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Military

Naval Center Wants To Change Attitudes To Combat Stress

By Alison St John / Reporter
Published June 2, 2011 at 9:57 AM PDT
This story was published more than 12 years ago.
Captain Scott Johnston Director of Naval Center for Operational and Combat Stress Control, May 31st 2011
Alison St John
Captain Scott Johnston Director of Naval Center for Operational and Combat Stress Control, May 31st 2011
Naval Center Wants To Change Attitudes To Combat Stress
The Navy and Marines are working to create a sea change in attitudes about combat-related stress.

Military leaders at Camp Pendleton are evaluating a new program, developed for Marines returning from combat in Afghanistan. The Navy, which provides medical care for the Marines, wants to find ways to tackle potential problems early.

Capt. Scott Johnston, director of the Naval Center for Combat and Operational Stress Control in San Diego, said he wants to create a sea change in attitudes about mental stress. He’s working with Camp Pendleton on a model program to better identify signs of combat stress.

“The initial goal was to de-stigmatize that,” Johnston said. “It’s not like you have to say, ‘Oh, I have a problem, I’ve got to talk to mental health.‘ It’s like, ‘hey, you come back, you get your gun checked to make sure that it’s operating property, we’re going to send you over to the mental health guys to make sure that everything’s ok upstairs too.’"

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Members of the 3rd Battalion 5th Regiment were among those screened before they deployed, while they were in theatre, and then again as soon as they returned from Afghanistan. This regiment saw some of the fiercest fighting.

The Department of Defense already requires checkups every month for the first three months after service members return. But Johnston said signs of stress often don’t manifest for several months, and the plan is to keep checking in with these Marines regularly.

A separate program run by the VA in San Diego, the Marine Resiliency Study, is evaluating the general health of Marines before they deploy and after they return. The Navy has issued a notice that it is issuing a contract worth $6.9 million to continue these assessments for 2,500 Marines longer than six months after they return.

Military
Alison St John
Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.
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