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2005-08-16 Home Front: Culture Wars
Massachusetts May Require Mental Health Screenings For Returning Soldiers
But drunken Senators who kill women (not their wives) are elected, over and over again.... Drudge Headline
Massachusetts officials are considering mandatory mental health screenings for National Guardsmen returning from Iraq, the BOSTON GLOBE is reporting on Tuesday. Mandatory mental-health screening nationwide currently applies only to full-service soldiers and usually involves only answering a questionnaire. The key concern is post-traumatic stress disorder, which occurs following the witnessing of a life-threatening experience such as military combat. Symptoms include nightmares, flashbacks, depression and estrangement.
... and the desire to choke the living crap out of busybody officials...
Post-traumatic stress disorder, as the condition is commonly known, is one of the theories being weighed in the case of Daniel Cotnoir, the 33-year-old Marine sergeant charged with attempted murder in Lawrence for firing a shotgun into a crowd of raucous partiers outside his home early Saturday.
You mean the crowd who were throwing bottles thru the windows of his house with his kid sleeping in the next room?
Another attempt to paint GI Joe as a time-bomb babykiller, straight outta the VN playbook
A number of soldiers do end up suffering from PTSD. Only those who've been there understand the stresses. I confess I thought this sort of screening was already being done by the military, since they're well clued-in about the problem.
I believe the military healthcare system and the VA have it a lot better in hand than Massachussetts bureaucrats are going to...
Posted by Frank G 2005-08-16 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11135 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 I also have the feeling that the Pentagon may have other ideas about State bureaucrats abusing the soldiers. I know they get awful shirty about States who don't deserve State taxes from soldiers trying to pry them out of them with threats.
Posted by Anonymoose 2005-08-16 00:11||   2005-08-16 00:11|| Front Page Top

#2 The outer limit of what is proper has been reached when the socalist bureaucrats of the state of Massachusetts think they can mandate a member of the US armed services should be force to do. Maybe they need to mandate a mental health screenings for their 2 federal Senators first.
Posted by Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-08-16 01:25||   2005-08-16 01:25|| Front Page Top

#3 This stinks. We all know what is up with this. We need to start enforcing the idea of sedition actually being a punishable crime. This is pathetic.
Posted by Rex Mundi 2005-08-16 01:36||   2005-08-16 01:36|| Front Page Top

#4 Someone tossed a bottle through his apartment window at 2:30 AM, and he's living in Lawrence. The shotgun discharge was justified, IMO.
Posted by Raj 2005-08-16 01:39||   2005-08-16 01:39|| Front Page Top

#5  I do not see what is wrong with such a policy . There have been several examples of returning soldiers who committed suicide . That could have been prevented with mandatory mental health screenings.. Just saw an excellent documentary on the issue..
Posted by lyot 2005-08-16 05:33||   2005-08-16 05:33|| Front Page Top

#6 When my young cousin came back(Army Reserve,served with the invasion force)he was required to serve an additional 3 months for counciling,physic eval,and generally unwind from the stress of combat.Iyot don't you think the soldiers and society in general be better served by letting the experts in post combat stress handle this,you know,like maybe active duty and VA shrinks that have decades of experience in dealing with this.Besides I have a real problem with letting liberial state hacks messing with a good soldiers head.
Posted by raptor 2005-08-16 07:13||   2005-08-16 07:13|| Front Page Top

#7 It's not like Vietnam. Returning soldiers spend up to two weeks at a military facility upon their return from Iraq before they are given leave or discharged to their homes. They are provided with counseling or other psychiatric help as required by the evaluation of the base physycians. This is a knee-jerk reaction based on the opinionof the Looney Left that all returning soldiers are homicidal maniacs. Been there. The hell with 'em.
Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues  2005-08-16 07:22||   2005-08-16 07:22|| Front Page Top

#8 Deacon -- I think we've learned that "it'll be another Vietnam" is not a prediction from a leftist, but a threat.
Posted by Robert Crawford">Robert Crawford  2005-08-16 07:40|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/]  2005-08-16 07:40|| Front Page Top

#9 As soon as I saw "Massachusetts" as the source for theis story, I could predict the content.

So, when is that state changing from "Commonwealth of Massachusetts" to "Massachusetts Soviet Socialist Republic"?
Posted by BigEd 2005-08-16 08:11||   2005-08-16 08:11|| Front Page Top

#10 Now, wait. I think I can see their point. After all, the most prominent veteran in the state of Massachusetts is a guy who told lurid stories of atrocities, stories which were pure fantasy. A guy who claimed to have run his boat along the Vietnam-Cambodia border -- despite the river he was on going straight through the border, and the river being blocked miles from the border -- and who claimed to have run weapons to the Khmer Rouge.

I think we can all understand that the good people of Massachusetts don't want any more delusional veterans like John Kerry running around their state.
Posted by Robert Crawford">Robert Crawford  2005-08-16 08:24|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/]  2005-08-16 08:24|| Front Page Top

#11 Cotnoir, whose wife and two daughters were home at the time of the shooting, later told police he feared for his family's safety because someone threw an empty juice bottle through his bedroom window.
Cotnoir was arrested and held on $US100,000 bail. He was to be arraigned in Lawrence District Court on attempted murder charges.
Lissette Cumba, 15, and Kelvin Castro, 20, were treated for gunshot wounds. Both have been released from local hospitals.
Cotnoir has frequently called police to complain about noise and fights outside the Punto Finale nightclub.
Last year, police said, he claimed someone leaving the club had fired a gunshot at his apartment.
Cotnoir's wife told police that her husband had been drinking and they had been fighting shortly before the shooting.

Sort of like drinking and fighting shortly before the car went off the bridge? This has more to do with beverage consumption that occupation.
Posted by Jirt Omager7355 2005-08-16 08:48||   2005-08-16 08:48|| Front Page Top

#12 My first thought was to have Teddy and JF Skerry take the eval first. But after some contimplation I can see the benifit of having them take a eval when they return. Yes it is a bit big brotherish but we are talking about the welfare of the soldiers (I hope). I still would like to have the two Senators take the first crack at the eval.
Posted by Cyber Sarge">Cyber Sarge  2005-08-16 10:23||   2005-08-16 10:23|| Front Page Top

#13 I'm a chickenhawk, so could somebody with knowledge please enlighten me? Does post Iraq services/treatment for a soldier vary by whether the soldier is Regular Army, Reserve or National Guard? It seems to me they should all get the same post combat services/treatment.
Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-08-16 11:08||   2005-08-16 11:08|| Front Page Top

#14 IIRC, as long as it is service connected they're suppose to get the same support, though the source is more likely to be the VA if military facilities are not locally available. The closest major Army installation is Fort Drum in upstate NY, but unless they built a new hospital in the last 10 years, they outsourced most of the care less emergency care to the local hospitals even for the active duty and dependents.
Posted by Jirt Omager7355 2005-08-16 11:12||   2005-08-16 11:12|| Front Page Top

#15 Politically, Mass is FUBAR. Trust me, I live there.

Another attempt to paint GI Joe as a time-bomb babykiller, straight outta the VN playbook

Plus, in Mass, guns are inherently eeeevil. One of the Boston stations is playing up a "news" story about people who have CandC permits (vanishingly few, actually), and how scary it is to contemplate that the person next to you may be packing heat or have a gun in their car - horrors! When we saw the teaser, my son and I looked at each other and agreed that we wish more people here had permits and were packing heat.
Posted by Xbalanke 2005-08-16 11:49||   2005-08-16 11:49|| Front Page Top

#16 MASS doesn't want any brave, courageous, patrioitic soldiers infecting their populous.
Posted by Captain America 2005-08-16 14:28||   2005-08-16 14:28|| Front Page Top

#17 I agree with cyber sarge!! Have the two senators get the EVAL 1st.I think their BOTH suffering from PTSD.(Well maybe not.I don't think either one have a conscience)!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by ARMYGUY 2005-08-16 14:30||   2005-08-16 14:30|| Front Page Top

#18 Easier solution: let the taxocrats have their stupid brainscan plan, and all the retuning servicemen return to one of the other 49. and have their families meet them. perhaps the exodus would register in the state's tills and they would get a Clue (or some othe fine Milton Bradley game).
Posted by USN, ret. 2005-08-16 14:37||   2005-08-16 14:37|| Front Page Top

#19 spellcheck, spellcheck: its retuRning, dummy...
Posted by USN, ret. 2005-08-16 14:38||   2005-08-16 14:38|| Front Page Top

#20 USN - if you use IE or something like Maxthon (IE with tabs and much more) which uses the IE object then you can use this nifty little spell-checker add-on... 'Tis Free and it rocks.
Posted by .com 2005-08-16 14:55||   2005-08-16 14:55|| Front Page Top

#21 "I said 'Sarge, I wanna kill! I wanna eat dead, burnt babies!'"
-- Alice's Resturaunt
Posted by mojo">mojo  2005-08-16 16:22||   2005-08-16 16:22|| Front Page Top

#22 Thanks again .com I'd lost the link with an OS change. It works great with a right click on XP. Of course only my kidz and wife use XP, I use something cool and free that has lots of kernels and dists and such. Ima cool guy.
Posted by Shipman 2005-08-16 17:55||   2005-08-16 17:55|| Front Page Top

#23 :>

/been to quiet around here
Posted by Shipman 2005-08-16 18:04||   2005-08-16 18:04|| Front Page Top

#24 too quiet...

Something trollish this way comes...
Posted by .com 2005-08-16 18:13||   2005-08-16 18:13|| Front Page Top

#25 Something Trollish this Way Comes....
Bradburys' Lost August Chronicles.
Posted by Shipman 2005-08-16 18:16||   2005-08-16 18:16|| Front Page Top

#26 Yah, Shipman, I hear when you're holding the moon for randsom you tend to value stability in your application servers...

Seriously, I had an idea: we could offer to handle the psychiatric testing for the state of taxachussets, and hire Muck4doo and Joseph Mendiola as examiners.

"What dog breed is best used to prevent mushroom poaching? Are different breeds better if you're a) on foot or b) in a vehicle? Which breed drives best?"

"How do you feel about Betty Crocker?"

"Does the constitution protect the right to keep and arm bears? Or bovines?"
Posted by Phil 2005-08-16 18:18||   2005-08-16 18:18|| Front Page Top

#27 the day Masshole gets to scrutinize our troops is when the US gets to administer breathalyzers on the Senate floor (you know we're talking about, right Ted?). This is not being done as a humanist gesture....
Posted by Frank G">Frank G  2005-08-16 18:19||   2005-08-16 18:19|| Front Page Top

#28 30 months in a combat zone and the only nightmares I have are of left wing communist liberals from Mass gaining politial power and demoralizing the great soldiers returning from their noble efforts to protect this country!!!!
Posted by old bike 2005-08-16 18:33||   2005-08-16 18:33|| Front Page Top

#29 Your concern is well-founded, ob. You can extend that to NY in 2008, as well. We should all take a good look now, cuz she'll be wearing the finest wet-finger fashions then - and be unrecognizable, I'll wager.
Posted by .com 2005-08-16 18:36||   2005-08-16 18:36|| Front Page Top

#30 "What dog breed is best used to prevent mushroom poaching? Are different breeds better if you're a) on foot or b) in a vehicle? Which breed drives best?"

"How do you feel about Betty Crocker?"

LOL!

Mushroom hippies have a genetic fear of beagles. In the old days (a long time ago, things were different then) a house goldie would drive the pickup with a cage full of beagles to clean the mushroom fields back home. But I say again, that was a long time ago, mushrooms were different then, dawgs were smarter, trucks were easier to operate, it was different.

Posted by Shipman 2005-08-16 19:37||   2005-08-16 19:37|| Front Page Top

#31 And BETTY CROCKERCRATS were just an ugly stain on the horizon.
Posted by Shipman 2005-08-16 19:39||   2005-08-16 19:39|| Front Page Top

#32  How about a mandatory mental health screening for all the people voting in Massatoooooosuch for electing and reelecting and reelecting two spoiled overgrown two year olds as senators.
Posted by FeralCat 2005-08-16 22:12||   2005-08-16 22:12|| Front Page Top

#33 Congratulations, Shipman! You're sane!
Posted by Phil Fraering 2005-08-16 22:46||   2005-08-16 22:46|| Front Page Top

#34 Congratulations, Shipman! You're sane!

let's not be hasty...they said I was sane too...
Posted by Frank G">Frank G  2005-08-16 22:50||   2005-08-16 22:50|| Front Page Top

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