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The Sensitive Soldier
J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo
Can U.S. troops be rewired to be impervious to trauma? In the wake of Fort Hood, Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum launched a groundbreaking program to eliminate PTSD.
“How am I going to get people to focus not on tragedy, but on resilience?” Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum asks rhetorically as we sit in her Pentagon office. The question is now Gen. Cornum’s mission: She is charged with teaching the Army’s warriors—even in the wake of the homegrown tragedy at Fort Hood—to persevere in the face of any crisis.
Cornum’s program represents a historic shift in the Army’s training philosophy. Instead of lavishing resources on those warriors who have succumbed to post-traumatic stress, depression, drug dependency, DUI, or sought the ultimate escape of suicide, the Army this week began training its “healthy” soldiers in emotional and spiritual fitness.
“We’re devoting a great deal of effort to treating pathology, but 99 percent of people in the Army have normal reactions to fear and trauma. And we have done nothing for these people.”
Cornum is uniquely qualified to be the nation’s new director of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness. In 1991, as a flight surgeon during the first Gulf War, she was taken prisoner when her helicopter was shot down in Iraq. After three days of beatings and humiliations, this mother of a then-14-year-old daughter was released from Iraqi prisons. Her resilience and heroism as a prisoner of war convinced many in the Pentagon that women could indeed serve on the frontlines. And unlike former POWs, Cornum stayed in the military.
The new training program offers soldiers a tool kit of psychological techniques based on years of research. They can be just as useful in facing the fear of battlefield combat as in living room flare-ups. Senior military officers say the chief stressor in our current wars—when spouses and parents can call their warriors on cellphones at any time, day or night—are the fights that lead to family breakdown. But at a much deeper level is the emotional fallout from the nonstop cycling of soldiers through several deployments.
And while Cornum acknowledges there are many hidden traumas for soldiers, she dismisses dwelling on the impact of the Fort Hood shootings. “I don’t think one individual act of murdering tells me anything about the fitness of the 1.1 million people in the force. It’s a terrible tragedy. But there’s no need to engage in catastrophic thinking,” she says brusquely. “Just move on and think about what you can do to make it better.”
As a doctor meeting with other generals in the day-after crisis meeting at the Department of Defense, Cornum did not recommend that any of the soldiers present in the killing room at Fort Hood be given a postponement of their overseas assignments.
“It’s not as if there’s a choice,” she says. “Somebody else would have to go.”
• Ken Allard: The Next Fort Hood
• Graeme Wood: Hasan's Yemen ConnectionAs of this Monday, Cornum and University of Pennsylvania psychologists Martin Seligman and Karen Reivich began a rigorous 10-day course for 150 mature drill sergeants. These men and women will, in turn, train others who will eventually teach the entire force how to reframe their reactions to the horrors of war. At present, it is estimated that about one-third of soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan have symptoms of post-traumatic stress. The Army’s new fitness training will emphasize that the same trigger events can actually be an opportunity for “post-traumatic growth.”
Clearly the Army did not stress this kind of emotional fitness training when Cornum joined back in the 1980s. But one suspects she would not have needed such preparation in the first place. “I have always been a daredevil with a disciplined mind,” she says. Fifty years old and still a compact 5-foot-5 and 120 pounds, encased in a digital-patterned combat uniform, the general plants one boot on her other knee, leans back, and boasts, “I’ve been jumping off barns and climbing trees since I could walk.” She is also a veteran steeplechase jockey who had to put weights in her jodhpurs to keep her mount on the horse.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Gail Sheehy is an American writer and lecturer, most notable for her books on life and the life cycle. She is also a contributor to Vanity Fair, and can be found at gailsheehy.com
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Gail Sheehy is an American writer and lecturer, most notable for her books on life and the life cycle. She is also a contributor to Vanity Fair, and can be found at gailsheehy.com
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Gail Sheehy is an American writer and lecturer, most notable for her books on life and the life cycle. She is also a contributor to Vanity Fair, and can be found at gailsheehy.com
This sounds like another sensible person who has a really good sense of framing a positive mind set. With all that said, everyone has to remember to keep their eyes open, when terrified, and then we might have a chance to win this war, I mean these two wars.
Great Advise - Rhonda Cornum "I went out and bought a new bright red Dodge Stealth," Given here experiences and advice from a urinary specialist - lets all buy fast cars for our returining soldiers. I wonder if Rhonda Cornum has every spent any time understanding the term empathy.
I am a three tour "trigger puller"
I avoided watching 911 footage on anniversary, I took advantage of cheap airlines tickets, and went on holiday that day :).
I'm currently in Iraq and I think it's ridiculous to think that training can lessen the psychological effects of long deployments. I think it's a mindless approach to gloss over a major issue that adversely affects soldiers' lives. I'm only here for 6 months, but even that feels like something I never, ever want to endure again.
I feel like this sort of training is an effort to suppress human emotion that should be natural. And it's a direct contrast of the Army's current effort to reverse the old culture that says "Be tough, don't seek professional help even though you're considering killing yourself and others around you."
Many soldiers out here are going through personal turmoil (most stress is from the potential break-up of their families back home) and don't need more rhetoric from the Army telling them to be tough.
We need to start to support real soldiers, not the FOX rejects and cowardly neocons.
Stretching a bit to get your Fox attacks in today don't you think? What time do you robots get reprogrammed?
How did the soldiers of World War 2 survive **years** of war without 'rotation'? Keeps on making you think that the fighting men have changed and not necessarily for the better.
BTW, why can't soldiers have regular uniforms for office duty in the U.S.? Whilst the U.S. isn't the safest place, these high-tech digitally decorated baggy pants offer minimum camouflage in our cities and serve no useful purpose.
There's more to a uniform than functionality. There's also a reason that we don't wear AOC insignia on the combat uniforms.
One team. One fight.
The men of WWII, WWI, Korea and all other conflicts prior to Viet Nam did not believe that PTSD existed. Even if they were "shell shocked" they were stigmatized to the point that they didn't want to report it to superiors or tell their brothers in arms because of the problems they could face with their units. The soldiers have not changed over the years, the support system has.
As for the uniforms, being a veteran myself, I welcome the one uniform for all standard, even while in the office, no matter the rank. Do you think the Army needs to where a camouflage in the office that is made up of coffee pots, paper and filing cabinets? The point is not to blend into everything to make every soldier feel as one unit. And the camouflage DOES work in a multitude of urban settings.
WW 2 soldiers were brought back mostly on troop ships. This gave them time to talk to one another and get their mind straight. Also the whole country was at war and most people knew the soldiers went through hell so they didn't have to jump back into a society that doesn't follow the war and is unwilling to sacrifice. My father a decorated and wounded WW2 vet said that (usually anonymous) people bought meals in restaurants and drinks in bars for any soldier in uniform, everywhere, especially if you were heading in or just back from action.
Also, Japan and Germany were REAL threats that most thought HAD to be opposed. Finally, the general rules and public proclamations by politicians did not support torture or abuse of prisoners. We drew a line and made some effort to not cross it. Not always successfully.
My father opposed all wars after WW2 and had some trouble with the justification for many of the actions in WW2. He regretted the destruction of the average person's property and death and injury of non-combatants. He had nightmares and didn't talk about most of the war, except with his war buddies. At his funeral he was buried with military honors reflecting the bronze star he was awarded but never told anyone about - even my mother.
I think the society support and shared sacrifice helped with PTSD.
DakLak: America's fighting in World War II only lasted 4 years. Even then, I doubt there were any U.S. soldiers who were actively fighting all that time.
In the European theater, fighting was in broken bursts: the invasion of North Africa in 1942, the invasion Italy in 1943, the invasion of France in 1944. Each lasted less than a year, and few soldiers would have been in all three battles.
In the Pacific theater, fighting was in short bursts, capturing one island after another, with periods of rest in between while U.S. forces prepared for the next invasion.
In contrast, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been going on for seven years now, with no breaks in the fighting. And these are guerrilla wars, which are much harder on soldiers than a conventional war with another country. Remember Vietnam?
The soldiers of WW II had the same problems as the soldiers of today, some were much worse. You can actually find propaganda films from that era where they show "shell shocked" troops in mental hospitals that comes to the happy conclusion of their cure. Sadly, many of these men were certainly not cured nor did they ever lead productive lives. Society at that time pushed these people to the margins and didn't deal with them in any real way. Who do you think populated the biker gangs and other criminal elements that sprouted up post WW II?
Many of the biker gangs were started by pilots who craved the adrenaline rush that they missed from piloting their fighter planes, not combat soldiers on the ground.
She tells it like it is, no nonsense...personally I think she rocks. Furthermore, I'd feel more comfortable with more military leaders like her. Thank you General Cornum.
she is a urologist not a neurologist, i doubt she had patients in an neurology waiting room on 9/11
@DakLak
The military do have regular uniforms to wear in the office, but since the nation is at war, we often wear our battle dress or combat uniform (camo) regardless of where we are and what we are doing in support of that war. It is appropriate. I am retired now, and didn't like wearing the camo over the "office" uniform for a number of reasons, but NOT because I didn't think it was appropriate.
>>"It all sounds too perfect. But Cornum appears to have been born an "invulnerable," a personality type that psychologists find is rare but somehow protected, perhaps by brain chemistry, from breaking under almost any stress."
*** "It all sounds too perfect. But Cornum appears to have been born an "invulnerable," a personality type that psychologists find is rare but somehow protected, perhaps by brain chemistry, from breaking under almost any stress." ***
I'm curious as to how an "invulnerable" would be a good choice to lead a program improving the psychological fitness of soldiers who aren't so lucky.
The profile of Cornum paints her as someone with emotional reactions to trauma that are well outside the norm.
"The profile of Cornum paints her as someone with emotional reactions to trauma that are well outside the norm."
That "outside the norm" thing is why she's a good choice. They want someone outside the norm to figure out how to teach other soldiers to respond "outside the norm" as well.
Sheehy comments, "Cornum's program represents a historic shift in the Army's training philosophy. Instead of lavishing resources on those warriors who have succumbed to post-traumatic stress, depression, drug dependency, DUI, or sought the ultimate escape of suicide, the Army this week began training its "healthy" soldiers in emotional and spiritual fitness..."
---
Wonderful-- but where does that leave the soldiers who do end up casualties, despite their ostensibly greater fitness?
Are they left to bludgeon themselves with the implicit notion they have failed in their official mission to Move On? After all, they have been trained to be more resistant to stress, haven't they?
The ugly fact of the matter is the Army, like the rest of the military, never lavishes much on enlisted personnel. Greater attention is invested in officers, Congressmen on the Right Committees and defense contractors.
So, can we conclude the new policy is small loss to PTSD victims, anyway? If they never got the attention needed to prevent several thousand each year from contemplating suicide (while Bush asked us to support the troops), why should even less official attention matter now?
But it does matter, because ignoring the problem has human consequences. If there is logic behind the new Army policy, it is not obvious. If anything, the new official Army policy is like the unofficial old Army policy.
And while we contemplate repeating our mistakes in Afghanistan, no congratulations are due to the Army for any "new" policy founded on old thinking, old habits, and mythology from brass-- not medical science.
The point of the article is she is appearing to create her own framework to protect her mind from breaking under conditions which could break it, if a person did not prepare themselves, and she is also saying more should be done for ordinary people.
There are all kinds of programs here to for people who are alcoholics, drug addicts, and seriuosly mentally ill, but for ordinary people, there is very little support until the load gets too heavy, and then a person breaks.
that is the way the doggy eat dog world is.
Cornum reminds me of the thousands of, "motivational speakers," who step outside of human nature and self-promote a personal belief system.
War is hell ... there is no way to avoid the internal conflict of most who are sensitive to humanity yet must go to war.
Having a positive outlook, reminding oneself of your purpose and motivating yourself to action are not activities that are outside of human nature.
War is hell, fighting an external conflict doesn't mean that you can't also deal with the internal conflicts that this produces simultaneously.
At the moment, soldiers are only trained to fight the external enemies, and they often deal with the internal conflict when they get home. Cornum is aiming to have them deal with both so that they are not internally devastated when they return.
"she is a urologist not a neurologist, i doubt she had patients in an neurology waiting room on 9/11" I'm unclear what you point is with regards to 9/11? She is a Ph.D. and M.D. who has treated more than 5,000 battle wounds as a surgeon and yes a urologist.
I applaud her efforts to focus on resilience.
Sounds like a well grounded military person - good head coupled with 'boots on the ground' experience.
Her perspective on current young folks seems right on regarding their life experiences in their young lives. I would caution her a little to consider the following factors...
%u2022 A disproportionate share of young recruits come from poor/rural areas. Most states require drivers training classes which require $$ to take. Additionally all states require liability insurance which all parents of teenagers will tell you costs $$$$$. Finally, there are concerns of safety by many parents. Taken in total, it not surprising that the recruit population has a high number of individuals that do not have drivers licenses.
%u2022 The cultural climate has changed substantially over the past several decades. Cultural awareness and other forms of 'touchy-feelee' dialogs and mantras are now the norm. Recent studies tend to stigmatize any aggressive behavior and teach instead sensitivity in all situations.
Clearly we need to prepare these individuals for an environment that is different than their existing norm.
Uncle Sam loves all Americans. He has invested billions to protect us, and it is worth the cost. Each life is precious and no person should get hurt. 99% of violence is committed by loners, and there are millions of them. Some have flipped and went on a shooting spree. Mentally ill loners are hard to detect because many have no prior arrest record. Quiet neighbors must be watched for suspicious activity. We must all learn to be nosey. A well financed outreach program must be developed by the government. Loners must be visited and often questioned. The wrong answer will set off an alarm leading to their arrest. A sick loner in handcuffs is a guarantee that no innocent person will be murdered or maimed.
Maybe, just maybe, PTSD is an indication that we really are not killers, that we have evolved beyond wanting to kill each other. That we are better than that. Maybe, just maybe, we should consider ways to stop the wars and warring and learn other ways of resolving conflicts instead war..... not ways of desensitizing us!
Well said!
THANK you! I'm so sick of all of this American Imperialism and macho gungho kill the "enemy" get them before they get us WAR DEPARTMENT shit.
Its disgusting. If we are coming to this point that we have to de-HUMANIZE our military personnel in order to keep them going back and back and back and back to fight senseless wars of choice, then helllllllo? there is something wroooooooooooooong with that...
so obvious. why don't more people see it?
They ALL need to come home. From Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Korea, Japan, UK... ALL of them.
You can say the same about a woman and her doctor killing her unborn baby.
We aren't born with psychological invulnerability. Studying and teaching those elements of psyche and character, then teaching them to the population at large, not just the military, would build a stronger American population. Such traits and techniques aren't just positive thinking mumbo-jumbo, they are essential for making it through the huge crises life hands us. Hats off to Corum!
This woman is just what the military (and the Nation) needs but her manta "[there's no need to engage in catastrophic thinking, just move on and think about what you can do to make it better]" is 180 degrees in the opposite direction to all of the Chicken Little propaganda that makes the Right Wing successful.
It won't take long for Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the pseudo-con leadership to brand her a traitor to the conservative ideology.
However, while she may be able to reduce the fixation on PSTD among the troop, there will always be some level of battle fatigue resulting from combat.
As a soldier, she has to deal with reality. Right wing propaganda deals with anything but reality. They seize on the image of the soldier for political reasons, but when it comes down to actually serving,. well,. just look at Dick Cheney's five draft deferments.
If a soldier reports ANY mental condition while "in country" they are ineligible to come home until that situation is resolved. This actually leads to an under-reporting of PTSD cases.
Well i think the word shock might be a better word, and the first time for anything, that hurts deeply is often a shock.
So a person who has been a prisoner of war the first time, might be very good at understanding how to adapt.
I think though lots of people do one thing or another. And maybe some people at the lower end don't have credit, to get a new car, but getting something, like even a new bike frame, or something, to do, a project or something to keep you busy, and then you can sell or give the old frame to someone else who might want to do a project too to keep busy. And then as time ticks by you get a sense of distance.
What she is talking about is very common in risk management. Actually that movie fog of war, he talks about alot of the same strategies business uses, not pathological health care treatment, but basic risk management, he used to have a big job at Ford I think before he became the minister of defense during the Vietnam era, if i remember the story right. It is not really her manta. She just realizes how well it works I guess.
It is not about rewiring, it is re programming. Then wires adapt, or reset. In theory.
its about de-humanizing.
This is all fine and good, but "In the wake of Fort Hood ..."?
What does PTSD have to do with the Fort Hood incident? The guy had never been deployed beyond a hospital.
I suspect that some of what is said in this article will somehow relate to the jerk's defense. If the defense can get a court to look at his thinking of having to go to war against muslims there may be a way to claim unstable thinking and get him commited to a treatment center for a couple of years and discharged. Then he can be declared well and released. He could even go to Iran or somewhere he can be declared a "hero". And the government won't have pissed off the muslims. Far reaching but in this time we face,,,,,,,,,
Fort Hood is the base soldiers are processed through when leaving for a post in another land, and it is the base they re-enter when they come back, and this is the point where the men and women are going to need help readjusting, but also to be treated as normal people, as the general confirms most of them are, not as pathological time bombs which most of them aren't.
As her theory goes, it is very much like human resource theory, leadership and supply risk management. Unless we have enough robots to replace soldiers we are sending, we have to deal with the human side on the supply side.
In 1970 after a tour in Nam with the 9th Infantry division I enrolled in a State College in my home town. I used the GI bill however I needed a job and so I went to work at a VA hospital as a nursing assistant. This hospital was only for psychiatric care and I found myself surrounded by mentally ill vets from WWII,Korea and Nam. Needless to say I sometimes questioned why I was the one with the keys but I practiced what the General did and stuffed it.I had to quit the VA after a couple years because I thought that one day soon I would give up my whites for patient pajamas. I have been married three times, am an alcoholic,[sober 25 years] and have been at the same job for the same. The reason I state these things is that what the General is advocating sounds great on paper but I don't think its the magic bullet. Some of my buddies tell me I have PTSD but I don't agree with them however I think General Cornum would have a great case.Enjoyed the article DB.
Thank you.
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