Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Program aims to curb Marine suicides
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Faced with a rise in suicides among Marines, the service is ordering training for all immediate supervisors — sergeants and corporals — to become more involved and knowledgeable about the intimate details of the lives of their young charges.
"We as Marines always try to do the hard thing," Master Sgt. James Dinwoodie says in a training video aimed at promoting sensitivity to emotional problems Marines may be suffering. "Well, sometimes you need to do the soft thing."
Through July 16, there have been 30 confirmed or suspected Marine suicides this year. There were 42 during 2008, the highest since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There have also been 89 attempted suicides this year, compared with 146 attempts in all of 2008.
The rate of Marine Corps suicides in 2008 reached 19.5 per 100,000, approaching the civilian rate of 19.9.
"We are very concerned (in the Marine Corps) because we are running ahead of last year's pace," says Navy Cmdr. Aaron Werbel, a clinical psychologist and suicide-prevention program manager for the Marine Corps.
Confirmed or suspected Army suicides have reached 88 this year, which is on pace to set another annual record, Army statistics show. The Army suicide rate is 20.2 per 100,000.
In a video introducing the Marines' training program, Gen. James Conway, the Marine Corps commandant, says: "Marines are known for taking care of each other. ... This is about leadership. Our corporals and sergeants are our first line of defense. I expect each of you to step up and engage your Marines."
The training program, provided to USA TODAY, weaves a dramatic film about a suicidal Marine with a video featuring interviews with relatives of Marines who committed suicide and troops, talking about how to help other troops seek counseling. The mandatory training, which includes discussions and lectures, lasts three hours for trainers, who then spend half a day teaching other non-commissioned officers (NCOs).
The video includes footage of Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Workman, who received the service's second-highest award for valor, the Navy Cross, for heroism in Iraq, discussing his post-traumatic stress disorder and his own suicide attempt in 2006.
"Guys that come back from Iraq or Afghanistan and take their lives, it's like an 8,000-mile sniper shot. And it's another victory for the enemy," he says, urging Marines to seek help.
Non-commissioned officers handle the training exclusively, as sergeants teach other sergeants and corporals, who will then conduct 20- or 30-minute sessions with individual squad or team members, Werbel says.
"NCOs can get out there and use some four-letter words, and they're going to get their (Marines) attention," Marine Corps Command Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent says.
"We're not going to give each other a big group hug," says Master Gunnery Sgt. Peter Proietto, a four-tour war veteran who is leading the training program. "But we're going to address it like Marines. We're going to say, 'What's going on there Devil Dog? If you got a problem, let's get it fixed.' "
"They're my kids and my best friends," says Sgt. Anthony Kondziella, 25, newly trained in the program. "I know this will work."
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The number of Marine suicides this year is on a record pace, reaching 30 through July 16. Annual totals:
Source: U.S. Marine Corps | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Navy research could speed troops' recovery
| By David Goldman, AP | |
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| A helicopter lands Wednesday in Afghanistan to transport wounded soldiers after their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Wardak province. By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY Military scientists have identified genes and proteins called biomarkers that could enable doctors to tailor personalized treatments for troops suffering traumatic injuries, such as those caused by roadside bombs. Researchers hope the troops will heal and recover faster, says Navy Cmdr. Eric Elster, a surgeon who co-authored the recent studies. Roadside bombs cause nearly 65% of the wounds suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Pentagon statistics. The bombs, also called improvised explosive devices or IEDs, have wounded more than 25,000 troops, records show. By examining blood, body tissue and fluids at the site of a blast wound, scientists were able to identify the biomarkers that predicted how the body's immune system will react, says Doug Tadaki, an immunologist and co-author of recent naval studies. The markers uncovered by the Navy research can help determine whether the gaping wounds left after a bomb explosion will fail and pull apart after surgery has been done to close the injury. Wound failure happens in about 17% of the cases where troops suffer multiple and severe wounds, commonly from blast, the Navy research shows. When failure occurs it can turn an war injury into a chronic ordeal, Elster says. The result of the research may ultimately lead to tailored treatment, Elster says. If doctors can read these biomarkers shortly after wounded troops arrive from the battlefield, they can anticipate how the troop's body will react. Research by Elster and other scientists at the Naval Medical Research Center also uncovered biomarkers that can predict whether troops suffering amputations from blast will develop painful bone spurs or abnormal bone growth at the site of amputation, a problem that occurs in about 60% of cases involving orthopedic injuries. Since 2003, about 850 troops have suffered major amputations, statistics show. These growths can interfere with the sizing and fitting of prosthetics and often require further surgery to remove. Wound failures and bone spurs occur in civilian cases where there are traumatic injuries, but at a far less frequent rate of occurrence, Tadaki says. Still, the findings could also impact the care of civilians hurt in car accidents or suffering gunshot wounds, says Grant Bochicchio, an emergency room surgeon and professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. "This has a lot of potential benefits, even in our patients," Bochicchio says. The Navy scientists — in two research studies published in May in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery and recently online in the Annals of Surgery— found that problems such as wound failures or bone spurs occur when the body's immune system overreacts to the wide spectrum of physical damage that occurs when a servicemember is caught in an explosion. Explosions can cause many injuries ranging from direct trauma from the explosion, to secondary wounds from flying debris or from the body being thrown against another surface, the researchers say. "Your body doesn't know how to deal with that, so your immune response turns on and stays on," Elster says in an interview. If the biomarkers suggest wounds could fail after surgery, scientists may soon develop ways to manipulate the immune system in an effort to control how it reacts. "It's really the introduction of personalized medicine," Elster says. | |
Poor driving habits plague troops back from war
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
Aggressive driving habits used by troops to avoid ambushes or roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan may be placing them at risk on roadways at home, according to a small study that is prompting broader Pentagon research into the problem.
The behavior includes driving fast or down the middle of the road, or passing through intersections regardless of signals, say the study's authors, who are releasing results today.
"These behaviors become both automatic and inexorably linked to a sense of control and safety," says the study by sociologist Todd Rockwood and occupational therapist Erica Stern of the University of Minnesota.
"Unfortunately, when these same driving behaviors are inappropriately carried over to American roads, they endanger soldiers, their families and their communities," the study said.
The team surveyed 150 members of the Minnesota National Guard who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result of the findings, the Pentagon is paying to expand the study to survey 600 more troops, say Rockwood and Navy Capt. E. Melissa Kaime, director of the Defense Department's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs.
The Minnesota researchers found that during a 30-day period in 2007, 25% of the combat veterans admitted driving down the middle of a civilian street or running a stop sign. Ten percent said they drove erratically through an underpass or tunnel.
Much of this behavior seemed to diminish 90 days after soldiers returned home, Rockwood said.
But the soldiers remained apprehensive about driving even beyond 90 days, researchers found. Nearly half said they were uneasy when they felt boxed in by traffic, the study results say.
Kaime says the Pentagon wants to learn more.
"Can we somehow identify, predict who is likely to come back with the most erratic driving behavior?" she asked. This would help the military provide assistance to those most at risk, she says.
Fatal accidents involving soldiers increased after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, peaking in 2005, according to statistics.
They have since declined after aggressive Army efforts to monitor soldiers' driving behavior and educate them.
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