Army Aims to Combat Substance Abuse

[sabra]

Source: CBS News

Most Soldiers Who Seek Treatment Suffer From Alcohol Abuse

(CBS) The Army's No. 2 officer says his branch of the military needs twice as many substance-abuse counselors to treat the rising number of soldiers needing help.

Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, wants about 300 more counselors to meet the increasing demand for substance-abuse treatment, he told USA Today.

"There's no doubt in my mind that since 2001 and being involved in two wars ... that we probably have a higher incidence of alcohol abuse," Chiarelli told the newspaper.

Alcohol consists of 85 percent of the Army's caseload for substance-abuse treatment, Les McFarling, director of the Army Substance Abuse Program, told the newspaper.

Army records released Monday show that 9,199 soldiers sought treatment in 2009 after being diagnosed with alcohol problems, the newspaper reports. That number was a 56 percent increase from 2003, when the Iraq war began, the paper reports. Overall, 16,388 soldiers enrolled in some type of counseling, the paper reports.


Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/10/national/main6193790.shtml?tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.3

[Andy823]

1. This has always been a problem

My dad was in the military for 20 years and I saw the same problem with alcohol back then. I was drafted in 1971 and I became one of those with an alcohol problem. It has needed to be addressed for years, and as the article stated, with two wars the problem is getting worse! I kicked my habit back in 1985 through AA meetings. I have worked with many alcoholics over the years and a vast majority of them were vets who got addicted while serving their country.

[bitchkitty]

12. Yup - both my parents were in the service

and our lives were full of alcohol. My friends' lives too. Seems like everyone's dad was an alkie.

[maxsolomon]

2. step one: end the wars

step two: reduce the size of the armed services by 33%.

see? there'll be less cause to self-medicate, and fewer soldiers TO self-medicate!

[jmowreader]

13. Never been in the Army, I see...

Soldiers drink out of boredom. If you had no wars you'd have troops getting fucked up every night because they were sick of living in the motor pool. In Berlin we had so many lushes they had to build a Residential Treatment Facility at the Berlin Army Community Hospital--the only one in Europe outside the big hospital in Landstuhl.

[maxsolomon]

18. i know why they drink.

per the article, drinking has gone UP since the wars started.

basically, i don't think ANYONE should be in the army, and i don't think that 25% or whatever of my federal income taxes should be used to pay for it.

[Archae]

3. "Combat Substance Abuse"

Rotsa Ruck, guys!

My BIL who was a medic in Vietnam told me about the BALES of pot the troops were smoking.
Hey, they're thousands of miles from home, bored to death when they aren't getting shot at, what else is there to do but get plowed? :smoke:

[Javaman]

9. Before that is was morphine, before that it was opium.

and all the while, there has always been alcohol.

As times change, so do the drugs.

[liberation]

4. Apparently it is OK to send our kids to die in a shithole half a world away....

... but god forbid they have a substance problem.

Why is it that institutions are usually more interested in addressing the substances some people resort in order to cope with the situation they are being thrown into, rather than addressing the situation which forces those people to be at risk of abusing substances to begin with?

It always struck me that situations like these, i.e. addressing substance abuse, have more to do with institutions attempting to further their control of the individual... than their actual concern for the well being of said individual. It is as if these institutions, like the armed forces, feel entitled to the bodies of their soldiers... so only the army can put them in harm's way. A soldier putting his or her own body at risk is a no-no... only the army can do that.


Gotta love the human condition. We really make not a lick of sense as a species, do we?

[Gman2]

5. If they were high, when we got them killed, we cant glorify their deaths.

[hayu_lol]

6. They always talk about soldiers having this problem...

but seldom include the officers and NCOs. Usually these upper ranks have some pretty fancy clubs for their use.

Stick troops in a hellhole, put them into firefights, then bore them to death, doesn't leave them much to do to entertain themselves.

Alcohol is always a problem. Always has been. Probably always will be. Army's answer(actually all military forces)is to send in the Chaplains for Character Guidance lectures.

Feel sorry for the troops on this assignment. No place to be stationed, thats for sure.

[jmowreader]

19. "Soldiers" also includes NCOs and officers in this case

This is my experience as a unit drug and alcohol guy (aka "piss test NCO"):

You don't have an alcoholism problem with E-2 through E-5. You have a stupid drunk problem--they get into fights, they drink and drive, they start showing up to formation late, they have unprotected sex and catch the clap. In reality, I would LOVE to be able to take all the stupid drunks out on the town for one night and get them a case of the clap. As long as you're ONLY dealing with the clap, and not with a poly-VD (specifically, the clap plus one of the incurable STDs like herpes, hep or HIV; the classic gonorrhea-syphilis pair is okay for this too) VD can be a good teaching tool. If a case of Flaming Dick doesn't wake your ass up, there's no saving you.

E-6 through...oh, CW4...is where you run into your alcoholics.

For some reason all your dopers are either real low-ranking kids or officers. You don't see it much past E-5 because the Army piss tests people frequently and randomly enough that if someone smokes weed they'll get caught and thrown out before they get the chance to make sergeant. You see it in officers because they think they'll never get tested--you don't see it in MANY officers, but you do see it. For the most part they're right--everyone tests just the enlisted people because "officers don't smoke weed."

[greengestalt]

7. I have good news and bad news

The bad news is the Army is removing alcohol and soon we'll remove porn totally...


The good news is that you'll be soon able to have gay sex with each other!!!

[glinda]

8. Will they be substituting drug use with Bible Studies?

[jmowreader]

14. Yup, they sure will be. Chaplains will have services 6 times per day

"Sir, I think we need to take communion again. We didn't do it right."

'This is the thirtieth time you've taken communion today! What wonderful, God fearing men you are!'

[XemaSab]

16. .

"Sir, I think we need to take communion again. We didn't do it right."

:D

[bamacrat]

10. They need to combat combat.

Substance abuse is everywhere, from politicians to actors. I would like to see if there was an increase in those who suffer from substance abuse who have done more than one tour. Ok everyone has done more than one how about two tours. Seven years of war is more than anyone could take, especially if oh I don't know you felt you shouldn't be there.

[Historic NY]

11. They better stop with the RX's they pile on them for everthing we have a medicated army

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-12-16-milhealth_N.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/world/middleeast/21drugs.html

http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/04/24/20152-prescription-drug-abuse-on-rise-in-dod/

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1811858,00.html

[provis99]

15. what type of substance abuse?

The kind the soldiers give themselves, or the kind of substances, like amphetamines, that the Pentagon gives to the soldiers to make them psycho-killers? Because a pot-smoking soldier is less dangerous to society than one hopped up on government-distributed speed.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

17. Just one more reason for Bush family members not to enlist. nt

[bandit599]

20. Good job!

It's important to address substance abuse with our military men and women.