Army cracks down as drug, alcohol cases rise

[CommunityEditor]

WASHINGTON — Army commanders are failing to punish or seek treatment for a growing number of soldiers who test positive for substance abuse, possibly because they don’t want to lose any more combat troops, the Army’s vice chief of staff has warned.

In a May 8 memo to commanders provided to USA TODAY, Gen. Peter Chiarelli said hundreds of soldiers involved in “substance abuse-related misconduct (including multiple positive urinalyses)” were not processed for possible discharge. He also noted that many are not referred to the Army Substance Abuse Program for help.

What “worries me the most is that commanders feel a requirement to keep their numbers up” for combat deployments, Chiarelli said in a meeting with top staff officers Monday. He said non-commissioned officers told him this during visits to six Army installations recently to examine strain on soldiers and address the record number of suicides in the Army.

He says identifying and treating substance abuse will help improve the Army’s mental health care and curb suicides, which reached a record 142 confirmed or suspected cases in 2008.

He found many cases where soldiers tested positive for substance more than once, Chiarelli wrote in the memo.

At one installation where about a thousand soldiers screened positive by urinalysis, 373 had failed the same drug test in the past, in some cases up to seven times, says Brig Gen. Colleen McGuire, head of the Army’s Suicide Prevention Task Force. Other installations reported similar numbers, she says.

“I am asking you to ensure that soldiers are provided the help that they need when they need it,” he told commanders in the memo, “and that regulatory requirements regarding the referral and initiation of separation processing of substance abusers are enforced.”

In January, with 24 possible suicides, more soldiers killed themselves than died in combat. Since March, numbers appear to be declining, though Chiarelli cautioned against being overly optimistic.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, who introduced a bill to improve military substance abuse treatment, says she was encouraged by Chiarelli’s action but cautioned against placing too much emphasis on punishment over treatment.

“Army leaders seem to have finally gotten the message,” says McCaskill, D-Mo.

USA TODAY reported a 25 percent increase in five years among soldiers treated for substance abuse.

Military drug and alcohol counseling programs were created by Congress in 1971 after reports of widespread drug abuse among troops in Vietnam.

The military needs a greater understanding of substance abuse, says Terri Tanielian, co-author of a RAND Corp. study last year into war-related mental health and brain injury cases. “I just don’t think we know enough,” she says.

Army leaders have launched several efforts to stop the rising number of suicides, including suicide-awareness training for soldiers and the suicide prevention task force.

Chiarelli, who oversees the efforts, is personally briefed each month on every new suicide. He assembles top Army commanders in a Pentagon briefing room where they receive details of each case by video-teleconference and discuss lessons learned and possible intervention strategies.


Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...ug_use_052109/

[ringjamesa]

When your #s are low, you do what you gotta do. Personally I think as Recruiting picks up, this will happen less and less (the letting it slide anyway).

[2Goofy4U]

The one thing hinted at in this article but stated specifically is the correlation of substance abuse, not only with suicide but also with PTSD.

Terri Tanielian, co-author of a RAND Corp. study mentioned in the article probably said it best, that there is not enough information pertaining to drug abuse as a whole. (Wasn't in the mood to search the internet for drug abuse statistics in the military this morning. Sorry.)

Were these "offenders" users prior to the military? Did they continue into basic? Are they "juicing" up pre-deployment versus post-deployment versus still deployed?

Too many questions, not enough answers. You can't fix a bullet wound with a band-aid.

[DARKNESS]

There should be better screening of the new recruits. There are some new recruits that should have never been allowed to enlist into the Army at all. I have been assigned to an AIT BN and have seen what the Recruitors are passing as future soldiers. We are getting anything from former and current Gang Members to the one month clean drug addicts. Drug addicts can get clean for a short period of time, but once stationed in places like Fort Bliss, TX (close to the border and one of the United States' main drug entry points) they fall off the wagon and start using again. Privates have tested positive for anything from Meth to ecstasy. They have found a new drug to get high on Hashish. When asked why they smoke Hash, they state because the Army dose not test for Hash. (Hashish (more commonly called hash) is a potent form of cannabis produced by collecting and processing the most potent material that female marijuana plants.)

If we are going to be fair about this issue, in my opinion the punishment for a Poistion UA or a DUI/DWI should fair across the board. We should not let Senior ranking enlisted/officers get off with a slap on the hand, they should receive the same punishment as all others.

The Army has alot of soldiers and officers that has untreated PTSD. The only way they know how to stop whatever is going on with in their head is to drink and drink heavily. There is a NCO in my unit the has PTSD and all he does is drink. I do know that the chain knows that he has it (he's been deployed four times back to back) but I don't know if they have address the issue. We received another NCO who has it and had been trying to get his Platoon Sergeant to help him get some help, all he got from his Platoon Sergeant was ignored. The highest ranking NCO stated that PTSD was a sign of weakness. Where is the help and when will the Army's leaders correct this problem? When someone gets hurt or hurt themselves. Thank heavens for a good battle buddy (one who are not affraid to do the right thing...help their battles).

What happened to "Never leave a fallen commrade!"?

Darkness

[former31B]

The Army has never, and will never, truly care about the personal struggles of the individual Soldier. Sure, once something like suicided and drug abuse hits the press, you see a response from senior officials. The problem subsides for a little bit and then it gets back to business as usual.

The reality is that all the Army cares about is that they have enough warm bodies. They don't seriously care what you do behind closed doors or what your inner-most thoughts are as long as you show up for first formation and remain fit enough to deploy.

[LOAL-D]

Originally Posted by former31B

The Army has never, and will never, truly care about the personal struggles of the individual Soldier. Sure, once something like suicided and drug abuse hits the press, you see a response from senior officials. The problem subsides for a little bit and then it gets back to business as usual.

The reality is that all the Army cares about is that they have enough warm bodies. They don't seriously care what you do behind closed doors or what your inner-most thoughts are as long as you show up for first formation and remain fit enough to deploy.

There ya go...two open-ended wars and you're gonna need a lot of warm bodies...

[2Goofy4U]

Originally Posted by DARKNESS

There should be better screening of the new recruits. There are some new recruits that should have never been allowed to enlist into the Army at all. I have been assigned to an AIT BN and have seen what the Recruitors are passing as future soldiers. We are getting anything from former and current Gang Members to the one month clean drug addicts. Drug addicts can get clean for a short period of time, but once stationed in places like Fort Bliss, TX (close to the border and one of the United States' main drug entry points) they fall off the wagon and start using again. Privates have tested positive for anything from Meth to ecstasy. They have found a new drug to get high on Hashish. When asked why they smoke Hash, they state because the Army dose not test for Hash. (Hashish (more commonly called hash) is a potent form of cannabis produced by collecting and processing the most potent material that female marijuana plants.)

If we are going to be fair about this issue, in my opinion the punishment for a Poistion UA or a DUI/DWI should fair across the board. We should not let Senior ranking enlisted/officers get off with a slap on the hand, they should receive the same punishment as all others.

The Army has alot of soldiers and officers that has untreated PTSD. The only way they know how to stop whatever is going on with in their head is to drink and drink heavily. There is a NCO in my unit the has PTSD and all he does is drink. I do know that the chain knows that he has it (he's been deployed four times back to back) but I don't know if they have address the issue. We received another NCO who has it and had been trying to get his Platoon Sergeant to help him get some help, all he got from his Platoon Sergeant was ignored. The highest ranking NCO stated that PTSD was a sign of weakness. Where is the help and when will the Army's leaders correct this problem? When someone gets hurt or hurt themselves. Thank heavens for a good battle buddy (one who are not affraid to do the right thing...help their battles).

What happened to "Never leave a fallen commrade!"?

Darkness

PTSD being a sign of weakness? Comments like that piss me the FREAK OFF!

What ever happened to helping someone because it's the right thing to do?

Like LD said... all about the warm bodies. Supply and demand.

[CommunityEditor]

Drug and alcohol abuse in the ranks is on the rise, and Army officials say commanders are largely to blame for failing to take control of the situation.

Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli issued commanders across the service a message directing them to do a better job of getting offenders into treatment or separated from the Army.

Chiarelli is leading an Army-wide crackdown on violations and placed renewed emphasis on reporting requirements. That could mean increased inspections of barracks rooms and more visits by leaders to soldiers’ off-post homes to make cursory evaluations of their living conditions.

Soldiers can expect stricter disciplinary action for positive urine analysis results and a possible wave of separations for soldiers who have a pattern of substance abuse after receiving help, Army leaders said. The requirement to randomly test 16 percent of a company’s soldiers each month and as directed by commanders will remain unchanged.

The substance abuse problem and lack of compliance by leaders came to light May 8 in an internal message from Chiarelli. His message is part of a larger campaign plan launched in April to uncover the reasons behind a record number of suicides among soldiers. In the plan, he said that until leaders become more fully engaged with their soldiers and their well-being, the Army’s burgeoning suicide rate will not be fully understood or stemmed.

“There is a growing population of soldiers with substance abuse problems, as indicated by multiple positive urinalysis results and alcohol-related actions that have not been referred to the [Army Substance Abuse Program] by their commanders,” Chiarelli said.

Only 70 percent of the soldiers who tested positive for illegal drug use have been referred to ASAP for treatment in the past three years, according to ASAP officials.

That rate should be 100 percent, ASAP director Les McFarling, said, “and that’s the point of Gen. Chiarelli’s message. ... He’s not about crushing soldiers and getting them out. He’s about getting them the help they need.”

Chiarelli’s assessment of drug use is validated by data from ASAP, which provides prevention and drug test coordination assistance to commanders.

Over the past five years, positive test results have risen steadily.

The percentage has gone from 1.72 percent for the active component in fiscal 2004 to 2.38 percent in fiscal 2008, said McFarling, who said the 2008 data was based on the Army’s end strength of about 540,000.

That would mean about 8,600 soldiers in fiscal 2004, and about 12,800 in fiscal 2008, tested positive.

Alcohol abuse also remains a problem with about 25 percent of soldiers found to be heavy drinkers in a 2005 Defense Department study, the most recent data available.

The incidence of alcohol abuse is detected differently than that for drugs, usually by military police or local police outside post, for driving under the influence or in observations by peers.

Alcohol is a factor in many soldier suicides, which are also tied to failed relationships, financial problems or pending legal actions.

“Alcohol use is greater than anything else. We are most concerned about alcohol use and abuse,” said Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo, commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 26,500 soldiers, who said he and his command sergeant major take twice as long now to review all substance abuse cases for extenuating circumstances, rejecting a “standard punishment” for everyone because of the war.

Col. Tom James, 3rd ID chief of staff, cited the case of a master sergeant who had an incident involving alcohol. A look into his record revealed he had no previous offenses, but had deployed three times and gone through nine roadside bomb incidents. They said they got him the help he needed.

“I would rather deploy under strength with good soldiers than keep marginal soldiers in the formation,” Cucolo said. “When we have drug- and alcohol-related offenses, we look at each soldier individually, but there is no blind eye to aberrant behavior.”

Chiarelli, who was named the Army’s point man on suicide prevention in February, kicked off a massive house-cleaning plan with orders to renew neglected health and welfare programs and to sweep up an accumulation of bad habits after seven years of war with a return to discipline in the garrison.

The Army Campaign Plan for Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention was launched in April and seeks to address almost 250 issues for updating or fixing in the areas of policy, training, organization, doctrine, leadership, facilities, resources and personnel, most before the end of the fiscal year.

His message, ordering commanders to comply with a requirement to refer soldiers to the ASAP for treatment, called substance abuse “one of the largest challenges in maintaining health” among soldiers.

“Substance abuse affects the health and morale of our force. I saw that when I visited a number of installations in March,” Chiarelli said in an e-mail to Army Times, explaining that while substance abuse is a problem, it’s not the only focus of his campaign to address suicides.

“My intent for sending out my message was to remind everyone of the resources available and regulatory requirements for dealing with substance abuse so that it doesn’t have a negative impact on the force.”

The predominant illegal substance found regularly in positive urine analysis tests, McFarling said, is marijuana, and the primary users are white male soldiers younger than 25, a demographic that has remained steady for years, he said. Cocaine is the second most common drug found in tests, but other substances such as LSD, methamphetamines, heroin and illegally used prescription drugs have also been found, said Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, director of the Suicide Prevention Task Force.

She and her team accompanied Chiarelli for an eight-day tour of six posts in mid-March, in which they learned, for example, that 1,000 soldiers at one unnamed post had “popped hot” on urine analyses in a one-year period. Of those, 372 were repeat abusers. None had been referred for treatment.

“I don’t think there was any blatant attempt to disregard regulations,” McGuire said, but rather it could be a combination of factors, including the inexperience of junior leaders, officers and noncommissioned officers, who haven’t known anything but the combat zone and are unfamiliar with leadership in garrison.

She pointed to “the old adage that people only do what the boss checks, or possibly some concern that they have to manage closely who they chapter and who they retain to make sure they’ve got the requisite unit fill.”

A unit may be reluctant to get rid of its only communications repairman if he “pops hot,” she said, because there may not be a replacement.

If soldiers are found to be using drugs, the Army may keep them in rather then separating them from service.

“Chaptering is at the discretion of the commander. On every hot UA, commanders are to initiate a chapter, that is by regulation, but you don’t have to follow through on that. It starts a process and depending on their treatment and how well they do, it will determine whether or not they stay in the military,” McGuire explained.

The soldiers most likely to feel the impact of Chiarelli’s global assessment of order and discipline are those living in the Army’s 167,000 barracks rooms, because that is where the youngest, newest population lives.

McGuire and other leaders acknowledged that the Army’s continuing effort to give soldiers more freedom and a greater degree of privacy, by building barracks that are more like apartments, has had the unintended consequence of allowing prohibited activities to flourish.

Senior NCOs interviewed by Army Times said they saw the handwriting on the wall when the 1989 initiative to give soldiers more autonomy, known as Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers, changed the barracks configuration and did away with the shared environment — and discipline.

“In the old days, your rooms were subject to inspections all the time, so it was all about the wall locker display, the shoe display, the hospital corners on the beds. When you walked in it looked like the Army,” said an NCO who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The NCO also noted that when soldiers worked and lived together, it fostered a tighter unit environment and “cliques didn’t form because we all hung out together.”

The absence of that shared environment, regular room inspections and main entries in today’s barracks also means that troubled soldiers can hide their problems from the rest of the population and from the unit chain of command.

By reinstituting regular inspections at some posts and promoting a return to a true buddy system, those troubled soldiers might be found sooner and illicit activity forced out, McGuire predicted.

During the tour of the six posts, she said, feedback indicated an “overwhelming anti-drug sentiment,” and an outcry from soldiers to send in drug-sniffing dogs to clean up the barracks.

Improper behavior in the barracks “has an effect on morale, too. We’ve got systems that address this, but again, the systems are not disciplined. This is tied to risk reduction and how [it may be] linked to suicide,” McGuire said.

“The garrison environment needs to be the hometown; it’s the bedrock, it’s the foundation, it’s where the family resides, it’s where your friends are,” she said.


Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...kdown_060809w/

[acesfilter]

Well this is a pretty circular subject. Basically, the Army need only enforce the regulations which are already in place; if a Soldier displays no hope of redeeming themselves by relinquishing their drug/alcohol habit, send them home! They're collecting a paycheck to support their habit and thereby...wasting the Army's money.

I love how the Army Times presents this article as if they've discovered a new and improved way to crack down on the aforementioned offenders. More of the same, anyone?

[bubbagene]

WOW and I mean WOW.

The Air force and Marine corps with kick there guys out with an OTH on the first positive piss test.

I think the Navy does this to. Army has no zero policy in effect.

I find this shocking. So what form of discipline did the army in force upon there troops? Was it a letter of reprimand or an art 15 with a bust in rank?