Warrior Transition Command (WTC)
I have often wondered how changes take place in the military. What is the cause, the reasoning or the process? Well I took a look and learned a few things. While doing my research I found some information, that I thought needed to be shared.
In 2007 two Washington Post reporters spent four months visiting Walter Reed hospital’s outpatient world known as building 18. The conditions were bad, floors rotted through, stained carpet, mouse droppings, cheap mattresses and the smell of cheap takeout in the air. This is how our veterans lived. They received premier medical treatment, saving their lives. So they could get lost in the paperwork. The outpatient process was lacking to say the least. These soldiers came from a war zone to a chaotic scene where soldiers with traumatic brain injuries and PTSD were supposed to be in charge of soldiers at risk of suicide. The staff was unqualified or disconnected. They had to fill out paperwork for multiple commands and keep up with appointments, while they couldn’t even remember their way around the hospital. They had pay issues and trouble feeding their families. Vera Heron spent 15 frustrating months living on post to help care for her son. "It just absolutely took forever to get anything done," Heron said. "They do the paperwork, they lose the paperwork. Then they have to redo the paperwork. You are talking about guys and girls whose lives are disrupted for the rest of their lives, and they don't put any priority on it (Priest & Hull, 2007)."
On may 11 2009 the United States Army Stood up a new command to provide sole guidance and policy for the armies 36 warrior transition units. It was to oversee the treatment rehabilitation and transition...
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...t goes to show how in just seven years how drastic things have changed. Now we are in the drawdown phase of the war on terror. The Warrior Transition Command has already started to reduce the number of locations for Warrior Transition Units and Community Based Warrior Transition Units Due to the reduced number of soldiers coming to them. They will continue to serve the people they have now but streamline the process for soldiers who do not need extensive care. The time lines now are more like from release by commander to home in around 110 days. What I hope is that we as Americans continue to progress with process improvement to take care of all of America’s fallen providing for them till they can survive on their own.
References
army.mil. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.army.mil/artical20970
Priest, D., & Hull, A. (2007, February 18). thewashingtonpost.com.
Today’s veterans often come home to find that although they are willing to die for their country, they’re not sure how to live for it. It’s hard to know how to live for a country that regularity tears itself apart along every possible ethnic and demographic boundary… In combat, soldiers all but ignore differences of race, religion,and politics within their platoon. It’s no wonder they get so depressed when they come home. (Junger
Murray, and Deborah are among some 50,000 veterans who are homeless, or 1.4 million who are considered at risk of homelessness on any given day, due to poverty, lack of support networks, and marginal living conditions in substandard housing, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. They, and all those who put on the uniforms of our nation 's armed services, sacrifice so much to defend the freedoms that we all enjoy and take for granted. Far too many, however, come home unable to defend themselves from the ravages of combat.” (Cole, 2015, Para. 23). Cole also goes on to continue stating “Providing shelter to our female and male veterans is not enough; it is simply one step. The transition from soldier to civilian is often the most difficult part of a veteran 's life. Yet the hardships of going from combat to job application, mortgage payments and working a typical 9-to-5 job, far too often are after-thoughts on the post-military agenda. It is no wonder that long after their active tours, many veterans continue to fight to reclaim their health and well-being.(Cole, 2015, Para.
As the incoming brigade commander, LTC (P) Owens, I see the critical leadership problem facing the 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) is the inability or unwillingness of Colonel Cutler to lead and manage change effectively. In initial talks with Col Cutler and in reviewing the brigade’s historical unit status reports, the 4th ABCT performed as well as can be expected in Afghanistan, but as the onion was peeled back there are numerous organizational issues that were brought to the surface while I walked around and listened to the soldiers of the 4th ABCT, in addition to reviewing the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL) report. One of the most formidable tasks of a leader is to improve the organization while simultaneously accomplishing
PBS’ Frontline film “The Wounded Platoon” reviews the effects the Iraq war has had on soldiers as they return home and transition back into civilian life, focusing particularly on the rise in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among American military members from Fort Carson Army base (Edge, 2010). Incidents of PTSD have risen dramatically in the military since the beginning of the Iraq war and military mental health policies and treatment procedures have adapted to manage this increase (Edge, 2010). In “The Wounded Platoon,” many military personnel discuss how PTSD, and other mental health struggles, have been inadequately treated (if at all) by military mental health services. Reasons and Perdue’s definition of a social problem allows us to see inadequate treatment of PTSD among returning United States military members as a social problem because it is a condition affecting a significant number of people in undesirable ways that can be remedied through collective action (Reasons & Perdue, 1981).
While many of these changes include the advancements in technology and ingenuity, nothing can replace the rich history, proud culture, and bright future of the NCO Corps. Though several additional factors doubtlessly play roles in the strength and continuity of the corps, I do not believe any have contributed to the extent of the solid rank structure, efficient training network, and passionate NCO Creed. These elements have worked together in continuously strengthening and molding the NCO Corps, and they will remain building blocks that will project the Army into the
...of the struggle over how the war would be remembered. Blanketed by the discourse of disability, the struggle over the memory of veterans and the country alike would be waged with such obliquity as to surpass even the most veiled operations of Nixon’s minions. While Nixon’s plumbers were wrenching together the Gainesville case against VVAW in the spring of 1972, mental health and news-media professionals were cobbling together the figure of the mentally incapacitated Vietnam veteran. More than any other, this image is the one that would stick in the minds of the American people. The psychologically damaged veteran raised a question that demanded an answer: what happened to our boys that was so traumatic that they were never the same again? As it came to be told, the story of what happened to them had less to do with the war itself than with the war against the war.
We can identify three major cultural dimensions that help us to understand what leaders must focus on as they guide the transition of the Army. First, professional Identity, which is guided by Soldiers at all levels who are striving for excellence in their functional specialty, i.e., HR Sergeants. Soldiers who have goals and ideals of the Army to ethically put service and duty first. HR Sergeants are trained and well educated in their field. They are taught to put Soldiers first and have great customer support skills. Second, community, the sense in which Soldiers stop thinking about “I” and start thinking “we”. The bond among units who not only believe in cohesion with Soldiers, but their families too. The HR Sergeants are there to take care of Soldiers when financial issues arise with them or their families and don’t back down until the situation is solved. Last, hierarchy, which leads to order and control and provides Soldiers with moral reference and a sense of direction. The HR Sergeant has the mentality of mission first, knowing who to contact at the next level for assistance helps get the mission
Sir, I am honored by the privilege to once again serve in 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT). Over of the last 30 days, I had an opportunity to reconnect, and reflect on the current state of the Brigade. The 4th ABCT has a rich history of success and glory. It is my goal to put in place the systems and practices for this great organization to exceed all past and present accomplishments. As a result of my assessment, I identified three areas of focus that will improve our organization: a unit vision, a change in organizational culture and climate, and building organizational teams. I have no doubt that with the implementation of these three areas of focus, I will be the transformational leader that 4th ABCT needs as we prepare for the upcoming National Training Center (NTC) rotation and tackle the task of the Regionally Aligned Forces (RAF) mission.
How is it that the nation with the most comprehensive system of assistance for its veterans has failed so miserably in caring for their health and medical needs? The VA health services system was established in 1921, after the end of WWI as the U.S. Veterans Bureau (Shonick 1995) to provide inpatient, outpatient, and long term care programs for veterans that had medical conditions as a result of their military service. Today services are provided to veterans for all health issues whether military related or not at over 152 medical centers, in addition to nearly 1400 community-based outpatient clinics, community living centers, Vet Centers and Domiciliaries. Together these health care facilities provide care to more than 8.3 million veterans
It is a bullet without the gun and soldiers do not receive the adequate support or care they need and deserve. Every sixty five minutes a veteran is committing suicide as the 2013 United States Department of Veterans affairs proclaimed. Soldiers need to receive better support, it is sickening to think how they fought for us and our country and we cannot return the favor. As a society it is our job to give them more of an understanding of they burdens they did to benefit us. A more meaningful engagement would be beneficial. The VA really has failed our veterans and when they are held with high standards, they involve themselves in opioids theft. Taking medics from the people who need it the most. Society is the problem. Soldiers do not feel welcomed when they return home and we need to do something to change
In the ten year battle between the United States Army and Vietnamese soldiers, thousands of young able bodied Americans lost their lives. Families lost their loved ones and were left to grapple with the depression that comes as a result of death and lifetime injuries attained from war. The loss of the lives of American soldiers was worsened after the Tet offensive when the numbers of the causalities almost tripled. I had an opportunity to interview sixty-three-year-old Alvin whose brother took part in the war and was lucky to come back home with serious physical and psychological defects. Following the arrival of his brother, his family has suffered in ways that Alvin finds difficult to explain to me, sometimes being moved close to tears.
Growing up in Plainview, a small town in the Texas panhandle, Beth found the people to be supportive of her family. “Everyone was always supportive of us, in Texas there are a few things we love and our veterans are one of them”. Her Father, Bobby Masters, was injured in the Vietnam War in 1969. “He was a Marine and in his early twenties. One night, just as he laid down to sleep, he was hit by a mortar. They thought that he was dead and put a sheet over him. He started blowing on the sheet to alert people that he in fact was not dead. He was in the hospital for some time
As we transition from subjective training to objective, it is critical to understand the emphasis on training has not changed, just the language. Commander will continue to focus on battle focus training developed by long- range, short- range and near- term planning. The Sustainable Readiness Model (SRM) is the Army’s newest system for prioritizing resources for units on a 5-year cycle based on the level of readiness they must achieve. Each year of the cycle has established Personnel (P), Sustain (S) and Readiness (R) Aim Points on the Unit Status Report (USR). The SRM seeks to stabilize units in a “band of excellence,” even following their READY year, maintaining the highest readiness level instead of automatically downgrading their readiness to a C4 level regardless of whether they deployed. Guidelines in the Prepare Year (PY) found in the SRM will assist Commanders at every level on key training events they will need to focus on for that particular
Soldiers returning home had terrible PTSD, they were always angry and on edge. As Arthur McLella recalls one time where he was driving and someone cut him off and he lost it, he was chasing after him and wanted to confront him. His family was asking him to stop then he realized there was nothing he can do, he though “what am I going to do kill him?” Another veteran took on drinking, lost everything he had become homeless, lost his family, he says he was never himself and that was the cause of all this. There was one las lady who was asked if what they did to their son who would wake up in the middle off the night crying, was to hug and support him was the correct thing to do. It was, and after time he would live a normal life, almost like he recovered, similar to Achilles when he was with
It is no secret that many veterans return home from war with not only physical injuries, but psychological ones as well. Several authors such as Hemingway, O’Brien, Steinbeck and Hayes discuss the emotional impact war can have on a soldier, and how it affects their life after being discharged. A central idea throughout various texts is that soldiers who have mental trauma as a result of war require support from others in order to reintegrate into a normal life.