Errors, Gains Described on Military Mental Health

Chris Scheuerman believes the military he served for 20 years failed his Army son Jason, of Lynchburg, Va., who shot himself to death in his Iraq barracks almost three years ago.

Speaking before a hushed congressional audience yesterday, the father spoke of how the 20-year-old private’s superiors largely ignored the soldier’s signs of distress and his family’s expressions of alarm in the days leading up to his suicide.

“I do not believe there is a safety net right now for those who fall through,” Scheuerman, a veteran with service in Army medicine, told a House Armed Services subcommittee.

Scheuerman was one of several people who testified about their experiences with the military’s mental-health system. Military personnel, facing prolonged warfare and lengthy deployments, are under particular stress these days.

Army Chief Warrant Officer Richard Gutteridge, an Iraq war veteran treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, spoke of the military’s prejudices toward service members with mental-health problems. “PTSD sufferers are lepers without lesions,” he said.

At the same time, Gutteridge and others cited improvements in the military’s responses to the high levels of mental-health problems and brain injuries among those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant defense secretary for health affairs, and the surgeons general of the Army, Navy and Air Force also outlined efforts to help address psychological issues. Steps include recruiting more mental-health professionals, providing prompt care, and extending outreach programs to military personnel and their families.

The military is “charging their battle buddies, enlisted leaders and their company commanders to identify people who are struggling,” Casscells said. “Early detection is important.”

The increase in military suicides has dramatized the issue. The Army said recently that as many as 121 soldiers committed suicide last year, more than double the number reported in 2001.

Casscells said that although the suicide rate is below that of the civilian population, it is of serious concern.

Scheuerman’s travails over his son’s suicide included both frustrations over how his son was treated and obstacles in getting information about his death.

The base psychologist told commanders to send the soldier back to his unit because he was capable of feigning mental illness to get out of the Army.

Soldiers with mental-health issues should be afforded a second opinion with a civilian psychologist, by teleconference if necessary, Scheuerman said.

“It should be mandatory for psychologists to contact family to gather pertinent information,” he said. “If they had called us, there would have been a different outcome.”

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Originally published by The Associated Press.

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