Sunday, February 03, 2013
This week, there was yet another disturbing report about a Uganda People Defence Forces soldier who chopped his child following a domestic quarrel with the wife.
The unfortunate act was just five days after another soldier was sentenced to 35 years in jail for killing his fiancée and three others. While another in Kanungu died on Thursday. It is alleged his wife poisoned him following a domestic quarrel.
The gruesome acts involving the men in uniform upon return from war needs urgent attention and the army leadership promise for justice to their victims must be matched with a well-planned programme of psychosocial trauma treatment for the soldiers.
More than 800,000 men and women in the UPDF have been sent to Somalia as peacekeepers since 2005. And after serving for a year plus, the soldiers return to communities in which there are few, if any, individuals who have shared a similar experience.
On return from the combat environment to community life, the transition can be challenging for the soldiers and families. The environment and everyone will have changed: Children will have grown and spouses have become more independent.
The deployment experience itself will have had a negative effect for many. The mind-numbing reality of combat, the death of colleagues, and exposure to explosive devices has resulted in many returning with various levels of traumatic brain injury and post traumatic stress diseases.
This harm has little or no physical manifestations but result in behavioural changes that may or may not manifest immediately on return.
While the army is providing psychosocial trauma treatment to this group, the programme is seriously weak and flawed. The military mindset, which has functioned to keep these soldiers alive during their deployment, does not easily permit disclosure about disability or the need for assistance, many could then check no on questions about non-acute mental issues.
There is need for the army to employ well-trained medical personal to assist in the transition process for the soldiers.
UPDF medical unit should provide leadership in their communities by welcoming the soldiers back to their communities and providing them with the professional and social support needed for their successful reintegration.
It is not necessary to reinvent the will. The UPDF can reopen the Mubende casualty unit that was used in the past to provide these services.