Maj. Larissa G. Coon developed several stress coping programs as the occupational therapist officer at the Patriot Clinic on Joint Base Balad, Iraq. Photo by Spc. Brian Barbour

In order to be successful in their missions, Soldiers deployed throughout Iraq deal with combat stress daily whether they perform their duties inside or outside the wire.

The 1835th Medical Detachment (Combat Stress Control) helps Soldiers find positive ways to cope with that combat stress and reduce incidence of suicide through their work at the Patriot Clinic here.

Maj. Larissa G. Coon, Patriot Clinic occupational therapist officer describes combat stress as “dealing with one of the top life stressors while in a combat or deployed environment.”

“This combat stress can be identified through dramatic changes in habits or routines,” Coon said.

Coon, a resident of Goodland, Kan., designed and implemented many of the stress coping programs available here.

She said some of the top stressors that people deal with in their lives are: a job change, a divorce or marriage, the birth or adoption of a child, the death of a family member or close friend, or major purchases like a house or a car.

Coon said these stressors are challenging for anyone to cope with, but when the stressor is combined with a deployment, the stressor for a Soldier is magnified many times over.

When these triggers occur, the affects on a Soldier can be seen in several areas. Soldiers may become angry at everything, have a change in sleeping habits or become withdrawn from contact with family, friends, or coworkers, Coon said.

The combat-stressed Soldier may have a change in eating habits, or may no longer be interested in activities that once brought them pleasure, she said.

Coon said battle buddies and unit leaders need to watch for any dramatic and significant changes in a Soldier’s behavior; it could indicate the need for a “buddy check.”

“Change is the main clue – the key,” she said.

Coon explained that combat stress should not be mischaracterized as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is a long-term mental health diagnosis where dramatic changes in a person’s habits or routines continue for six months or longer.

A 2003 Army Medical Command report on mental health indicated that forward deployed behavioral health units experienced more than a 95% rate of return to duty status for Soldiers who sought combat stress treatment. The report indicated that almost half of the Soldiers surveyed reported not knowing how to obtain their mental health unit’s services.

The presence of combat stress control units here in Iraq now reflects the efforts the Army has taken to make these services readily available to service members.

There are currently five clinics that offer stress coping programs to service members needing them. These clinics in Iraq are located at Joint Base Balad, Contingency Operating Base Speicher, Camp Liberty, Camp Taji and Forward Operating Base Diamondback.

There are behavioral health assets dispersed across Iraq in more than 25 locations.

Coon said an overwhelming majority of the service members visiting the clinic come voluntarily with only 1 percent of Soldiers being command referred.

When a battle buddy accompanies a fellow Soldier to the Patriot Clinic for assistance, the clinic has no obligation to report the visit to the Soldiers command. The only time this happens is when there is a fear for the immediate safety of the Soldier.

Coon said that Soldiers exhibiting combat stress do not all need to be treated as being a risk of suicide.

“Sometimes they just need someone, like their battle buddy, to offer some help,” she said. Coon said the help a Soldier needs might not be anything more than hearing a buddy’s offer of advice or guidance to some of the resources to help them handle an issue.

The Soldier talking about the stressors they are experiencing can do a lot to relieve some of the pressure they are dealing with alone, Coon said.

If a Soldier needs additional help, Coon listed some other resources besides the clinic where Soldiers can turn to. Such resources are the Judge

Advocate General’s office for legal issues; the finance office for pay issues; the chaplain for spiritual guidance; the Army Emergency Relief fund for unexpected financial shortfalls; the Veterans of Foreign Wars or American Legion for support to loved ones back home; and Military OneSource as a gateway to numerous other agencies and organizations who provide military support, counseling, and assistance in the states.

Coon said: “I have the best job in the Army as I get to supply the activities to make people forget about their stress!”

The 1835th Med. Det. is an Army Reserve unit from Aurora, Colo. The fifty Soldiers of this unit will return to the Fitzsimmons Reserve Center in the spring of 2009 at the end of their deployment.

DVIDS
Story by Maj. Christopher Emmons

Megan Schlotthauer, left, and her mother, Lisa Altoon, enlisted together in the Army Reserve

Like many high school seniors, Megan Schlotthauer wasn’t sure what she wanted to do after graduation. Her grades weren’t the best, and college is expensive.

Searching for a purpose, the 17-year-old decided to explore her options in the Army Reserve.

“I was looking at the community colleges, and thought I would go there,” she said. “Then I was talking to some people I know who are in the Navy Reserve, and some friends who have been in the military, and I thought that’s what I wanted to do.”

She presented the idea to her mother, Lisa Altoon, who wasn’t receptive to the notion of her cheerleader daughter joining the Army.

“I was dead set against it from the beginning,” she said.

Altoon, like many parents, was concerned about the possibility of Megan deploying to a combat zone. That is, until she met her daughter’s recruiter, Army Sgt. 1st Class Jessica Dean of the Fremont, Calif., recruiting station. Dean proved to be a persuasive recruiter.

After learning about the Army Reserve, Altoon, a postal carrier in Fremont, decided that she, too, would become a soldier. Until recently, someone her age with no prior service would have been too old to enlist. Since the Army increased its maximum age to 42 in 2006, however, the door was wide open for the 39-year-old.

Mother and daughter enlisted in the same military occupational specialty — computer information specialist — and were assigned to the same unit, the 351st Civil Affairs Command in Mountain View, Calif.

Though Altoon originally was skeptical about her daughter joining, she said being in the same Reserve unit has its advantages.

“I’m a mom,” she said. “This will give me a chance to protect her and keep an eye on her.”

Altoon began basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., in October, followed by advanced individual training at Fort Gordon, Ga., to train as a computer specialist. Schlotthauer leaves for Fort Jackson in August.

Both soldiers said they’re aware they might be deployed in support of the global war on terrorism, but insist they’ll be ready if that time comes.

“Honestly, if I’m meant to go to Iraq, I’ll go to Iraq,” Schlotthauer said.

Her mother, and now her fellow soldier, agreed. “If it’s meant for me to go, then that’s what’s going to happen,” Altoon said.

DVIDS
By Al Laxamana
Special to American Forces Press Service

Silver Star, Purple Heart

Army Sgt. Gregory S. Ruske is quick to call himself an ordinary Soldier, but later this month the Army Reserve will single him out for extraordinary heroism in Afghanistan that earned him the Silver Star medal.

The 28-year-old Colorado Springs, Colo., native will become the fourth Army reservist to receive the prestigious award for heroism in the war on terror. Army Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, chief of the Army Reserve, will present Ruske the Silver Star during a ceremony in Orlando, Fla.

Ruske visited Washington yesterday to meet with Stultz and other Army Reserve officials and to attend the Association of the U.S. Army annual meeting taking place here. He said he doesn’t see the actions he took when his platoon was attacked by a much larger Taliban force as anything exceptional.

“I don’t consider myself a hero,” he said. “I was just an ordinary guy put in an extraordinary situation. I reacted based on my upbringing, training and compassion, and thankfully, it worked out in the end.”

AMBUSH
Ruske was assigned to Combined Joint Task Force 101, operating in Afghanistan’s Kapisa province, when the incident that led to his Silver Star award took place, April 21, 2008. He and his fellow Soldiers from 3rd Platoon, A Company, Task Force Gladiator, were on a patrol in a remote area not accessible by vehicle when Taliban operatives attacked them with heavy grenade, machine-gun and rifle fire.

“There was no way our gun truck support could get to us, so we were kind of out here by ourselves when all Hades broke loose,” he said.

Trapped with his unit in an exposed position, Ruske returned fire so most of the platoon could move to protective cover. Ruske then moved to a rooftop and continued laying fire even after taking a bullet to the hip.

At that point, Ruske realized that two Afghan national police officers were still pinned down in the open, taking fire from their Taliban attackers. One ran for cover, but the other officer — one Ruske had worked with at vehicle checkpoints and chatted with through an interpreter – had been shot and was trying to crawl to safety through a hail of bullets.

A WOUNDED FELLOW SOLDIER
“Seeing that dirt kick up no more than six inches from his head, I said, ‘Man, this is jacked up,’” Ruske recalled thinking. “They are still shooting at this guy. He is still bleeding and shot. And I said, ‘We have to go get him.’”

Ruske said he didn’t take time to think about his own safety, but simply reacted to the training the Army had used to prepare him for combat.

Ruske credited his mentor during his three years of active duty, Sgt. 1st Class Glen Boucher, with instilling the discipline and skills that he drew on while under fire.

“He was fair, but if you stepped across that line, he would check you, and that was good,” Ruske said of his former squad leader, then a Bradley infantry fighting vehicle commander. “He could joke with you and mess around with you, but when it came down to work, it was time to work.”

A stickler for soldiering skills, Boucher taught Ruske tactics he said enabled him to assist the fallen Afghan police officer.

“He’s the one who taught me all the ins and outs of dismounted and mounted techniques, and actually it was the ‘Z’ pattern he taught me that I had my [squad automatic weapon] gunner do to suppress [enemy fire] and buy us a little time when they were shooting at us,” Ruske said.

THE RESCUE
Ruske ordered his SAW gunner, Spc. Walter Reed, to spray the enemy in a Z-shaped pattern, expending a whole box of 200 rounds to give Ruske and his buddy, Spc. Eric Seagraves, time to run out to retrieve the officer.

The two dodged bullets as they grabbed the Afghan police officer’s arms and dragged him toward a wall that provided protective covering.

Only when Ruske and Seagraves went to lift the man behind the wall did they realize that Ruske’s leg had been shattered.

Later that day, after Ruske was taken to Bagram Air Base to receive treatment for his gunshot wound, he checked on the Afghan officer and was relieved to see that he had survived and would keep both legs.

Almost six months later, Ruske said he finds it amazing that he will receive a Silver Star for his actions. “I still don’t really believe it,” he said. Ruske deflected attention from himself, emphasizing that he acted as part of a team.

“I had help the whole time. It’s not like it was just me,” he said. “None of it would have been possible without Reed [and] with the SAW and Seagraves helping me with the guy. It was the one plan that turned out all right.”

BACK TO CIVILIAN LIFE
Now back at his civilian job as a juvenile corrections officer in Denver, Ruske is awaiting his reassignment to a new Army Reserve unit because his former unit was deactivated. Once he gets his new assignment, he said, he hopes to be like the combat veterans within the Army Reserve who helped him get ready to deploy by sharing what they had learned about roadside bombs, search techniques and other combat techniques.

“I picked their brains, and they passed their experience and lessons learned to me,” Ruske said. “Now that I’m back, it’s my turn to pass on my knowledge and experience to some of the newer guys, just like the other guys did for me.”

DVIDS
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

“I don’t consider myself a hero,” said Army Resere Sgt. Gregory S. Ruske. “I was just an ordinary guy put in an extraordinary situation. I reacted based on my upbringing, training and compassion, and thankfully, it worked out in the end.”

That extraordinary situation and Ruske’s quick and decisive action would bring him the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest award for valor and gallantry in the face of the enemy. It was presented to him at a ceremony Thursday in Orlando, Fla., by Chief of the Army Reserve Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz.

Recalling April 12, 28-year-old Ruske from Colorado Springs, Colo., was on patrol with six Soldiers and two Afghan National Police officers in the Afghanya Valley, Kapisa Province, Afghanistan, when “all hades broke loose,” sending his fellow Soldiers to the ground in a shallow ditch. Ruske was serving with 3rd platoon, A company, Task Force Gladiator, Combined Task Force 101.

“I was pulling rear security when the opening barrage happened and that’s when the two ANP officers got hit because they were in the lead as our guides,” Ruske said. “I managed to get over to the corner of this little house and started lobbing M-203 grenades and returning fire with my rifle as well.”

Ruske’s fellow Soldiers were able to peel back and take cover behind the building. He thought if he could get access to the roof or a window he would have a better angle to see the enemy. After negotiating with the house’s owner, he made it to the roof when everything started exploding around him.

“Then I felt something, like a rubber band, hit me in the hip, so I fell to the roof, looked at my glove, which was covered in blood… at that point I decided the roof was not a good place to be, so I got myself off the roof,” he said.

After being treated with a field dressing, Ruske found one of the ANP officers who had been ambushed was still in the field about 50 meters from where he’d been ambushed. He had managed to crawl into a small ditch for cover, but the enemy was still laying down rounds.

“I grabbed my SAW (squad automatic weapon, an M-249 light machine gun) gunner and told him to give me a nice “z” pattern on the count of three and then just empty the entire drum, to suppress the enemy’s fire,” Ruske said.

He and another Solder then ran out, one grabbing the policeman’s arms, Ruske lifting his legs.

“I lifted his legs, not knowing that the round had hit him shattering his femur,” he said. “At this point he was screaming, but we managed to carry him into the compound and get a tourniquet on his leg, then we went back to fighting.”

After Ruske was medically evacuated and treated, he visited the police officer. His leg had been put back together, his other wounds treated and he was “good to go.”

Looking back on everything that occurred that day, Ruske remembered how his father had been in the Army during World War II, his stepdad in the Army in the chemical corps.

“I remember hearing my grandfather’s stories, the sense of pride and patriotism he had,” Ruske said. “You know, what’s a couple of years of my life for a country that has given me 28 years of pretty good living compared with what I’ve seen overseas.”

“The people there are a lot like us. They want to make some money, raise their families, live their lives and be happy,” he said.

As for the Silver Star he now wears for his heroic actions, Ruske remains humble.

“People in a much higher position than I made that decision, but it seems to me that I was smart enough to come up with a plan, stupid enough to try it and lucky enough to survive it,” he said. “It means I was doing my job.”

US Army

Army Reservist Sgt. Zsuzsanna Lee provides security while waiting to extract a casualty Tuesday, Jan. 29, during a simulated insurgent attack at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, Ind. Lee is a member of the 55th Sustainment Brigade, Fort Belvoir, Va., which is currently training at Camp Atterbury prior to their scheduled deployment to Iraq in February. (U.S. Army photo/Sgt. 1st Class Peter Eustaquio)

DVIDS

Since the beginning, coalition forces in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom have championed the cause of engaging enemy forces in Iraq and developing the country into a free, democratic nation. While operations still carry on, a metamorphosis of hope is taking place as news of success and progress becomes more prevalent.

As the focus becomes more on construction and rebuilding, U.S. Army forces are called to serve a vital roll supplying logistics crucial to the mission. From the basic beans and bullets to building equipment, logistical supply and control units throughout Iraq are there to provide timely and secure assistance to coalition forces.

(more…)

Previous post on the death of this Army officer here.

WGRZ

Rain poured as the remains of Lieutenant Colonel Terrence Crowe returned home in a flag draped casket. He was killed in Iraq. He was there serving with the Army Reserve’s 98th division training and advising Iraqi troops.

At a memorial service in Veterans Park on Grand Island, 10 trees were planted as a living memorial. Many called Lt. Col. Crowe a hero, his sister, Kate Olin said if her brother heard the word “hero” he would “be looking for a beer to go with a sub sandwich.”

Crowe graduated from Niagara University. He was a military professor at Canisius College where he worked with ROTC Cadets.

Lt. Col. Crowe leaves behind two children, Clara and Jeremiah, his parents, siblings and a host of relatives and friends.

A viewing is scheduled for Wednesday, June 15th, 3:00-8:00, at Kaiser Funeral home on Whitehaven Road, Grand Island. A funeral service will be held Thursday at 10:00, St. Stephens Church, 2100