BY RANDY GRIFFITH
The Tribune-Democrat
JOHNSTOWN
October 10, 2009 12:42 am
—
National Guardsman and Reservists face unique obstacles when recovering from the horrors of war and return to civilian life.
“You just feel like you can’t talk to anybody about it because they just won’t understand,” Maj. Gen. David M. Blackledge told participants in “Back Home – Still at War” on Friday at Pitt-Johnstown.
“You don’t expect them to understand. The last thing you want to tell your employer is you have any kind of problem related to your military service.”
Blackledge was among the speakers for the daylong seminar focusing on the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder on soldiers, families and communities.
The program for health professionals, military personnel, families and those working with the returning troops was co-sponsored by Cambria County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Combat Stress Intervention Program at Washington and Jefferson College in Washington County.
“The National Guard and Reserve are not easily identifiable (in civilian life),” said Michael Crabtree, principal investigator for the Combat Stress Intervention Program’s three-year study of issues faced by returning troops.
“They blend in,” he continued. “They don’t have a supervising officer who notices problems. This population has more problems that are being left untreated.”
Crabtree’s group is working with troops, families and the medical community in Johns-town and Connellsville, Fayette County, to open doors for successful treatment. A public awareness campaign will launch next month to help identify those who need help.
Many local physicians don’t know some of their patients were deployed, said Lt. Col. John Dowling, an Army Reserve officer and Combat Stress Intervention Program representative.
“A typical Guard or Reservist is over 30 and has two or three young kids,” Dowling said.
“These people don’t look like they would be having trouble.”
Friday’s program also featured a panel discussion with Danielle Horner, sister of veteran and accused killer Nicholas Horner.
As they try to assimilate into community and family life, civilian soldiers are disconnected from the support system proven to help military members recover from psychological and physical trauma, Blackledge said.
Blackledge knows a lot about post-traumatic stress disorder. The longtime officer has split his career between the regular Army and Reserve.
He was on active duty commanding an Army Reserve civil affairs unit on Feb. 20, 2004, when his team was ambushed on the way to a meeting with tribal leaders in Iraq.
“Suddenly, all of the windows were getting blown out,” Blackledge recalled. “You don’t hear the gunfire until the bullets are there.”
A bullet pierced his interpreter’s skull, killing him instantly as Blackledge watched. The vehicle swerved off the road, rolling over and leaving Blackledge seriously injured.
Sixty percent of his unit was killed or injured, Blackledge said.
He was one of two soldiers who were eventually taken to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, where he received a psychiatric evaluation as part of the intake routine. Those patched up in Iraq returned to duty without a psychiatric review, Blackledge noted.
Three months later, a jet flew low over the stateside Army base where Blackledge was visiting and he instantly dropped to the ground.
Extreme, unexplainable anger swept over him.
“I just wanted to kill somebody,” Blackledge recalled.
He started seeing the Army psychiatrist, but was unexpectedly put in charge of another unit just prior to its deployment to the war zone.
On that deployment, he was in a hotel hallway in normally calm Amman, Jordan, when a terrorist bomb exploded in the lobby.
Although his injuries were confined to some neck whiplash, Blackledge said the trauma changed him. He was irritable, with short-term memory loss and nightmares.
“I just couldn’t focus,” Blackledge said. “I was like a kid with (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). I jumped from one task to another.
“It was driving my staff crazy.”
Treatment has allowed Blackledge to continue his career, which now includes advocating for outreach and treatment programs for those with PTSD and other psychological issues.
His wife joined his cause. In addition to dealing with his PTSD, Iwona Blackledge has recovered from her own psychological trauma as an Army nurse in intensive care units treating soldiers and Iraqi civilians injured in attacks.
Their activism is showing results.
“Once I started opening up, most of the soldiers in my unit started saying they have some of the same symptoms,” Blackledge said. “They were all dealing with it inside. It took me as their commander saying I have some of those same problems.
“We need to change our whole culture to make sure soldiers know it is all right to come forward and get help.”
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