News - Local News

POSTED: Monday, Nov. 09, 2009

Psychologist counseled stressed troops in Afghan war zones

Psychologist Jason Prinster has seen the mental wounds inflicted by the war in Afghanistan.

"You get mortared and rocketed at all hours," he said. "It's always tense."

Now in private practice, Prinster, 37 finished his four years of active duty with the U.S. Air Force last July. Raised in Colorado, he moved to Bellingham with his wife, a Tacoma native, and their two children to be close to his parents, who resettled here.

Prinster joined the Air Force because his father and grandfather served in the military and because he was interested in post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health problems faced by soldiers.

He completed his doctoral course work at the University of Utah, then did his one-year clinical residency at military hospitals before finishing his last three years with the Air Force.

He spent most of his time as a counselor at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio and at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. He also spent July 2008 to January 2009 counseling troops in small Army camps in eastern Afghanistan, near the mountainous border with Pakistan.

With military psychologists at a premium, the Army borrowed Prinster from the Air Force to counsel soldiers scattered across the countryside. Given the rough conditions, the remoteness, the frustration and the danger, it's no wonder there was plenty of stress, from sleeplessness to suicide, Prinster said.

He's not alone in his assessment. Last January, U.S. officials said at least 128 Army soldiers had killed themselves in 2008 in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.

Army suicides have risen for four years in a row, reaching the highest level in nearly 30 years. Long deployments to war zones play a part, along with personal, financial and legal problems, and other factors.

While in Afghanistan, Prinster was based at Gardez with about 400 other U.S. troops. He traveled by helicopter and military vehicle to check on soldiers at "forward operating bases," pockets of 20 to 100 troops at crossroads and other strategic locations. Some bases were near villages; others stood alone.

Patrols ventured out from the bases, sometimes leaving a handful of soldiers behind. Supplies ran low when foul weather grounded helicopters. Communications can be sketchy.

"There's a sense of isolation," Prinster said. "You're hundreds of miles away from the next friendly face."

Venture away from camp on the dirt roads and you run the risk of ambushes, roadside bombs and rocket attacks. Stay in camp, and mortar and rocket attacks are still likely.

When communications did work, there was precious little privacy when soldiers learned about troubles back home, such as money or job hassles, or problems with wives or girlfriends.

Prinster spent his time listening to, and talking with, stressed-out soldiers. He calls it the "ministry of presence."

"A lot of people wanted to talk," he said, "wanted to vent."

As a psychologist, Prinster couldn't prescribe medications for the soldiers, so he conferred with a psychiatrist in Bagram, north of Kabul, about possible treatment. Meanwhile, he said, medics stationed at the bases gave soldiers pills from whatever they had on-hand.

"Antidepressants are really commonly used in Afghanistan," he said.

He said the Army prefers that all means possible to help a soldier in-place be explored before sending the soldier away from the front lines for treatment. Prinster said he counseled at least six soldiers who talked seriously about killing themselves; of those, three were flown to Germany for help.

Some soldiers he counseled had mental and drug problems prior to deployment, he said.

"There was lots of that," Prinster said. "That was frustrating for me."