Army Times

All too often I'm sickened by the state of the military. Talking to a friend on the inside, who has first hand scoop of the bullshit that we deal with on a day to day basis, helped to fill me in on the real backside, the real story of the illustrious Fort Bragg.

Almost every time you see something so great, a band so popular, a couple so happy, there is indefinite misery and despair behind closed doors. The paint is cracking, the ship sinking, but the smile is still bright, the flag is seemingly flying high.

I've had some 'problems' from the various experiences I have encountered throughout the military. Most of these things that I've had to deal with I never would've encountered in what we consider a normal life. They come from being blown up, hitting your head while training for Airborne Operations, and losing friends eternally. If that's not enough, the day to day grind of a deployment, the stress in and out everyday and even worse, the stress of garrison life. Long hours, little pay, constantly buying things that the military is supposed to issue. All of this compounds with the worst of all, an organization who acts as if they care for their employees, who give up their whole lives for a singular cause, but in fact could care less.

Fort Bragg, the 82nd Airborne is one of the worst at this. The attitude is juvenile, childish, and simply sickening. Fort Bragg has tons of problems, and this is no longer from the questionable town that surrounds it, but coming from the soldiers themselves. The military does what they have always done, and that's react for a quick fix, something to alieve the pain, relieve the pressure surmounting, as they cover their tracks with a sense of urgency. The attempt does nothing but hurt everyone in it's path.

Fort Bragg has a serious addiction problem. There are more narcotics prescribed here than any other Army post. This is simply because whenever someone seeks help, when they have problems, it's too easy for the doctors to simply write this quick fix, which without therapy, is merely a way of getting people addicted to these powerful drugs. You need the therapy, along with the drugs (if at all), in order to make people better.

And yes, the Army has done tons, and pays for plenty so that you have the resources available to seek help. You can even do this without having to go through the Army, so that it is entirely confidential. However, the moment you need an afternoon off of work, the moment you need to work on getting better and it interferes with work (mind you this a 24 hour job, 7 days a week, 365 days a year), then there is so much pressure, so much flak that it makes your life worse if you do push against the strain. The more you try and get help, the more you use the proper channels to do so, the more you get talked down to, called a shit bag, are given an invariable amount of stress that makes you want to rip your hair out. It's tough to explain, because unlike a civilians job, when you are treated unfairly, unjustly, you can quit or tell the person to fuck off. Here, there's no quitting, to tell someone to fuck off when they are treating you like shit is to pretty much sign your own death warrant, depending on their rank.

That's why most guys don't seek help. Because not only do you work up hill against a constant strain and downpour, but you also have the infant ideal that men are strong, and you're a pussy if you do that. And I went through some of the same shit and I'm not cookoo. It's these stupid chauvinistic ideals that lead to more alcoholism, more domestic abuse, more drug addiction, and with all that: more suicides more murders, more deaths. It's all preventable, and the Army spends tons of time trying to check the block, so that it may wipe it's hands clean of it. They'd rather these people, who have done their time, and served their country, get out of the military unfixed, releasing them back into a society where they are not only dangerous to themselves, but dangerous to others. They would rather say fuck you for all of your hard work, because we will just replace you with someone off of the street. You're just a number to them, and unfortunately they're going to realize, when all of this blows up, when all of this comes out, they are going to hurt. The quick pleasure of cover up will be an immense amount of deep, lasting pain.