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Training Dogs – Myth Three

U.S. Military – Dog Tags … U.S. Military Suicides in 2012: 155 Days, 154 Dead (June 8, 2012) …item 2.. flaws still plague the handling of PTSD (14:58 EST, 8 March 2013) …
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The Army had 183 suicides among active-duty soldiers, up from 167 in 2011, and the military as a whole had 350 suicides, up from 301 the year before.
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Repeated tours have driven up the rate of posttraumatic stress disorder, which in turn generates an increase in suicide attempts among those suffering from PTSD. Even though many troops who have killed themselves did not deploy, they trained amid the dread of those who did. There is a sense, some service members say, that suicide — or at least suicide attempts — can be contagious.
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…..item 1)…. Time … www.time.com/time … Battleland … battleland.blogs.time.com … U.S.

Where military intelligence is not a contradiction in terms …

MILITARY MENTAL HEALTH
U.S. Military Suicides in 2012: 155 Days, 154 Dead
By MARK THOMPSON | @MarkThompson_DC | June 8, 2012

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img code photo … IED Blast

timemilitary.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/127491499.jpg?w=…

A Marine sergeant runs from an IED blast in Afghanistan in 2009

MANPREET ROMANA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

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battleland.blogs.time.com/2012/06/08/lagging-indicator/?h…

New Pentagon data show U.S. troops are killing themselves at the rate of nearly one a day so far in 2012, 18% above 2011′s corresponding toll. ”The continual rise in the suicide rate has frustrated all in the military,” says Elspeth “Cam” Ritchie, a retired Army colonel and chief psychiatric adviser to the Army surgeon general. “The rise in the suicide rate continues despite numerous recommendations from the Army and [Department of Defense] task forces.”

There were 154 U.S. military suicides in the first 155 days of 2012, the Associated Press reports, compared with 130 over the same period last year. That’s 50% more troops than were killed in action in Afghanistan, and the highest suicide toll in the U.S. military since 9/11.

Suicide — and the reasons for it — has been a vexing problem for the U.S. military ever since its rate began eclipsing that of the U.S. population. In 2010, the Army noted that “historically, the suicide rate has been significantly lower in the military than among the U.S. civilian population.”

(PHOTOS: Suicide in the Recruiters’ Ranks)

But that began to change as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — initially thought of as short-term affairs — dragged on for years. More critical than their duration was the fact that a relatively small number of U.S. troops kept being sent back for multiple combat tours.

Repeated tours have driven up the rate of posttraumatic stress disorder, which in turn generates an increase in suicide attempts among those suffering from PTSD. Even though many troops who have killed themselves did not deploy, they trained amid the dread of those who did. There is a sense, some service members say, that suicide — or at least suicide attempts — can be contagious.

“There are two areas which we should explore further,” says Ritchie, a regular Battleland contributor. “The high optempo [operations tempo] of deployed units, which means that leaders do not really know their soldiers; and the easy availability of firearms, the ‘gun in the nightstand,’ which, unfortunately, leads to too many impulsive suicides, and occasionally homicides.”

(SPECIAL: America’s Next War)

The Army’s suicide rate eclipsed the age-adjusted civilian rate in 2008, more than six years after the 9/11 attacks that sparked the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Suicide may follow in the wake of its triggers — it can take years for deployments, or the prospect of deployments, to sink in and lead some service personnel to take their own lives. Suicides will likely continue to rise for a while, even as the U.S. military has ended its war in Iraq and winds down its presence in Afghanistan. “It can be called a lagging indicator,” Ritchie says.

That may not make a lot of sense, but no one ever said the act of taking one’s life is logical. If it were, the legions of military mental-health professionals focused on combating it would have figured out how to halt this epidemic by now.

PHOTOS: Battleland Diary, May 25–June 1

Related Topics: National Security, Pentagon, Suicide, Troops
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…..item 2)…. Army to increase mental health workers as flaws still plague the handling of PTSD and the suicide count rose to 183 last year …

… Mail Online … Daily Mail … www.dailymail.co.uk/news

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 14:47 EST, 8 March 2013 | UPDATED: 14:58 EST, 8 March 2013

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2290366/Army-increase-me…

The Army has more than doubled its number of military and civilian behavioral health workers in the past five years and will work to vastly increase this, according to an Army report being released today.
But a litany of shortcomings still plagues the force when it comes to diagnosing and treating soldiers for post-traumatic stress disorder, it was also revealed.

Confusing paperwork, inconsistent training and guidelines, and incompatible data systems have hindered the service as it tries to deal with behavioral health issues, the report said.

It’s a crucial issue: After a decade of war, soldier suicides outpace combat deaths.
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img code photo … U.S. Army Soldier

i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/02/15/article-2278952-1795E7…

Report: A litany of shortcomings still plagues the force when it comes to diagnosing and treating soldiers for post-traumatic stress disorder

Alamy

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Last May, the Army commissioned a task force to conduct a sweeping review of how it evaluates soldiers for mental health problems at all its facilities.

The review came under pressure from Democratic Senator Patty Murray, of Washington, who was upset to learn that hundreds of soldiers at Madigan Army Medical Center south of Seattle had had their PTSD diagnoses reversed by a forensic psychiatry team, resulting in a potential cut to their benefits and questions about whether the changes were made to save money.

About 150 of those soldiers eventually had their diagnoses restored.

‘I am pleased that the Army completed this review and has vowed to make fixes over the next year, though I am disappointed it has taken more than a decade of war to get to this point,’ Murray said in a statement.
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img code photo … Lance corporal Janos Victor Lutz

i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/16/article-2263297-16F906…

Demons of war: Lance corporal Janos Victor Lutz, with his dog Kobe, took his own life on January 12 after struggling with PTSD since he returned from Afghanistan

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‘Many of the 24 findings and 47 recommendations in this report are not new. Creating a universal electronic health record, providing better rural health access, and standardizing the way diagnoses are made, for instance, have been lingering problems for far too long.

‘Our service members and their families deserve better.’

The report noted that the Army had made strides in some areas, including cutting how long it takes soldiers to obtain a disability evaluation and publishing a guide to the process.

The task force interviewed 750 people stationed around the globe, conducted listening sessions with 6,400 others and reviewed more than 140,000 records.

More…

… ‘He said no one would believe me’: Female Air Force recruit who was raped by her trainer sheds her anonymity and speaks out about how she had nowhere to turn after violent attack
… A hero broken by war: Afghanistan veteran Jake Wood admits he’s a walking timebomb – and there are hundreds more like him

The Army’s Medical Command reviewed diagnoses for all soldiers evaluated for behavioral health problems from October 2001 until last April.

Since September 2001, the report found, 4.1 per cent of all soldiers deployed wound up with a behavioral health diagnosis such as PTSD or traumatic brain injury. Many can remain on active duty.

Nationwide, the report said, 6,400 soldiers had behavioral health diagnoses ‘adjusted’ by medical evaluation boards, with approximately equal numbers having PTSD added as a diagnosis and removed as a diagnosis.

Two locations where medical evaluation boards are held had slightly higher diagnosis changes than the Army-wide average, but the report did not identify them.
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img code photo … Jake Wood

i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/02/15/article-2278952-17967E…

Struggle: Jake Wood spiraled into the bleakness of PTSD and has written a book about the struggle
Cases from those locations are being reviewed to ensure no soldiers were improperly affected, the report said.

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Last year the Army – and the military as a whole – suffered the highest number of suicides ever recorded, prompting then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to declare it an epidemic.

The Army had 183 suicides among active-duty soldiers, up from 167 in 2011, and the military as a whole had 350 suicides, up from 301 the year before.

Among the problems the report documented was that Army bases don’t have a person on site dedicated to overseeing behavioral health issues, despite the many problems they can cause: suicide, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and child and spouse abuse.

Each installation needs someone with a view of all those programs to make recommendations to the commander, the report said.

Army Secretary John M. McHugh said in a statement that the Army will work to place behavioral health experts ‘at the command and installation levels to provide better consultation, guidance, coordination and recommendations to improve behavioral health care for our soldiers.’

The task force found that of the soldiers surveyed, 37 per cent had never received any information about the Army’s disability evaluation system or had to seek the information out on their own.

It also said it was confusing and inefficient for troops to navigate the vastly different disability systems maintained by the Army and the Veterans Administration.

The Army and VA plan to have a joint disability system, by which health care providers in either organization will have access to records, by 2017.

‘Some changes can be made immediately,’ McHugh said. ‘Others will require more time and coordination.

‘Importantly, this report reviewed our systems holistically – recommending not only short-term solutions, but longer term, systemic changes that will make care and treatment of our soldiers and family members more effective.’
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Dog whispering is the best method for training your dog – Wrong!

Dog whispering is probably best known through a television program called “The Dog Whisperer”, featuring Cesar Millan. Although dog whispering is a humane way to train your dog, the belief that it is the most gentle way is not entirely correct.

A lot of its effectiveness is through establishing dominance and ensuring your dog is aware that you are both in charge, and control, as the pack leader. Establishing this often involves using firm physical gestures with your dog. This is done in a way which is not violent, aggressive or potentially harmful to your dog.

Some of the main aspects of this type of training include:

Establishing your role as leader: This is vital if you want to make the dog whispering method work for you and can only work well if you can make your dog feel safe and secure in many different social situations and interactions, but only if you have established your dominance as pack leader.

Don’t Shout: Whatever dog training method you use, shouting at your dog should never be part of it and actually reflects more on the owner’s lack of self-control. The one exception to this rule would be if your dog was in imminent danger – only shout on such an occasion, and you can be sure of a response when it is most needed.

Using Body Language: By this I mean your body language and your dog’s. Your body language can give a very clear message to your dog which is why you need to remain calm, but firm when training your dog. If you exhibit nervous, or fearful body language, your dog will interpret this as there being a reason to be nervous or fearful.

Using Signals: Dogs use a number of signals and gestures to indicate their intentions, defuse situations and send messages of “no threat”. They do also try to give us signals but if we don’t recognize them, we won’t understand what our dog is trying to communicate to us.

Eye-to-Eye Contact: This is one of the best forms of communication between you and your dog and establishing regular eye contact with your dog is one of the first steps to reading each other’s facial expressions. On the other hand, avoid direct eye contact when meeting a new dog as this can be read by the dog as confrontational.

To learn more about Dog Whispering and to Get your Free 6 Day Course Bonus on Secrets to Dog Training (worth ) http://www.train-my-dog.info. Free tips from the experts on how to train your dog the right way. If you are looking for Solutions to Dog Barking and would like some free advice, this is available at http://www.squidoo.com/Solutions-To-Dog-Barking

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