hanafin’s comment above about the Pentagon purging active duty critics of their medical system).

The Navy disputes Russell’s allegations. The pattern of Russell’s job reviews — in which his overall rating dropped two levels from “early promote” down to “promotable” in two consecutive years — does not necessarily mean he can never advance to captain, Navy Capt. John D’Alessandro says.

Retired Rear Adm. Stephen Pietropaoli, the former chief of Navy public affairs, disagreed. Though he declined to comment on Russell’s case, Pietropaoli says two consecutive “promotable” ratings for Navy officers are the “kiss of death” and a “career-ender.”

Russell is being treated unfairly for being honest, says Andrew Leeds, a California-based clinical psychologist who trained therapists with Russell.

“Pressuring Dr. Russell to stop exposing how few mental health clinicians have the training needed to effectively treat combat-related PTSD will not change the truth and is unlikely to silence him,” Leeds says.

Russell has received high marks from fellow psychologists.

“He is a quiet scientist-clinician -activist for a population that is critically underserved,” psychologist Rosalie Thomas wrote while nominating Russell for an award he received last year from a Washington psychological association.

Even as Navy officials marked down his reviews, they called Russell a “recognized expert” on PTSD. His research was cited by the Defense Department’s Mental Health Task Force, which published findings last week that echoed many of Russell’s concerns.Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon was working to improve military mental health care.

Major Hanafin’s comment: HOW MANY OF OUR READERS CAN SEND THIS TRAVESTY TO YOUR SENATORS AND CONGRESSMAN RAISING HOLY HELL NOT SO MUCH FOR COMMANDER RUSSELL BUT FOR ALL THE OTHER ACTIVE DUTY FOLKS THAT THE PENTAGON WILL BE IS TRYING TO SILENCE ONCE THEY MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF DOCTOR RUSSELL???

The Navy didn’t try to keep Russell from the media, spokesman Guy Schein says. More likely, Schein says, there were problems arranging interviews because Russell is based in Iwakuni, Japan, where he counsels Marines.

“I’ve been in this business for 38 years, and I can truthfully tell you that if I had a nickel for every interview that was proposed and didn’t happen, I’d be very rich,” Schein says.

Russell says he has told Navy officials since 2003 that they needed to train mental health experts in how to better treat PTSD. He has surveyed colleagues about their training, published peer-reviewed articles, sent memoranda up the chain of command, spoke publicly and testified before the Mental Health Task Force.

He filed his first complaint with the Defense Department’s inspector general on Jan. 5, 2006, because he was frustrated by a lack of action, Russell says. It alleges that top military officials ignored the mental health problem.

Lt. Col. Brian Maka, a spokesman for the inspector general’s office, says that complaint was turned over to the Pentagon’s mental health department and the Mental Health Task Force. Russell received his first negative review in May 2006, records show. A second negative review came in early May 2007.

“It seems my dogged persistence in bringing up MH [mental health] concerns has alienated many, earning me the reputation as a ‘maverick,’ ” Russell says in his reprisal complaint.

THE BOTTOM LINE is the Commander Russell refused to drink the Stolen Valor "PTSD does not exist" cool aid and thus the Pentagon now (temporarily) run by the NEOCON cool aid drinking Gestapo is trying to intimidate and/or purge any professional military officer that does not drink the cool aid. LIFE IN THE NEOCON GOVERNMENT IS SIMPLE AS THAT TO FIGURE OUT. Impeach all the SOB’s and have done with it!

I seriously believe the Dems are scared shitless that Bush will turn the military on them and dissolve Congress. Screw him – IMPEACH HIS AZZ! Call his Bluff.

The Armed Forces WILL take the U.S. Constitution over these nut cases when push comes to shove, and they are about pushed out. Our military families money is on at least the Blue states Natonal Guard remaining loyal to the U.S. Constitution and the Congress during Impeachment proceedings even if the collective we do have to put down a few rebellious red state Minute Man units.

Bobby Hanafin

Specialist-5, U.S. Army (69-76)

Major, U.S. Air Force (77-94)

Military Families Speak Out - Ohio

Commander Russell has gotten a lot of internet attention since January 2007 with 53 hits:

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=&hl=en&num=10&btnG=Google+Search&as

_epq=+Cmdr+Mark+Russell&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_nlo

=&as_nhi=&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=off