Mud Recce Man said:
Anything to back that statement up? I have done both, don't recall anyone talking to be about being suicidal.
I have. One individual informed several members of the platoon of his desire (including me) - it still took a month or two for him to recieve effective treatment. And yes, before you start, we passed it up and he did recieve some care.
While I do agree that Cpl's have the closet working relationship with Pte's for the most part, I disagree with the comment that makes it look like MCpl's and above are clueless because they are to focused on their careers. Sure, SOME are, but only some. I guess in those situations, the team isn't working as per, and thats too bad. I see lots of it where I work, and that makes me all the more determined to not let that happen to me, and my couple of guys that I have under me.
I'd take it a step further. MCpl is an extraordinarily hard rank to be; not quite an NCO and not quite a troop either. MCpl's are often second guessed and this hampers their ability to force change. As a result, I see them either overreacting "confiscate that man's weapon, post a guard" or underreacting "Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine".
I don't think slamming the CF Medical Services for "this being a make-work" project is the way to dis-prove it either, to me that discredits your opinion, unless you work with or have worked with these people and have personally witnessed it. I would also say the same thing to anyone who posted that the Combat Arms were 31 flavours of f#$ked up, if they were Medical type people and had never worked with, or didn't understand the requirements of, the tactics, mindset, etc of Combat Arms types.
I've worked within the system and witnessed a few close friends do it as well.
1) Excellent Sr. Cpl with several deployments and a sleeping disorder seeks help. CF Psycho Services diagnoses him, and promptly prescribes him a drug. A month later, a notice of Permanent Category shows up at unit, stating that Cpl X can never be deployed again as he requires prescription meds. The individual in question was never told about the consequences of this prescription or the reasoning behind it, or any alternative treatment.
End result? Mbr Releases, as there is no hope of deploying again, and promotional opportunities are limited, and must seek treatment from civilian MH pros on his own dime. They clear the problem up in a year.
2) Junior Pte. Develops (or joined with) alcohol problem and severe depression. Has a number of disciplinary problems and is eventually sent to counselling. Mbr gets steadily worse while attending numerous appointments and taking prescription drugs with severe side effects until he elects not to renew his BE.
End result? Mbr releases, untreated.
3) Cpl is badly injured in work related accident, and after 2 months convalescence, suffers severe depression and maritial problems for which he seeks assistance. CF MH gives him no fewer than 4 prescriptions simultaneously for "mood improvement". Mbr has "adverse" reactions to drugs, discontinues them and seeks help from civilian MH on own dime. Treatment effective, mbr returns to work. CF MH accuses mbr of exagerrating origional symptoms, threatens disciplinary actions.
End result? Mbr wishes he'd paid for the civy help in the first place.
In all of the above cases, the CF Psycho services (their name, not mine) reacted to symptoms with maximal application of powerful prescription drugs and minimal use of counselling. None of the above will ever use military MH again, and countless more are scared off of it because of these cases.
