Saturday, July 8, 2017

GAO report on separation of personnel with mental health conditions

The San Antonio Express-News has this report on the "bad paper" separation of military personnel. Excerpt:
The Government Accountability Office reported in May that the military discharged almost 92,000 service members for misconduct from 2011 through 2015. More than 57,000 had been diagnosed with a mental health condition in the two years prior to their separation, and fewer than 3,500 received honorable discharges. 
The study identified post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and depressive disorder among nine conditions linked to misconduct. The military gave the most common diagnosis, for adjustment disorder, to nearly 32,300 men and women. 
The prevalence of that diagnosis alarms veterans advocates. They assert that the Defense Department has shifted tactics in an ongoing effort to remove rather than treat service members with mental health disorders to avoid the cost of providing them disability and retirement benefits.

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