Well done Montana National Guard!

Montana Guard confronts post-combat stress head-on in wake of suicide
By ERIC NEWHOUSE
Tribune Projects Editor

HELENA — Montana's National Guard is becoming a model of how to help service members adjust to post-combat stress.

"Montana has gone beyond the level of other states in the country, and I applaud that," said Capt. Joan Hunter, a U.S. Public Service officer who was recently designated the director of psychological health for the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C. "They saw an emergency need, studied the problems and make some significant improvements," Hunter said Friday.

State Adjutant General Randy Mosley said that the effort stems from a former Montana soldier who didn't get the help he needed and who killed himself a year ago."We want to make sure we're doing everything we can to help our people and their families pick up the pieces for the problems that may have begun during their deployment in Iraq," Mosley said last week.

"The Guard has done an unbelievable job in changing," said Matt Kuntz, a Helena attorney and stepbrother of the late Spc. Chris Dana, who killed himself March 4, 2007. At the time, Dana was having trouble handling weekend drills after returning from combat in Iraq. He was given a less-than-honorable discharge and then shot himself a few days later."It takes a lot for a big organization that does a lot of things right to look for what they did wrong and address those flaws," Kuntz said. "I'm really impressed with what they've done."

The first thing Montana put in place was crisis response teams, then they backed that up with assessing service members' mental health every six months for two years after deployment. This goes beyond the recommended guidelines laid out by the Department of Defense. While Montana is the only state doing this for the moment, their success may pave the way for other states to launch similar programs.

As always, many service men and woman are still concerned about the stigma of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (for a further career in the military or out) and understandably don't seek help. With this courageous, caring change- we may be seeing the beginning of a new understanding about PTSD within the military.

Helping a Loved One when they return from military duty

U.S. soldiers are deployed for 15 month combat tours (although this is supposed to change to 12 months in August), and marines for seven months. Readjusting to life in the states can be a huge challenge. About 12 percent of soldiers suffer from anxiety, depression, post-combat stress and other problems during their first tour, according to an Army survey, and that rises to 27 percent of those on their third or fourth combat tours. The long and repeated separations also take a toll on marriages, as more soldiers are reporting related marriage problems.

One of the best things for someone who has just gone through a traumatic event like combat, to do is to learn how to let go of the negative images and experiences in their head, and the feelings associated with them. Easy to say I know, but many energy treatments can help with this, reiki, quantum touch, energetic balancing of all kinds have the potential to bring immediate relief, by treating the cause, not the symptom.

It's also very important for the family and friends of the soldier to take care of their own needs. The job of welcoming home someone who may have become a stranger and running a household, while working and or raising a family is extremely stressful. Learning to do EFT can help you to stay in good shape (emotionally and physically) while you are helping others.

We like EFT because once you learn how to do it, you can work with a practitioner or on your own. It's easy to do, you can do it without expensive equipment or lengthy training, you can take it with you and you can do for someone else.

Sometimes those who need it most, are the least capable of helping themselves.

But there is hope. Combat soldiers or veterans suffering from PTSD are often unable to get out of their confusion or depression long enough to seek help for themselves. It often takes time, research, focus and patience. These things are exactly what many sufferers DON'T have.

Here's where family, spouses and friends can help. Surrogate EFT can be amazingly effective. That is to say, doing Emotional Freedom Technique exercises for another person works! It may not be the "end-all" but it may be just the incentive needed to get the PTSD sufferer to the point where they can start working to heal him or herself.

It's similar to tuning into a radio station on your car radio. You don't have to drive to the station and sit in the studio to enjoy the program. It works on frequencies and wave lengths to transfer the music right to your car (without even being plugged into anything!) 

Once you learn how to do the tapping on yourself, try surrogate tapping on a simple issue with a friend or child and you'll see for yourself how effective it can be. You can download this free booklet by clicking on this link...

free booklet on EFT tapping

More great news!! The Army is looking at complimentary healing.

Well what an amazing opening. Looks like the government is ready for some new ideas. My guess is they've got a bigger problem than they have answers for and have already started seeing some successes from the alternative/complementary health arena.

It's wonderful that they are ready to look into ANYTHING to find some help for this new population. OK, well not new. Ask any WW1 vet, WW2 vet, Korean war vet, Vietnam vet, Falkland vet, Gulf War vet, Afghanistan vet or Iraq vet about PTSD. It hasn't always been called that but it's always been the result of war.

And it does show an exciting potential for healing!!