Ft. Hood soldier hand delivers letter to Obama, "keep your promise"
What happened at Fort Hood has made it abundantly clear that the military mental health system, and our soldiers, are broken.
We ask that:
- Each soldier about to be deployed and returning from deployment be assigned a mental health provider who will reach out to them, rather than requiring them to initiate the search for help.
- Ensure that the stigma of seeking care for mental health issues is removed for soldiers at all levels-from junior enlisted to senior enlisted and officers alike.
- Ensure that if mental health care is not available from military facilities, soldiers can seek mental health care with civilian providers of their choice
- Ensure that soldiers are prevented from deploying with mental health problems and issues.
- Stop multiple redeployments of the same troops.
- Ensure full background checks for all mental health providers and periodic check ups for them to decompress from the stresses they shoulder from the soldiers they counsel to the workload they endure.
