Policy on treating troops’ mental health proposed at conference

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Policy on treating troops’ mental health proposed at conference
By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, March 14, 2009

GARMISCH, Germany — A day earlier, Gen. John Craddock was visiting with soldiers at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, where the U.S. European Command leader also met with doctors who work with troops experiencing post-traumatic stress.

Craddock walked away from that session with some insight into a troubling new trend: soldiers start experiencing mental health emergencies within weeks of deploying downrange, even though it might be their second or third deployment. Then, these war-tested soldiers need to be evacuated to hospitals like Landstuhl.

"We are now experiencing a new phenomena," Craddock told those attending the U.S. European Command’s Quality of Life Conference on Thursday. "We have to get a grip on this."

Treatment of wounded warriors was one of the issues at the top of this year’s conference agenda, held at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort.

The weeklong conference, which was comprised of 64 delegates divided into several working groups, serves as a forum for exploring a host of issues impacting soldiers and families. By week’s end, specific problem areas were identified, with participants offering a series of recommendations on how to make improvements. The problems are then worked on by senior EUCOM staff during the course of the year.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61331