Troops will soon start to pull out of rescue work in earthquake disaster areas, the army said yesterday, but the attempted suicide of a company leader exposed the mental stress soldiers have been under.
To inform the public of its role in rescue and reconstruction work since Sept. 21, the army held a high-profile press conference at its base in Chutzukeng (
Military officials prepared a number of photos and explanatory charts, and a number of generals briefed the media on various subjects related to the army's work.
"We are not withdrawing from the disaster regions. We are simply adjusting our deployment of troops," said army commander-in-chief General Chen Cheng-hsiang (
"As long as there is a need for the armed forces in any of those regions, we will stay to get the job done," Chen said.
However, during the briefing, news of the attempted suicide of a deputy company leader of the army -- who was involved in rescue and reconstruction efforts -- suddenly emerged, to the embarrassment of officials.
Lieutenant Wu Po-chung (吳寶忠), responsible for opening and maintaining public showering facilities in the hard-hit Chungliao (中寮) township in Nantou County, attempted to commit suicide early yesterday by drinking bottled pesticide, an army spokesman said.
Wu was sent to a local hospital for emergency treatment and yesterday was in critical condition. Doctors were pessimistic about his chances for survival.
The army said Wu 's suicide attempt could have been due to emotional problems related to his personal life, but members of Wu's family said he had been complaining about being under great pressure at work.
Though yet to be confirmed and categorized as being a case of post-traumatic stress disorder, the instance has brought to the foreground once again the mental stress which some rescue troops can suffer but choose to repress.
"It is much easier to identify psychological problems exhibited by conscripts than those of servicemen -- especially higher-ranking ones," said one military psychiatrist, who did not want to be identified.
"Higher-ranking officers will fear losing their promotion opportunities if they are known to be mentally ill," according to the doctor.
"Another example is of army Major General Li Kai (
The reason some high-ranking officers do not reveal their mental problems is that psychological counselors usually do not have a high rank.
"The highest-ranking psychological counseling officer in an army division is only a captain," he said.
"It is very hard for a major or higher-ranking officer to confess to a captain that he is mentally ill and needs help."
The doctor also said current military practice would not help find those people among the thousands of troops involved in the removal of bodies following the earthquake who may have subsequently been affected psychologically by their experiences.
"When I was doing psychological checks for soldiers of this category, there were so many people around. Who would dare to tell the truth under these circumstances?"
The official figure for troops involved in rescue operations who are psychologically stressed in the wake of the earthquake is 48, or 3.3 percent of the total 1,000 interviewed, according to data provided by the military.
Among them, only nine needed to be sent to hospital for treatment, military officials said.
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