A General Fights to Destigmatize Mental Health Issues: ‘There’s a Shame if You Show Weakness’
WASHINGTON — Brig. Gen. Ernest Litynski has received numerous awards and decorations during his nearly three decades in the Army. But he is best known among soldiers and his superiors for his campaign to illuminate mental health issues among troops, scraping away at the stigma that often leads to tragedy.
“I removed myself from everybody between 2007 and 2010,” he recalled. “I wouldn’t go to family parties, events, wouldn’t go out with my family to eat. I would turn the TV on just for noise. I would not go up to bed with my wife. The burden I put on my wife and 12-year-old daughter had to be the worst.”
He tells his story at ceremonies and gatherings and made a video the Army has posted to some of its Facebook accounts. “There’s a shame if you show weakness,” he says, voice wavering as he recounts his struggles with post-traumatic stress. “That’s the way I felt.” After two decades of war, the military has yet to make significant progress on what many experts, lawmakers and service members say are among its most persistent problems: unaddressed mental health issues and rising suicide rates among troops.
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