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PAYNESVILLE, Liberia (December 13, 2014) – It's a common story
for many deployed Soldiers. The stress from their deployment causes
problems with their marriages and other relationships, which
distracts them from their job as a Soldier. Helping Soldiers deal
with that stress is where the Behavioral Health Team can play a
vital role.
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December 13, 2014 - Maj. Alexander Ragan, Behavior Health
Officer for the 36th Engineer Brigade from Fort Hood, Texas speaks
to a group of Soldiers about the importance of monitoring your
overall health during the deployment to Liberia. Operation United
Assistance is a Department of Defense operation in Liberia to
provide logistics, training and engineering support to U.S. Agency
for International Development-led efforts to contain the Ebola virus
outbreak in western Africa. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Eric Hudson,
Joint Forces Command – United Assistance Public Affairs)
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“We look at the stress levels of the force and help
mitigate any symptoms that may be keeping them ineffective,
” said Maj. Alexander Ragan, Behavioral Health Officer for
the 36th Engineer Brigade from Fort Hood, Texas.
Ragan recalled one particular soldier was going through a
divorce while being deployed in Afghanistan. With the help
of the behavioral health team, the soldier and his wife were
able to set up individual counseling sessions and save the
marriage.
Being deployed to Liberia as part of the
humanitarian-focused Operation United Assistance often
brings a different type of stress than most combat
deployments, said Ragan. The Department of Defense is
planning to reduce the number of US Soldiers in Liberia. For
now, that leaves some soldiers with a lot of extra free
time.
“Sometimes there's insecurity on what their
role is in the overall mission. They don't understand why
they are in Liberia or what they are supposed to do.”
Ragan, a Littleton, Colorado native, said the team tries
to help the Soldier normalize the feelings he or she is
having. They explain feeling like a small piece to a big
puzzle is sometimes common and it is actually good that
certain individuals have free time – it means the locals in
Liberia are effectively slowing down the spread of the Ebola
disease.
“Anybody that has a good personality can
talk and ask ‘How are you doing,' and that sort of thing.
Our role is to do that consistently, having the stamina and
patience to work with someone who is struggling on a
consistent basis,” Ragan said.
But he prefers to be
proactive.
“I work on prevention,” said Ragan. “I
think of it as mental body armor for when something
significant happens.”
Part of that is being available
and creating an environment to get to know the individual
Soldiers. Ragan said it's more common for him to talk to a
Soldier outside of his office. He explained sometimes
Soldiers are reluctant to come to his office and admit they
are struggling with an issue, so Ragan builds bonds with
them where they are.
Spc. Jessica Arent, a behavioral
health specialist from Peterborough, New Hampshire, helps
run many classes to reduce stress and connect with Soldiers,
such as Conflict Resolution class or even hosting an open
mic night.
The team works to arm the Soldiers of the
36th Engineer Brigade with the right tools and habits to
help them effectively deal with any sort of distraction or
hardship that my arise. That includes things like eating
healthy, getting enough sleep and finding each individual's
way to release stress.
“Everyone has different
things,” said Arent. “There's the gym here, hip-hop aerobics
class, many people read or play spades. Really, it's about
finding out works for you.”
Spc. Suhwa Lee,
originally from South Korea, recently attended a conflict
resolution class hosted by Behavioral Health.
“I see
a lot of my peers going through something,” he said. “They
are getting stressed out from not being able to see their
family and things like that.”
Lee said he was given a
list of ideas to help him and his fellow Soldiers cope,
including resources such as a smartphone app.
Arent
said deployments can be stressful, but otherwise this
deployment in particular is a great experience.
“I
think a lot of us are going to look back on this and
appreciate it. I mean, I have never been to Africa before,”
she said. “This is just a great opportunity.”
By U.S. Army Capt. Eric Hudson
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2015
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