Out O' The Closet

No, not *that* one -- *this* one, from the AKO website.

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Training Requirement

ALARACT 153-2007 DTG 171457Z JUL 07 directs all Soldiers (AD, USAR, and ARNG) to participate in training on Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) by 18 OCT 2007. This chain teaching program will inform leaders and Soldiers of the causes and physical and psychological effects of mTBI/PTSD and provide information on how to seek subsequent treatment of those conditions. In order to remain Army Strong, every leader and Soldier must be capable of identifying symptoms and ensuring that treatment is available to every Soldier who requires or requests it.

In 1976, the Powers That Be in the Joisey Guard declared that Agent Orange exposure and / or PTSD (especially that icky “and” part) rendered the exposee physically and mentally unfit for future combat and thus ineligible for membership in the NJARNG. Translation: We’re gonna get a black eye with the Big Army if anybody signs up for that AO class action suit or freaks out on a weekend drill.

Then somebody did the math -- they’d wind up with a bigger black eye if they tossed out 90% of their helicopter pilots because of politics. The end result was that nobody got bounced and several of my buds made some significant contributions in various aspects of the aviation field.

And we kept the PTB from resurrecting the PTSD issue by keeping our ghosts to ourselves -- or among ourselves.

Nice to see that somebody's finally deciding to take the long view…

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Meanwhile, somebody was busting caps down the block last night; a couple of MP5s and at least one AK-type from the sounds. The Shadows think it was the local cops going after a bunch of dacoits, because they weren't put on alert. Being a cop over here is particularly dangerous -- three were killed in a firefight last week -- since even the bicycle thieves can scrape up significant firepower.

Along the border, ground troops are sweeping the area around Chaghmalai in South Waziristan to recover the survivors of an ambushed convoy. "Militants" are holding them and demanding the release of ten terrs (including three suspected bombers) caught in the sweep following a suicider's attack in Islamabad. Several firefights erupted in Tora Teegha and Ghut Khawa when troops were sweeping the towns -- seven friendly KIA and at least fifteen terrs dead, four more wounded and captured. The "militants" forebade the townsfolk to evacuate, but the "swim in the sea of the people" tactic seems to have backfired -- the locals have started warning the troops about ambush sites and pointing out terr strongpoints.

And, further north, two men were killed when a bomb exploded in a house in Swabi. Both were in close proximity to the bomb when it went off, which could lead one to speculate along certain lines...