Perhaps the most important comments related to the lethal events posted in the previous blog are those of an experienced and learned military psychologist who is very much in touch with the reality of the military: it is very surprising, actually amazing, that we do not encounter more of such tragic events. In fact, it is not uncommon that we escape such violent episodes by the skin of our ass. 18 days ago a 23 year old enlisted soldier, 6 months in service and in training for the signal corps, reluctantly entered the inpatient substance abuse program (RTF) for his alcohol dependence. He was initially angry and adversarial to the point of childish agitation because he felt he did not need to be in the RTF. But his command had been more involved and told him he would attend the program and successfully complete the treatment or he would be separated from the Army. His appeal to me and to other members of the staff did not change our recommendation and to his credit he finally gave in any was able to admit his problem and begin the work of recovery. His father was an alcoholic, physically violent and the soldier escaped his family of origin and found a new home in the Army. 14 days ago this soldier was visited on the RTF unit by a friend he met in his training unit. This second soldier was 21 years of age, of similar backround and he came to the unit in an intoxicated state. He was angry, adversarial and very agitated. In the course of an angry outburst in front of his friend and several other military members in the program he revealed he had a gun and he was going to commit suicide. Fortunately, his friend and the other soldiers informed the staff and the MPs were called. Initially I heard he had a hand gun on him, but actually the loaded gun was in his car. The second soldier was admitted to the inpatient psychiatric unit with a diagnosis of severe RECURRENT Major Depression. I subsequently saw his on the psychiatric unit while I was on-call covering the psychiatric service and was able to speak with him. Ten days after his admission he remained actively suicidal with continued intent to commit suicide by putting a gun in his mouth. He was angry that the gun he had purchased, he refused to say where, had been confiscated. His backround was similar to his friend, the first soldier, and he had escaped an abusive family by entering the Army, but he could not, in part due to his chronic depression, adjust to the military life. The other part of this story, is that the second soldier had also been seen in ASAP, had been determined to be Alcohol Dependent and it was recommended he also go to the RTF, but he refused. His command also gave him the ultimatum to attend the program and successfully complete the treatment, or he would be separated from the military. But he wants to get out of the Army, even with a less than honorable discharge and he honestly did not care what happened to him. It seems the reason his recurrent depression, since at least his early high school days, was not discovered, by recruiters or in basic training, was because he was never asked. His reactive attachment resulted in depression with suicidal ideation. And he did not have to leave base to have access to alcohol and firearms. It is fair to say we escaped disaster by the skin of our ass.
FUTURE blogs will address an even more distressing manifestation of the Reactive Attachment phenomena in dealing with soldiers returning from deployment who have been placed in the Warrior Transition Battalions.