Book Review: Beyond Post Traumatic Stress
This month’s article was submitted by Steve Satterfield, who is a Doctor of Ministry candidate in Marriage and Family Counseling at Denver Seminary. He has been a US Army Chaplain for 19 years. You can contact him at parousiacounseling.com
Beyond Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) was published in 2013 by Left Coast Press, Inc. It was written by Sarah Hautzinger (Ph.D, Johns Hopkins), Associate Professor of Anthropology at Colorado College. It is about how Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have affected Fort Carson, which is about 8% of the Colorado Springs, CO population (p. 275). Part One is about Warriors Coming Home. A positive outlook is instead of PTS, we have Post-Traumatic Growth. "War is the most adverse environment you will ever encounter, but you can come back stronger and wiser." (p. 37) “This is the “opportunity” side of crisis. Trauma and imminent death can lead people to see life in new and positive ways. Many returning Soldiers have reported being changed in good ways – appreciating the simple things in life, spending time with Family, confident to respond bravely under pressure, etc. Look for this and amplify it in the Soldier’s life.” A Unit Chaplain’s Response to Trauma and Combat Stress by Chaplain (Lieutenant Colonel) David Mickelson, Number 21.
In 2009 the EPICON (epidemiological) report was released. “One portion of the study analyzed the 14 soldiers arrested for murder, attempted murder, or manslaughter . . . (The study) did not reveal any one single cause, but rather a comprehensive list of individual, predisposing factors such as criminal behaviors, drug and / or alcohol abuse, prior behavioral health issues, and barriers to seeking behavioral health care.” (p. 82) This report can be found at http://armymedicine.mil/Documents/FinalRedactedEpiconReport14July2009.pdf
“The 4th Brigade (about 3000 Soldiers, there are 5 brigades on Ft. Carson) as a whole lost 45 of the 49 Fort Carson soldiers killed in Afghanistan by the time they returned to Fort Carson in June of 2010”. (p. 93) It has been called “The Murder Brigade” (p. 238) because of the paragraph above. I had the honor of being one of the chaplains in that Brigade then. I lost a Soldier and an Airmen I worked with on this year-long deployment. We had to lean on God, our Families and one another to survive. The following are concerning statistics from page 203. The CO Airmen tend not to cause problems. They tend to be better educated and self-controlled.
“The county could boast methamphetamine use at a rate 40 – 50 percent higher than other large counties in Colorado.” Even though drugs are illegal, some Soldiers still do them.
“During 2009 El Paso County received the most child abuse and neglect referrals of any Colorado county.” There is a weekly Case Review Committee to try to solve this problem.
“The veterans’ suicide rate was . . . more than double the rate of the general population in El Paso County.” (Every Army unit must do yearly suicide prevention, sometimes chaplain led.)
Part Two is about War's Labyrinth, how challenging war can be, like a complicated maze. One PTS solution is to use free resources, such as www.fobcolorado.org (p. 175). This was a retreat center in Buena Vista, CO that was dedicated to helping our Wounded Warriors heal. Another solution is on page 187. The former Evans Army Community Hospital Commander “Colonel John McGrath attributes the rise in soldiers seeking care to placing or “embedding” behavioral health teams in combat brigade facilities”. This became the Army standard.
This book is a good summary of what happened at Fort Carson then. It was personally healing to read and write about it four years later as I learned more about the history of Fort Carson and the effects of our Soldiers deploying and redeploying. Dr. Hautzinger’s review is accurate and fair and helps us learn how we can help those who are hurting because of war.