FORT CARSON — Soldiers who returned to Fort Carson last spring after a year of combat in Afghanistan underwent more psychological screening and had fewer behavioral problems than troops on previous combat tours, the Army said Thursday.
They were also more likely to seek psychological help and far less likely to need inpatient hospital treatment, said Maj. Gen. David G. Perkins, commander of the 4th Infantry Division at the post outside Colorado Springs.
Perkins said the members of the 4th Infantry Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team had four psychological screenings, two while in Afghanistan and two after returning home.
Soldiers who were flagged for potential problems while still in Afghanistan were taken to see a behavioral health specialist just after they got off their flight home, he said.
“The plan was to be ready to deal with this soldier as soon as he gets off the plane,” Perkins said.
The Army has been struggling to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder, high-risk behavior and suicides among a force that has seen multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002.
After two previous deployments to Iraq, some soldiers from Fort Carson’s 4th Brigade were implicated in 11 slayings in Colorado and other states between 2005 and 2008. That prompted an Army study that said the trauma of combat may have triggered the violence.
The 4th Brigade’s most recent tour was costly, with 39 soldiers killed — eight in a single battle.
“These guys had a very difficult deployment,” Perkins said.
