Today I heard about the shooting at Camp Liberty in Baghdad.

Before I weigh in on the issue of mental/emotional/spiritual support for troops and veterans, let me first express my deep condolences to those effected. These wishes go out to the victim's familes, the staff at the stress clinic at  Camp Liberty, and to John Russel, the Army Sgt. accused of the shootings.

It has been clear to me for some time that there is a big mess brewing under the surface of the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We were seeing bad cases of "PTSD" and combat-related mental stress during the first years of the war of terror. Now, here we are, years into the conflicts and little or nothing has been done. Some of these young men and women have served several tours. John Russel had served three.

Since 2005, I have been working with OIF and OEF vets here in New York, offering meditation as a way for vets to undo some of their combat stress and trauma. It is a deeply effective way to help them connect with their hearts and soothe their minds. One of my students is a retired Marine commander. His feeling as a leader is that troops should be taught basic meditation skills before deployment.  He shared,

"We'd go out on patrol all day in Baghdad, maybe get into combat. I'd maybe lose a man or kill someone, then come back to the base, get some chow, play a video game and go to bed. Then I'd get up the next day and do the same thing. I had no idea how to process all that...That messed with me more than anything I actually did or saw."

He said that as a commander, he had little or no resources to share with his troops. If a young man came to him and was in distress his response was, to tell him to "suck it up". His troops were either ready for battle or they were sick. And if they were sick they were weak, or crazy, or broken in some way.  There was no in-between.

Soldiers and Marines are resourceful. They are strong and want to be able to pull themselves up. Simple meditation techniques can be taught to troops pre and post deployment as a means for them to work out their own kinks, let go of their deep stress, and process the traumatic events that fill their days on deployment.  Meditation falls short of going to the clinic and being medicated and diagnosed with a disorder. And it is a whole lot better than just "sucking it up".  I'm not saying that meditation is the solution but it may be one remedy that could make a huge difference. It's not for everybody, but for many of our troops, it may be just the right medicine.

My grandfather, my father and two of my three brothers were all in the military. I understand the code of "getting the hard things done" and I also understand the price that men pay when they don't take care of their hearts and minds. There is a lot of stigma associated with mental health issues. And frankly many of the stressed out service people aren't really ill- they're just taking care of really grizzly things for us on a daily basis and having normal human reactions.

Meditation can definitely help ...and it's totally Do-It-Yourself.

This month our meditation tour is visiting Louisville KY. While we're there we're offering a free meditation workshop for OIF/OEF vets. This time we're also opening it to any active duty military personnel. We're hoping to get a big response from Ft. Knox. The three hour workshop includes lunch and in it the participants will learn the basics of meditation practice and learn simple techniques they can use to take deep care of themselves.

More info here http://harshada.org