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PTSD: An Army colonel’s quest for answers

Army Col. Rich O’Connor does not mince words when he talks about the amount of mental health training he had before he took a squadron in the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment to war in Iraq’s Diyalah province in 2006.

“What kind of training did I receive on post-traumatic stress?” he said. “Zero. How much did our soldiers receive? None.”

O’Connor told a room of high-ranking officers and enlisted soldiers at the annual Association of the U.S. Army convention that he was too busy training for war to even think about post-traumatic stress disorder. And he said that after talking to other battalion commanders and command sergeants major, he realized nobody else had, either.

Then a military psychiatrist told him she didn’t believe commanders cared about PTSD.

“I can tell you that’s probably true,” O’Connor said. “We’ve got an issue here.”

As he returned from the battlefield, more and more of his men were diagnosed with PTSD, and he began to wonder if he was doing enough for them. The issue struck even closer to home when his son, Pfc. Ryan O’Connor, was diagnosed with PTSD and a traumatic brain injury after serving in Iraq during the same time period as his father.

He realized people needed to be educated about the issue, and he began with himself. He decided to write a paper about the history of PTSD, its definition, how soldiers see the issue, what therapists believe needs to be done, what research has shown and what needs to happen next.

The paper, “Collateral Damage: How Can the Army Best Serve a Soldier With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” was published through The Institute of Land Warfare. (Read the paper online)

First, he took his research all the way back to Roman times to show that PTSD has always been around — ever since there has been war — and that combat troops have always reacted the same way to killing others, being wounded and losing friends: with anger, confusion and depression.

He looked at the heroes of past wars and found that even Audie Murphy returned home with anger issues; Murphy’s wife complained of domestic violence in their family. As troops return from Iraq and Afghanistan today, the military has again seen an increase in child and spouse abuse.

Then O’Connor looked at things that are happening now, such as the spate of murders at Fort Carson, Colo., over the past few years. In each case of a soldier with PTSD who was later prosecuted for murder, someone in that soldier’s social network had tried to get him help.

In a Warrior Transition Unit for wounded soldiers, O’Connor discovered that soldiers going to the mental health unit were required to wear yellow road guard vests and were referred to as the “yellow platoon.”

“I thought that was a clear breakdown about what’s supposed to happen,” O’Connor said. “We have to educate people.”

He said that would help to defeat the stigma that still surrounds mental health care, help the troops themselves better understand their symptoms, and help leaders reach out and help their troops, rather than hurt them further.

His paper lists several ways he believes the Army should change the way care is handled, such as clearly defining PTSD so it’s easy to understand, as well as requiring all soldiers returning from combat to go to the mental health clinic — just as police officers do after any shooting incident. That way, there would be no stigma.

In the meantime, leaders need to educate themselves to better take care of their troops, O’Connor said — otherwise, soldiers returning from combat will continue to commit suicide, become involved in alcohol and drug abuse, be unable to control their anger issues and lose their military careers after serving honorably in war.

“What are the signs, and are we missing them?” O’Connor asked. “We are. There are warning signs, and if we miss them, it’s going to get worse.”

Special Report:

Living with PTSD