Joseph Conrad in HEART OF DARKNESS Diagnoses PTSD

The Wall Street Journal's Weekend Journal section for March 28-29 had this large headline and article intro for an article by Yochi J. Dreazen datelined Fort Carson, Colorado:

A General's Personal Battle ... The military is facing a sharp spike in suicides, and Maj. Gen. Mark Graham is leading the fight to reduce them. His mission is close to the heart: His own son, a young ROTC cadet, killed himself six years ago.

Although the article is rather long, I urge you to read it after you finish reading this blog post.

In my opinion here are the most important paragraphs in the whole article:

Gen. Graham is turning Fort Carson into a testing ground for new ideas about suicide prevention. The most promising initiative involves "mobile behavioral health teams," groupings of more than a dozen mental-health professionals who work with individual brigades before, during and after their time in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Currently, troops are screened by mental-health professionals only on their return to the U.S. and have limited access to help while overseas. The idea originated with the Behavioral Health department at Fort Carson's hospital. Last fall, officials from the department met with Gen. Graham to propose creating one team as a trial, and he immediately gave his approval. The first team was established in November.

"The thinking is that the teams will really get to know each of these soldiers so they can identify changes in their behavior and spot the ones who need more help," says Lt. Col. Nicholas Piantanida, a practicing doctor who runs Fort Carson's clinical services. If the teams are successful, Col. Piantanida hopes to see the system replicated across the Army.

When I told my younger daughter Yael about this part of the article, she immediately went to our book shelves and brought back Joseph Conrad's novel HEART OF DARKNESS. "The book opened right to the page I wanted," she said, then asked me to read aloud a long paragraph, of which I'll only include here the most relevant parts:

"The old doctor felt my pulse.. . 'Good! Good for there,' he mumbled, and then with a certain eagerness asked me whether I would let him measure my head. Rather surprised, I said Yes, when he produced a thing like calipers... 'I always ask leave, in the interests of science, to measure the crania of those going out there,' he said. 'And when they come back too?' I asked. 'Oh, I never see them,' he remarked, 'and, moreover, the changes take place inside, you know.'...

Any of you following the tv series GREY'S ANATOMY undiagnosed-PTSD saga of Dr. Owen Hunt, formerly a deployed army major who was the sole survivor of an attacked convoy, know that in the episode on March 26, after in his sleep almost choking to death his girlfriend, he has finally accepted another doctor's suggestion that a study of Dr. Hunt's brain be performed. As the second doctor told him, there are changes in the brain that can actually be seen.

Thus the concept of army mental health professionals being in a position to gauge changes -- changes that Conrad in his novel published in 1899 was already aware of -- seems to be a giant step forward. Because if you only evaluate a man or woman after the fact, how do you know if anything has changed in that person's brain or mind?

You'll want to form your own opinion by reading this army suicide article now.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs at PZ the Do-Gooder Scrooge and Operation Support Jews in the Military, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her company Miller Mosaic LLC builds call-to-action websites for book authors and small businesses.

THE YANKEE AT THE SEDER: What Difference Does the Color of a Coat Make?

THE YANKEE AT THE SEDER is a new children's picture book that I reviewed for OperationSupportJewsintheMilitary.com. The book is written by Elka Weber and illustrated by Adam Gustavson.

What makes this book particularly interesting is that it is based on a true story of a Union soldier sharing the seder with a Confederate family right after General Lee surrendered to General Grant on April 9, 1965.

At the seder that begins the week-long holiday of Pesach (Passover) we recount the story of the Israelites escaping slavery in Egypt. Since the Civil War was fought in part over the issue of slavery, how amazing it must have been for this Union soldier to celebrate Pesach with a Confederate family!

In the book the 10-year-old son says:

"Mother," I whispered. "Mother, how could you let a Yankee into our house?"

"Jacob, every year we begin the seder the same way. We say, 'All who are hungry, let them come and eat; all who are in need, let them join us for the Passover meal.' A hungry man needing a seder has come to our home. Would you send him away for wearing a blue coat?"

I hope those of you reading this blog post will think of our military personnel in harm's way and contribute to one or more military-support organizations. If you don't have a favorite one of your own, see some organizations at MrsLieutenant.com.

At the end of THE YANKEE AT THE SEDER there's a section "The Real Story." According to Weber: "During the war, six thousand to nine thousand Jews fought for the North and about two thousand Jews fought for the South. Nearly one-third of all adult Jewish men in America fought in the Civil War."

You can read my review of THE YANKEE AT THE SEDER.

P.S. If you want to know more about the holiday of Pesach (this year the first seder is the evening of April 8th), read this Pesach chapter from the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION that I co-wrote with Rabbi Karen L. Fox.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs at PZ the Do-Gooder Scrooge and Operation Support Jews in the Military, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her company Miller Mosaic LLC builds call-to-action websites for book authors and small businesses.

BROTHERS AT WAR Documentary Shows What It's Like for Americans Fighting in Iraq

The new BROTHERS AT WAR documentary is an amazing up-close-and-personal look at Americans fighting in Iraq. Jake Rademacher follows his brothers to Iraq to film what it's like to be in the thick of an insurgency.

After screening the documentary, I wrote a review of it on my PZ the Do-Gooder blog knowing that a few days later Nancy Brown and I would be doing a BlogTalkRadio YourMilitaryLife.com show about the documentary.

Yesterday we interviewed David Scantling, one of two exec producers on the documentary. (Gary Sinise is the other exec producer.) I told Scantling that what I really liked about the documentary is that it had a narrative throughline -- there was a beginning, middle and end of the story rather than the frequent all-over-the-map of most documentaries.

What struck me most about our interview is that Scantling came on board after the raw footage had been shot by director Jake Rademacher because Scantling had been working for the U.S. government in Iraq. When he and his wife got to see some early footage, his wife asked him, "Is this what it's really like in Iraq?"

It was at that moment that Scantling realized the importance of having this film get as wide an audience as possible to bring home to the American people what it is like in Iraq.

Listen to Scantling describe the journey to the screen of this must-see documentary.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs at PZ the Do-Gooder Scrooge and Operation Support Jews in the Military, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her company Miller Mosaic LLC builds call-to-action websites for book authors and small businesses.

CinCHouse.com Founder Meredith Leyva Interviewed on YourMilitaryLife.com

CinCHouse.com began in 1999 as a way for military spouse Meredith Leyva to share the concerns of a military spouse with other military spouses. This "little" website that she started has now grown to the largest online community of military wives -- as well as women in uniform.

Nancy Brown and I interviewed Meredith Leyva today on our BlogTalkRadio show YourMilitaryLife.com. What I found most interesting as someone who was a Mrs. Lieutenant from 1970 to 1972 is how, according to Meredith, military wives today do not identify themselves as military spouses. Instead they identify themselves by what they do -- and their husbands are in the military.

Meredith says that senior military personnel -- who started in the military when the wife of an army lieutenant was still very much a Mrs. Lieutenant -- often find this "sea change" hard to adjust to.

Besides being the founder of CinCHouse.com, Meredith is also the author of the military spouse guidebook MARRIED TO THE MILITARY, which will soon be coming out in a revised edition.

Listen to Meredith now talking about the concerns of today's military spouses.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs at PZ the Do-Gooder Scrooge and Operation Support Jews in the Military, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her company Miller Mosaic LLC builds call-to-action websites for book authors and small businesses.

U.S. Army Freedom Team Salute: Certificate of Appreciation to Me

I have Lindsey Brothers to thank for submitting me for the U.S. Army Freedom Team Salute Certificate of Appreciation. The certificate reads:

For outstanding contributions to the United States Army. The Army greatly appreciates your support of Soldiers fighting the Global War on Terrorism and is proud to recognize your personal sacrifices in preserving the freedom and security of our Nation.

And the certificate is signed by George W. Casey, Jr., General, United States Army, Chief of Staff and Pete Geren, Secretary of the Army.

This is the second army certificate I’ve received in my life. The first certificate was at the graduation luncheon for the wives of AOB 21 in July of 1970.

This first certificate reads "U.S. Army Armor School" at the top. Under the words "United Students Wives" are the words "check book, cook book, baby care." Then comes the formal "To all who shall see these presents greetings."

Be it known that Phyllis Miller having successfully completed and survived the required course in the feeding, care, and coddling of her husband in
The U.S. Army Armor School
In testimony Whereof, and by authority vested in us, we do declare her a
GRADUMATE
Given at Fort Knox, Kentucky, this 1st day of July 1970

And it was signed by a brigadier general, a major general, and a lieutenant colonel.

And this first certificate, as silly as it may sound, actually led to this second certificate in March of 2009. How?

When my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT (www.MrsLieutenant.com) -- based on my own experiences as a new Mrs. Lieutenant in the spring of 1970 -- was published last April, I included information on the book’s website about organizations that support U.S. military personnel and their families. At the same time I started the blog www.MrsLieutenant.blogspot.com.

Then I started doing joint projects with Nancy Brown of www.YourMilitary.com, which led in November to Nancy asking me to be her co-host on the new BlogTalkRadio show www.YourMiltiaryLife.com. And in January I started the website project www.OperationSupportJewsintheMilitary.com.

The book website, the blog, the BlogTalkRadio show and the website project all give me the opportunity of showcasing people and organizations that support our military personnel and their families. And this is how that first silly certificate led to this second much-appreciated certificate.

And those of you who read this blog post, look around to see how you can help support our military personnel and their families. I can’t promise you’ll get a certificate, but you never know.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs at PZ the Do-Gooder Scrooge and Operation Support Jews in the Military, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her company Miller Mosaic LLC builds call-to-action websites for book authors and small businesses.

Afghan Warlords Are Partnering with U.S. Military

"U.S. Courts Former Warlords in Its Bid for Afghan Stability" was a March 20th front-page Wall Street Journal article by Matthew Rosenberg. I read this story with interest and then later reflected on it when I watched the documentary BROTHERS AT WAR directed by Jake Rademacher.

I've read that the Iraqis are not great fighters (clearly demonstrated in BROTHERS AT WAR) and that the Afghans are great fighters (they've been fighting for centuries). And reading this Wall Street Journal article in conjunction with seeing the documentary BROTHERS AT WAR makes it quite clear how different the two countries are. And this, of course, means that different military/political strategies are required for different cultures and situations.

Read the article now about the Afghan warlords and form your own opinions.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs at PZ the Do-Gooder Scrooge and Operation Support Jews in the Military, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her company Miller Mosaic LLC builds call-to-action websites for book authors and small businesses.

Help Bataan Memorial Death March Raise Funds for Homes for Our Troops

On Facebook I got a message from Goli Motar about a project to raise funds to have a home built through Homes for Our Troops for badly wounded SGT David Battle. Read Goli's Facebook message and then click on the link provided below to donate funds.

Subject: Homes for Our Troops

Dear friends and family,

In March, our team will be heading to White Sands, New Mexico, to participate in the Bataan Memorial Death March, a 26.2 mile march through the high desert terrain of the White Sands Missile Range.

Our goal is to raise awareness of the difficulties facing severely wounded service men and women upon their return to the United States from combat.

SGT David Battle, a resident of Baltimore, Maryland, was severely wounded while serving in Iraq during combat operations on December 18, 2007.

Homes for Our Troops, a charitable organization that provides specially adapted homes for wounded soldiers, is building SGT David Battle a home in Baltimore, Maryland. All donations we raise during the march will go to building this home for SGT Battle and his family.

Our team currently consists of six members -- five members of the military and one civilian:

CPT Adam Tiffen
CPT Brian Borakove
CPT Peter Goff
1LT Jarred Fishman
2LT Jason Bariatti
and Yochi Dreazen, our hardcore civilian friend!

Our collective goal is to raise $5,000. Please give what you can, and be kind enough to forward this along to others so that they might participate.

As we train for the march, we will be posting periodic updates and photographs showing our progress. Please feel free to contact us and offer your encouragement and support!

Team BATTLE

Donate now!
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs at PZ the Do-Gooder Scrooge and Operation Support Jews in the Military, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her company Miller Mosaic LLC builds call-to-action websites for book authors and small businesses.