As I deal on a daily basis with the consequences of the debacle of the Warrior Transition Command, it is clear this feckless program is creating an ever expanding cohort of soldiers disabled by combat experience AND made worse by a inept system of care designed by military politicians with no idea what they were doing and unable to recognize the mistakes and make critical changes. First, the program is profoundly burdened by a significant percentage (a figure that is not available) of soldiers who do not suffer from combat related trauma and in fact many of these soldiers have never been deployed. For example, within the last week I have reviewed two WTU soldiers who were injured in motor vehicle accidents while under the influence of alcohol, require some form of ongoing care and are turfed to the WTU and their units can then replace them since they are now officially assigned to the WTB (Warrior Transition Battalion). Another soldier in this program was seen in ASAP (Army Substance Abuse Program) for a history of Alcohol Dependence in remission, he recently returned from deployment in Afghanistan, and he was funneled into the WTB because he had an inguinal hernia that required surgery, which has already been done, and he was waiting on treatment for a tendonitis in his left wrist. The hernia and the tendonitis are not combat related. This soldier is angry, or should I say, royally pissed off, because he is separated from his original unit and he is not able to go back home. So much for the claim that the WTU “builds on the Army’s strength of unit cohesion and teamwork…” In fact I have not encountered a single soldier that identifies with the WTU and uniformly they feel they have been forcefully separated from their unit and this gradually degenerates into a sense of abandoment, as I will describe in the individual cases that follow. In fact, this system resembles a social welfare system that sends the children (substitute soldiers) into the maze of a foster care system. In fact these soldiers manifest all the emotional/behavioral characteristics of children with Reactive Attachment Disorder. Before concluding this preamble to upclose and personal stories of soldiers it is important to put to rest the claim that the “WTU closely resembles a ‘line’ Army unit with a professional cadre…” There are countless examples of careless, callous and deliberately punitive treatment by the untrained and unprofessional cadre. A soldier with well documented PTSD and associated Major Depression pleas to go home to visit with his mother, who happens to be an actively practicing Registered Nurse, and he is told by his First Sergeant that he is “crazy as hell and psychotic’ and he was not safe to go anywhere. Already severely traumatized, the soldier still, one year later, is trying to deal with the condemnation of the so called “professional cadre.” In fact his treatment at the hands of the WTU has made his condition worse resulting in increasingly severe withdrawl, avoidance, anger and behavioral dysfunction. Worse is the situation of a soldier, age 19, who does represent a severe behavioral problem for his unit because he has a recurrent and preexisting Major Depression and has attempted suicide at least 6 times, by electrocution and hanging. When he presented in ASAP with his company commander, now nicknamed Captain Butthead by mental health providers, the soldier was asking to go home for Christmas, but he was also actively suicidal, expressing plans to end his life. Captain Butthead stated he wanted to grant the soldier leave to go home, stating the hope that the soldier would go AWOL so they would not have to fool with him anymore. Fortunately the ASAP therapist forcefully intervened and sent the soldier for admission to the inpatient psychiatric unit. There is no doubt there are scores of dedicated and well meaning staff members in the WTU system who do their best to guide soldiers through the maze of this system. And many of them openly express their frustration and sense of inadequacy in the WTU system, but they are struggling with a mammoth, insensitive and ignorant bureaucracy. The mental health providers on the front lines of the care line are in a desperate struggle with this system. What will follow will be a series of individual stories of soldiers struggling to survive this system and represent quintessential examples of what I call the reactive attachment syndrome.