Drugs also have played a substantial role in the skyrocketing of criminal activity among soldiers. In fiscal 2009, soldiers were said to have committed over 50,000 misdemeanor criminal offenses, compared to 28,000 five years earlier.
The most common offenses were motor vehicle related, including drunk driving cases, speeding and road fatalities, which have increased by 166 percent since 2004. The second largest category was soldiers going absent without leave (AWOL) or deserting, which has more than doubled (234 percent) over the last five years.
The report notes that the rise in the number of misdemeanors "at a rate of almost 5,000 per year indicates that good order and discipline are on the decline."
In addition, the report refers to 64,022 felony and death investigations between 2001and 2009, 72 percent of which were drug-related.
It also calls attention to what it terms "one of the more disturbing trends" over the past period--a sharp increase in the number of sexual offenses, which have quadrupled since 2003, the year in which US forces were sent into Iraq.
Reflecting a far more pervasive problem, the report noted a 177 percent increase in the number of soldiers found to have committed spouse abuse and child abuse and neglect over the past six years. Of those found to have engaged in this behavior, only 13 percent were referred for counseling.
In its conclusions, the report clearly reflects fears within the top brass that the Army is being ground down by its uninterrupted waging of aggressive wars over an entire decade and is facing a potential for a wholesale breakdown in morale and discipline.
The report found that "enforcement of policies designated to ensure good order and discipline has atrophied. This, in turn, has led to an increasing population of soldiers who display high risk behavior which erodes the health of the force."
"It's time for the Army to take a hard look at itself," Gen. Peter Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the Army, said at a Pentagon briefing Thursday to introduce the report. He suggested that nearly a decade of war had led to a situation in which units were continuously preparing for combat, and commanders were paying little attention to disciplinary issues. No doubt, the strain of these wars has also fostered a desire to get every soldier possible deployed, mental and drug problems or criminal behavior notwithstanding.
Absurdly, Chiarelli followed these remarks by claiming: "It is not the deployments that [are] causing this problem. It's all the stressors that you see. For us to blame this on the war is just wrong."
As the report makes clear, the "stressors" have their source in the strain placed on the "all-volunteer" Army by the two wars. It is impossible to explain the soaring suicide, drug abuse and crime rates since 2001 outside of this. But Chiarelli and the rest of the Army brass know full well that these wars will continue, even as new ones are being prepared.
The report's recommendations, most of which have already been implemented, include increased reliance on suicide prevention and drug and alcohol abuse programs. This strategy has not reversed the rising suicide epidemic. So far this year, at least 80 active duty soldiers and 65 reservists have taken their own lives.
In his introduction to the report, Chiarelli advocates "reducing the high risk population" by throwing more soldiers who are drug dependent, involved in criminal behavior and suicide-prone out of the military. He dismissed the argument that in doing so the military will just be "passing on a problem to the civilian sector."
The report includes a series of descriptions of recent suicides that provide a glimpse of the devastating effect of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, exacerbated by social and economic pressures at home, which have led so many soldiers to kill themselves.
Among them are:
- A 33-year-old Sergeant First Class who had been sent to war three times. While described as "relaxed and easy going" by fellow soldiers, he began telling them that he was having nightmares about his experiences in Iraq and was sleeping with a gun under his pillow. After being released from his unit for training as a drill sergeant, he failed to appear at the school. When members of his unit went to his house, they found him in bed with a gunshot wound to his head and a pistol in his hand. He had been dead for five weeks.
- A 28-year-old Private First Class, who had been in the Army for four years and was separated from his wife after two deployments. He had previously attempted to kill himself and his wife, and was under investigation after testing positive for marijuana. He was also facing severe economic pressures, having lost both his home and his car. After diagnosing him with mental health problems, the Army had put him on sleeping pills, antidepressants, muscle relaxers and pain medication. After throwing away all of his remaining possessions and euthanizing his pet, the Private went AWOL. A suicide note was found in his room, and four days later he was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
- A Sergeant who had suffered traumatic brain injury during a combat deployment and suffered from nightmares. According to the report he had "a well-documented history of alcohol dependence" and was prescribed drugs for depression and anxiety. Without telling his healthcare providers, he decided to stop taking the medication, and within days was found dead as a result of suicide.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
