Army’s focus is on stress

[unhappycamper]

Army’s focus is on stress
By Jennifer H. Svan, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, March 6, 2009

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — When Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth Preston and the military services’ other senior enlisted advisers met with President Barack Obama on Jan. 30, Preston told him his biggest concern in the Army was stress on the force.

Suicide, domestic violence, sexual assault, acts of misconduct, post-traumatic stress disorder are all on the rise — and indicators of the increased pressures faced by soldiers and families, Preston told Obama.

Those "warning lights" again took center stage when Preston spoke to more than 1,000 soldiers Wednesday during a brief stop in Kaiserslautern, on the way home from a military trip to Ukraine.

"The stress on the force is all-encompassing," he said, from preparing to deploy to trying to fit back into the family after a long combat tour.

Preston assured soldiers that the Army was taking steps to mitigate that pressure and reduce the perceived stigma of seeking mental health care.


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