In trying to find an appropriate term to describe the debacle of the WTU I found this term: “Malum in se,” a legal term, a Latin phrase meaning wrong or evil in itself. It is used in reference to conduct assessed as inherently wrong by nature, independent of regulations governing the conduct. It is in contrast to the term Malum prohibition, which is wrong only because it is prohibited by law or regulation. The WTU is a jerry-rigged organization that is inherently wrong by violating a simple principal: take a young person who is traumatized, either physically or psychologically, or both, and you traumatize them more. It is not a reach or a stretch to say it is like taking an abused and abandoned child, placing them in foster care, where they are abused and/or abandoned again. The Army REACTED to the mess it has created over the years, not having a medical care system that could use lessons and research of the past and apply such knowledge to the trauma of the present and future. This reaction was and is chaotic and piecemeal, designed to cover their derrieres in a bureaucratic nightmare, but has overwhelmingly done more harm than good. In fact there is no conceptual plan or design for the WTU debacle. There was no Army Regulation. Less than 1 yer ago it was publicized in the Fort Hood Sentinel “Army drafting new regulation for Warrior Transition Units: The Warrior Transition Command is developing a consolidated regulation that will provide complete oversight and guidance for its 29 units across the Army.” An Inspector General recommendation had noted “there was no single synchronizing document which outlined governing policies, guidance and regulatory requirements…. In lieu of a primary instruction or regulation, the WTUs have been working under numerous orders, messages, directives and policy memos.” In other words, the old military description, SNAFU; situation normal all fowled (or fill in the word) up. It is the soldiers who have gotten buried in this quicksand.
The sense and the reality of the fiasco known as the WTU, particularly in regard to mental health issues such as PTSD, has been the conception of military brass who ignored massive research that came out of the Vietnam war. The reaction was to rush forth with a creation to cushion the impending train wreck of soldiers returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. History could have predicted and anticipated what has occurred, but the Army medical corps was asleep at the switch. In 1996 Sheila Wang et al published an article entitled Stages of Decompensation in Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A New Conceptual Model in Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Science: “The model describes a repeating cycle of decompensation that profoundly disrupts the vetereran’s life.” Among a number of core symptoms of disruption are the capacity for attachments. Whether the the model is “the answer” to the the extended syndrome of PTSD, it does represent a comprehensive approach rather than an impulsive or capricious reactive decision. In this model clear intractable disturbance of attachment bonds are commonly, if not essential prerequisites, for post-traumatic stress disorder. Soldiers will establish profound attachment in the face of danger and it is clear the Army does not recognize the significance of this bond and violates the bonded trust they have fostered in the soldiers. In fact, soldiers, despite the “harassment” of the Army develop even stronger emotional attachments to the service that has used them and then abused them. The repeated emotional trauma results in significant pain and suffering with behavioral dysfunction manifested by profound withdrawal or overt agitation and distress. In fact the attachment issues lead to problems with relationship boundaries, lack of trust, social isolation, difficulty perceiving and responding to others emotional states and needs. Unequivocally the military establishment does not understand this behaviorally dynamic and makes the situation worse. In the vast majority of cases the Army exacerbates the problem: The traumatized soldiers are traumatized again and again.