US military uses drugs to keep troops in battle

[donsu]

this subject has been reported here at DU before but needs to be seen again

http://agrnews.org/?section=news&news_section=2#USmilitaryusesdrugstokeeptroopsinbattle

Wounded US soldiers are being patched up and returned to battle before they are healed. The wounds in this case are to the psyche, caused by the trauma and horror that are as integral to war as guns and death.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, when "suck it up" fails to snap a soldier out of depression or panic, the Army turns to drugs. "Soldiers I talked to were receiving bags of antidepressants and sleeping meds in Iraq, but not the trauma care they needed," says Steve Robinson, a Defense Department intelligence analyst during the Clinton administration.
Sometimes sleeping pills, antidepressants and tranquilizers are prescribed by qualified personnel. Sometimes not. Sgt. Georg Anderas Pogany said that after he broke down in Iraq, his team sergeant told him "to pull himself together, gave him two Ambien, a prescription sleep aid, and ordered him to sleep."
Other soldiers self-medicate. "We were so junked out on Valium, we had no emotions anymore," Iraq vet John Crawford told "Fresh Air" host Terry Gross. He and others in his unit in Iraq became addicted to Valium.
The issues around mental health and medication are exacerbated for the more than 378,000 troops who have served multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. Post traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) caused by a previous tour are cropping up in later ones.
"It concerns us when we hear military doctors say, 'It's wonderful that we have these drugs available to cope with second or third deployments,'" said Joyce Raezer of the National Military Family Association.
"But that statement makes military spouses cringe," she continues, "Soldiers are saying 'we don't have time to recover.' "

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All these factors promote that classic US solution: Better living through chemistry. When effective, antidepressants and sleeping pills can enable a soldier to get back in action — either from a huddle of terror and disgust, or increasingly, from back home to serve an additional tour.
But the use of brain-altering medications must be monitored for effectiveness and safety, which is beyond the Army's capability in Iraq. The medications can take weeks to kick in, dangerously interact with other medications or fail to work at all. Side effects can include organ damage and thoughts of suicide.

-snip-

In a May 2 letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) wrote: "Last year's suicide rate was the highest since 1993. Eighty-three Army soldiers on active duty committed suicide, 25 while deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan — a 24 percent increase over the prior year. I find it simply astonishing that the sheer magnitude of the mental health crisis facing our Armed Forces does not compel you to action."
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drag the criminal, murderous bushmilhousegang out of our White House now!

drag the criminal, murderous military officers out of our military so our troops can be treated humanely and with honor now!