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No Change in Standards for Mental Health Waivers in Army...

Army Personnel Chief: No Change in Standards for Mental Health Waivers
13 Nov 2017 | The U.S. Army said Monday it has made no changes to its policy for granting mental health waivers to recruits entering the service.

A statement from Lt. Gen. Thomas C. Seamands, deputy chief of staff for Army personnel (G1), came a day after USA Today reported that people with a history of self-mutilation, bipolar disorder, depression, and drug and alcohol abuse can now seek waivers to join the service under an unannounced policy enacted in August. "Recent reports that the Army has changed medical entrance standards for those with mental health issues are inaccurate," Seamands said in the statement. "The Army has made no such policy change and follows the accession standards prescribed by the Department of Defense." USA Today reported the decision to open Army recruiting to those with mental health conditions comes as the service faces the challenging goal of recruiting 80,000 new soldiers through September 2018.

Depression sufferers have no energy, feel deeply empty and believe life has no joy.​

To meet last year's goal of 69,000, the Army accepted more recruits who fared poorly on aptitude tests, increased the number of waivers granted for marijuana use, and offered hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses, the outlet reported. The Army, however, said it made a "simple, administrative change" to how waiver requests are approved, Seamands said. "Previously, these waiver requests could only be approved at the Department of Army Headquarters level," Seamands said. "What the Army has done is change the delegation authority over who may consider a waiver, allowing those requests to be reviewed and approved by U.S. Army Recruiting Command, or in the case of the National Guard, by the State Adjutant General."

Seamands said that a child who received behavioral counseling at age 10 would be "forever banned from military service were it not for the ability to make a waiver request." "We're not prepared to close the door on such individuals who are otherwise medically, mentally and physically qualified for military service," he said. "We think this is the right thing for our Army, and the selfless young men and women who wish to serve." The statement, however, didn't address whether the Army granted waivers to individuals who had practiced self-mutilation, such as slashing the skin with sharp instruments -- a behavior that can signal deeper mental health issues, according to USA Today.

Army Personnel Chief: No Change in Standards for Mental Health Waivers | Military.com

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Veterans Work to Bridge Info Gap on Gulf War Illness
12 Nov 2017 | Of all that was revealed by a government watchdog this year about how the Department of Veterans Affairs treats Persian Gulf War veterans, the most shocking discovery to Shawn Scott was that most doctors aren't trained about illnesses specific to veterans of that era.

That pushed Scott, an Army veteran, to organize a Gulf War Illness Awareness Conference at his local VA hospital in Tampa, Fla., on Nov. 3, featuring VA officials and top clinical researchers. He wanted to help VA medical providers better understand the cluster of conditions known as Gulf War illness, so they could improve care for vets like him. "This all stems from wanting to educate the providers here," Scott said. "In the five years I've been dealing with the VA, they've been phenomenal. But every time I went to see a doctor, I'd say I had Gulf War Illness and they'd say, 'What's that?'"

U.S. Air Force warplanes fly over burning oil fields in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Thousands of Gulf War veterans suffer from unexplained illnesses that include fibromyalgia, fatigue and gastrointestinal disorders.​

Thousands of the 700,000 service members who deployed for Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield suffer from an amalgam of chronic, unexplained illnesses including fibromyalgia, fatigue and gastrointestinal disorders. The VA dedicated a research team to Gulf War illness, and it has initiated dozens of clinical trials --- some of which Scott has volunteered for over the years. The agency has spent millions of dollars to fund studies, and officials at VA headquarters in Washington are involved in biweekly calls and quarterly meetings on the issue.

Dr. Peter Rumm, director of the VA's pre-9/11 environmental health program, described some of their research as "cutting edge." But the information gathered by researchers and VA officials isn't always translated to health care providers who work with veterans. A report by the Government Accountability Office this summer showed 90 percent of VA medical examiners had not been trained on how to conduct exams for Gulf War illness. Veterans at the Florida conference criticized their VA providers for a lack of understanding. Scott, who suffers from a list of medical conditions linked to his service, is one of several Gulf War veterans spread across the country stepping up to bridge that information gap.

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