WASHINGTON – brig. General Ernest Litinsky received numerous awards and distinctions during his nearly three decades of military service. But he is best known among soldiers and his superiors for his campaign to raise awareness of mental health issues among soldiers, gradually shedding the stigma that often leads to tragedy.
In meetings with the new Army Reserve formations, he could first talk about physical fitness and training, and then move on to the story of his own unraveling after returning from Afghanistan as he sat in his darkened basement, ignoring his family and staring into nothingness.
“Between 2007 and 2010, I retired from everyone,” he recalled. “I would not go to family parties, events, I would not go out to eat with my family. I would turn on the TV just for the noise. I wouldn’t go to bed with my wife. The burden I placed on my wife and 12-year-old daughter must have been the heaviest.”
According to him, his daughter did not speak to him for many years.
He tells his story at ceremonies and gatherings, and has filmed a video that the army has posted on some of its Facebook accounts, usually a repository of war memories, vaccine information and images of cold weather drills. “It’s embarrassing if you show weakness,” he says in a shaky voice, talking about his struggle with post-traumatic stress. “That’s how I felt.”
General Litynsky’s campaign is astounding among the armed forces, where resilience is not only celebrated but part of the job.
After two decades of war, the military has yet to make significant progress on what many experts, lawmakers and military personnel describe as one of its most pressing issues – unresolved mental health issues and rising suicide rates among military personnel.
“The arrow has hardly moved on this issue,” said Mark S. Russell, a former Navy commander and now a professor at Antioch University in Seattle who specializes in war injuries. He added: “That’s why it’s rare for someone with a star on their lapel to speak out.”
Suicide rates among active-duty military personnel increased by more than 40 percent from 2015 to 2020, according to the Department of Defense. The military has historically lagged behind the general population in suicide rates, but has caught up in recent years.
A report last year by the Costs of War Project at Brown University found that an estimated 30,177 active-duty military personnel and veterans who served after the September 11, 2001 attacks committed suicide, compared to 7,057 killed in military operations. during the September 11, 2001 attacks. The two-decade war on terror.
In my years of writing about veterans and military affairs, I have received numerous e-mails from desperate members of the military or their families about their mental health issues and the difficulty of getting help after being discharged. Some families wrote about the suicides of loved ones.
Rep. Jackie Speyer, a California Democrat who serves on the House Armed Services Committee and retires when her term expires in January, said the issue is so pressing: “I can guarantee you upfront that this will be at the center of my work this year. “.
While some members of the military, such as General Litinsky, have sustained combat-related injuries or wounds, others enter the military with mental health problems that do not show up on physical examination or that become more severe later on.
The issue reflects a larger crisis in the country, with millions of Americans unable to access or seek mental health care.
“Military personnel have to perform at a very high level, and that entails casualties,” said Sherman Gillums Jr., a retired Marine Corps officer and former senior leader of Paralyzed Veterans of America.
“We are taught to mask everything that is wrong with us, to adapt and overcome. The military culture sees asking for help as a responsibility, from recruitment and training to the rest of the career.”
General Litinsky was born in Chicago and enlisted in the military in 1994. He holds several degrees and military awards during his career, which included tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, and has held various command positions in active and reserve components. He is now commander of the 76th Operational Headquarters in Salt Lake City.
Returning from abroad in 2009, General Litinsky said his life at work seemed great, but he would self-isolate in his basement when he returned home at night. “I didn’t do anything,” he said, “except that I let the time pass.”
His few interactions with his family were usually tumultuous. When his wife, Jennifer, crushed their minivan in the parking lot, he reacted violently and hit the car repeatedly. “It was a 180 degree turn from who Ernie Litinsky was,” he said.
In 2011, his wife said she had had enough. “That’s what fired me up. That moment was essentially an ultimatum, and rightly so, ”said General Litinsky.
He sought help and began to reflect on the troops he saw dying abroad and the death of his youngest daughter from a rare genetic disease less than a year after she was born.
His psychiatrist at the Department of Veterans Affairs had an idea: to discuss his struggles with his unit at the time in Milwaukee, instead of doing the usual PowerPoint presentations about PTSD.
General Litinsky was worried that no one would understand and how this might affect his career. But in the end he said: “I went for broke.”
Some viewers shared experiences they were too embarrassed to share before. “After that, young soldiers talked to me, hugged me and cried,” he said.
The speech became a kind of his brand. “When he first came to our unit, he told us about how he felt helpless and was ready to surrender,” said Scott Alsup, who served under the command of General Litynsky in Iraq. “He got me into rehab, which probably saved my life.”
“Being a man, you don’t talk about how you feel,” he added, “and having someone who isn’t afraid to show it was a huge, huge relief.”
In 2019, after speaking at a soldier redeployment event in Florida, General Litinsky attracted the attention of the army leadership, who urged him to make a video that was posted on the army’s Facebook pages.
While many applaud General Litynsky’s efforts, veterans who have suffered mental health issues while serving say the military needs to do much more, such as improving health screenings for new recruits. They say that learning needs to change and leaders need to learn how to solve problems before they spin.
“There is stigma, it persists, and it’s real,” said Elizabeth S. Petralchik, an Alaskan family physician who joined the Air Force in 2003 to help in medical school. She retired from the military in 2021 before receiving a lifetime pension due to mental health issues, she said. “People question your sincerity when you did an amazing job handling everything until it exploded,” she said. – It’s a common story.
According to her, Dr. Petralchik was offered the position of a flight doctor, but for this she needed to undergo training in case she was ever captured. She refused. “Many training exercises can be triggers for people,” she explained. “A lot of people don’t realize it.”
According to her, the harassment from her superiors led to panic, anxiety and depression. She considered hospitalization, but feared how it might affect her career as a doctor.
The message of resilience at all costs is necessary for war fighters, but it can backfire in the long run, warlords and experts say.
“Force readiness depends on the strength and resilience of each soldier,” said Simon B. Flake, an army spokesman.
“It takes a self-aware and courageous soldier to admit that he needs help,” he added, noting that the army has expanded support services for troops.
Members of the National Guard and Reserve often do not have health insurance or do not have access to mental health resources. “We see so many stories where the mental health process ends in tragedy,” said J. Roy Robinson, a retired brigadier general and president of the US National Guard Association. “I sincerely believe that a large number of these issues are related to access.”
Mr Gillums noted that more members of the military are sharing their experiences of sexual harassment, assault and mental health issues on social media.
“It could be an intergenerational shift,” he said, “starting with young people who see themselves as human beings first and foremost, beyond their uniforms and weapons.”