Army says recruits are monitored for psychological issues

[sabra]

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/15219333.htm

Army says recruits are monitored for psychological issues
Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - New Army recruits are put through a battery of interviews and tests and are closely watched to see if they can handle the mental rigors of battle before they ever see the front lines, military officials and mental health experts said.

An ex-soldier who was discharged from the Army for anti-social personality disorder has been charged with raping an Iraqi girl and killing her and her family in March. But military officials said Steven D. Green, 21, likely gave his superiors no clues about a potential mental disorder during his basic training at Fort Benning, Ga.

The officials declined to talk specifically about Green's case, which is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's office in Kentucky. The case also involves current soldiers being prosecuted in a military court.

Army recruits are fingerprinted, given an FBI background check and interviewed repeatedly about any criminal history, prescription medications, or existing physical and mental conditions. If they're admitted and go on to basic training, they're also watched closely during those nine weeks.

[Solly Mack]

1. Oh, please. I know a soldier on suicide watch that was made to go

to Iraq.

What they are supposed to do as a rule and what actually happens are 2 very different realities.

Just because you can point out the rules you're supposed to follow doesn't mean you follow them.

[Jacobin]

2. Its the classic Catch-22

If you want to go into battle you are crazy.
If you don't want to go into battle, you are sane and thus must go.

[saigon68]

18. They want you to kill lots of Rag heads

[MADem]

3. And the recruiters tell them how to answer the questions, and warn them

about "moment of truth" interviews in boot camp.

Hell, I saw them pull that shit in peacetime, I can imagine the pressure on recruiters to forego their integrity in this environment...

Those assurances by DOD are, respectfully, complete horseshit to be served up to civilians who don't know how the game is played.

This little "cause and effect (NOT)" commentary is amusing:

More than 1,000 soldiers were discharged from the Army for personality disorders last year, according to numbers provided by the Pentagon. That total represents about 1.2 percent of soldiers given early discharges during the year that ended Sept. 30, 2005. The total jumped from 734 in fiscal year 2002 to 980 in the following year, when the war in Iraq began, according to the figures.

"The military in general does a very good job of finding out who is going to respond well to stress," said Dr. Chirag Raval, a psychiatrist who spent three months in Iraq last year. "Going through your training is extremely stressful, and if they function well there, you would hope to think that they will function well when they get out."

Notice how the PD discharge numbers are going UP as the years progress...that ain't "good screening" that's SLEAZY recruiting--scraping the bottom of the barrel, prepping them before they go, warning them to keep their mouths shut. For every low-quality recruit that is caught, two or three are getting through the system. Time bombs, all of them.

[ShortnFiery]

16. Then if NONE of the initial tests measure Personality indicators ...

WHAT "red-flagged" Green for more tests leading to the Diagnosis of Anti Social Personality Disorder AND his subsequent discharge?

It's tragic beyond words that SOMETHING Green did before this alleged rape and killing spree didn't give "clues" to his superiors that this guy is "A TIME BOMB." :cry:

[Joe for Clark]

4. They fill out forms - honest to god.

You really think they "really" check all those guys?

And the fact is - the recruiting standards drop every time they need it to!!

It is an interesting article - except it is incredibly full of BS.

Thanks,

Joe

[kurth]

5. Should have done that to their Moron-in-Chief

and checked him for psychological issues and mental disorders.

[EFerrari]

6. People in the GP who are actively seeking mental health care

have to fight to get it. For years.

And we're supposed to believe that would be cannon fodder get better?

I DON'T THINK SO, you big f38CKin* LIARS!

[liberalmuse]

7. Sure they are...

My buddy in basic training was nuts. I was an idiot and volunteered to be her buddy after feeling bad for her, because no one wanted her. She tried to head butt a fellow soldier with a rifle and I was yelled at after she tried to bring her weapon in the mess hall. She also threatened to stab a guy with cuticle scissors and told me she heard voices and was being watched. I had to do a live fire range with her on a day when she was in a very bad mood. She passed basic training and was only weeded out close to a year later.

[MADem]

17. Close to a year later.....

That is what is called a "LOW QUALITY RECRUIT" discharge. There's a whole procedure for it. One has to send a message, in a specified format, detailing what the problem is, why the person sucks, the discharge is "convenience of the government" and best of all, the COMMAND reporting the lousy quality recruit gets to DO WITHOUT a replacement for the remainder of that person's tour!!!

And that is the flip side to this whole business, too--talk about "No good deed goes unpunished!" So, you've got commands weighing the options: Do I deal with this marginal asshole because I need the warm body, or do I unload the schmuck and make the rest of the crew work that much harder???

It's a fairly simple process--within that specified timeframe, it's a piece of cake to discharge someone--no long, onerous process.

[gratuitous]

8. "Interviewed repeatedly"

Private Watson, are you nuts?

Sir, no SIR!

How about now?

Sir, no SIR!

Now?

Sir, no SIR!

Great, report for duty to the CO in Fallujah. He's probably hiding under his desk.

[kineneb]

9. Arlo: Shrink, I wanna kill

from Alice's Restaurant:
And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I
wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and
guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill,
KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and
he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down
yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me,
sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."

Seems so little changes...

[sutz12]

10. Those with healthy psyches need not apply. nt

[Acadia Blue]

11. Oh yea, they are recruiting white supremecist gang members and

love the fundies who think that this is a holy war.

[ShortnFiery]

12. It depends on what Personality Inventory the US Military uses ...

For example, a borderline Anti-Social Personality would, in a sense, pass the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) with "flying colors." Why? Because psychopaths do not demonstrate signs of those petty neuroses that most of us have at least one or two. That is, because they have no conscious other than "what's best for Number 1" they also have no easily discernible emotional issues, i.e., it is ALL about them. ;)

http://www.markwalton.net/mdo/Enquirypscyopath.asp

"A detailed study of their personality types using the MMPI showed virtually no difference from the personalities of those detained as having mental illness (Jones et. al., 1998). The main difference therefore was that those detained as psychopaths had no diagnosable mental illness, as opposed to personality disorder.

Therefore, the valid diagnosis of Anti-Social Personality disorder must use multi-modal clinical assessment tools (Interview, Patient Hx, Assessment Inventories, etc.)

http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/428/428lect16.htm

I'd also suggest that some of the most "gifted psychopaths" may be in high positions within OUR Corporate - Business World. ;) :scared:

[Vinca]

13. Apparently they need more qualified psychologists. nt

[ShortnFiery]

14. IMO, you need to have a cohesive "mental health team" approach

with regard to any type of screening and the "follow-through" with effective treatment.

I'm not making excuses for the Military Psychologists, but it's FAR TOO easy for troops who demonstrate the traits necessary for Anti-Social Personality Disorder to fly under the radar for the Mental Health Screeners.

That's why it's important to have a "good working relationship" with the Commanders. They can key-in Mental Health Professionals of "acting out" and "inappropriate behavior." Oh hell, who am I kidding? These young troops, away from home perhaps for the first time, often demonstrate the above. :shrug:

... It's not an easy diagnosis to make before say, one troop breaks the jaw of another and/or some other conduct violation brings them to the attention of Mental Health Professionals. :(

[truthisfreedom]

15. that'll help, when bushco makes them crazy.

bushco's "life is hell" administration is just about perfect for making things worse than they've ever been.