1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
"Hidden Wounds" by Greg Barne, Jennifer Cahoun and John Ramsey.
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Sept. 26-30, 2010.
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
For years, studies have shown that soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from mental health problems caused by multiple deployments and the horrors of war. But what those studies always fail to do is put a human face on the tormented soldiers and their families, or examine the fallout on the communities where they live. The Fayetteville Observer spent months poring over the studies and gathering reams of information from the Army and Fort Bragg through the Freedom of Information Act. Reporters interviewed countless soldiers and their spouses, health providers, Army officials and community activists. The result was a five-part series in which soldiers and their spouses reflect on how the hidden wounds of war have taken a toll on their lives, and how the Army and society are ill-prepared for the mental health issues that are only now begining to present themselves.
Among other significant findings, the series exposed:
- In fiscal 2010, more than 4,000 Fort Bragg soldiers sought mental health counseling at Womack Army Medical Center, almost double the number from the year before.
- Thirty-six percent of soldiers at Fort Bragg were prescribed opiates in 2009, more than double the number Armywide.
- The rates of treatment and discharge for post-traumatic stress disorder are much lower at Fort Bragg than they are for the Army overall, even though Fort Bragg is the largest Army post in the country.
- The military and veterans health systems already are overwhelmed by the number of people requiring mental health services.
- Reports of domestic violence in Fort Bragg families are climbing, but evidence suggests the Army sometimes believes that the need to deploy those soldiers trumps the need for their immediate treatment at home.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
The Observer started its Hidden Wounds project in March with a FOI request to the Department of the Army relating to soldiers' drug use, suicide, divorce, domestic violence and other issues. Reporters later requested more documents through the Army, Fort Bragg and the Cumberland County court system. They also used studies available on the Internet and traveled to Research Triangle Park, where the firm RTI has contracted annually with the Army to do mental health studies. The firm provided us with a trove of statistics and research.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
Three reporters spent months on this project, often while covering their other duties with the newspaper.
6. Results (if any).
Fort Bragg has revamped how it keeps track of soldiers charged with domestic violence. Before the series, there was little accounting, and many soldiers facing charges were being allowed to go to war because the Army needed them. While that practice continues, the Army has at least started to document which soldiers facing charges are leaving for war, and judges have begun to keeping a closer watch, as well. The court system is also gearing up to implement a "mental health" court for veterans and others with mental health problems who have entered the criminal justice system. The court was in the works before the series began, but it appears that our reporting has helped spur the efforts.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
A recruitment officer complained that we used old data in a report about waivers to soldiers with prior drug offenses. While the data came from the latest study available, we assured the officer that we would update the figures in a story that appeared later in the series.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Be prepared to be stonewalled and shuffled from one Army department to the next in an effort to gather information. The Army did such a poor job of providing accurate and timely statistics that we decided to write a story about it, which is part of the package on Day 5.