One of My Top Ten Military Stories

 In the late 1980s...I was stationed at a base in the SW of the US, and a big eval-inspection was scheduled (known for six months).

The team was supposed to arrive on Sunday, and stay through Wednesday of the next week. 

Our base chow hall was run by a E-8 NCO.  He had been on some fast-track for two years (on the base) and needed some 'hype' to get this special duty assignment.  So he devised a fantastic chow-hall menu plan for the 10-day period.

I should note....at this time....military budgets ran from 1 October to 30 September of the next year.  The chow-hall had a quarterly budget.  

Sarge (the chow hall boss) scheduled on day one (Monday) of this inspection....a fantastic lunch, with grilled steaks (something people had never seen before).  Monday evening followed with higher than average dinners.  

Tuesday?  Seafood and shrimp.

To be honest, everyone was shocked over the expanded and terrific menu plan.  Normally, I might have eaten there once a month....I probably ate 3 lunches over that 10-day period at the chow hall.

No shocks....the inspection team gave the 'boss' extraordinary high marks.  Around two weeks after they left....Sarge got his dream assignment and about four weeks later.....he left the base (end of April).  

New Sarge arrives in early May.  He sits down and views the budget and funds left for the final quarter of the year (July-August-September).  He's short on money.  Old Sarge had spent almost an entire quarter of the budget in ten days.  

New Sarge goes to the Wing Commander to beg funds.  Everyone is shocked, and admitting there just isn't that kind of money (going up into the half-million range).  Wing Commander finds some cash, but nothing to the extent required.

New Sarge now develops a bare-bones lunch-dinner plan for June-July-August-September.  New rule started: if you aren't a barracks-dweller.....you can't use the chow hall.  

Deserts?  They mostly go to jello options only.

Chicken?  Most all dinners center on some chicken dish.  

Customer use on weekends?  Most people agreed that half the normal customers simply skipped the chow-hall because of the crappy food situation.  

Punishment or disciplinary action on old Sarge?  Nothing.  Oddly, this became one of the topics you couldn't discuss in front of the Wing Commander because of the misuse of funds.  

Q-and-A: Deinstitutionalism

 1.  When did the US invent the end to mental institutions?

You can go back to the late 1950s in the UK and cite the fact that .4-percent of the British population was housed in some type of mental institute.  A wave of changes were set into place by 1960s, and the 'wave' continued over into the US.

2  How did deinstitutionalism get packaged?

You can say two key things were put into play:

(1) Some efforts were put into play to 'lecture' a patient to change and adjust to the 'outside' world.  

(2) Lesser prescribed 'stays' were laid down as part of the recovery process (with medication), and releasing patients who seemed 'safe' and believed not to threaten themselves or others. 

3.  Drug and medication a key role to the non-existence of mental institutions today?

This is argued about to a great extent.  If you were unable to control your behavior, and the medication brought you to reality....fine.  But this idea is utterly dependent upon a person carrying out the medication routine, and not getting secondary drugs (unrelated) to add to the mental burden they are carrying.

4.  How many Americans are considered to have a mental disorder (just in general)?

If you read through all the reference material....from the adult population in the US....it's around one in four.  These are people who need a therapist or mild drugs to tide them over with the problem.  I should state....these are the people who have fear of flying, fear of driving on bridges, or freak-out on ghost-talk.

If you were referencing 'serious' disorders (a threat), it's believed to be around five out of a hundred.  Meaning?  Well....your friend might be OK for 364 days a year, and one single  day decide to shoot holes in the trailer, burn the garage down, or go nuts at Wal-Mart.  

5.   Is the current era of misinformation and political bickering adding to the mental institution chatter?

It's hard to avoid this.  It's like bringing up Trump-delusional-syndrome (TDS).  There's no doubt that the syndrome now exists....it's just the numbers that you worry about.  Personally, I'd take a humble view of 250,000 Americans with this TDS problem and you might have a equal number with anti-TDS (meaning people who see Trump as 'Jesus').  

6.  Could we bring some mild form of institutions back, in this modern era?

Legally.....it'd be challenged.

Then you'd have to figure the cost of this, and the burden given to each state to run a safe institution.  

7.  Aren't the dangerous mentally-challenged folks either living on the streets or in prisons/jails already?

This is argued a good bit, and jail-keepers will readily admit that a large segment of the prison population end up there because there are no institutions to house people. 

Around urban centers, one might make the case that they've attracted more challenged people because of the free flow of drugs....where one self-medicates to control themselves.

8.  Are we reaching a society position where 'crazy-crazy-dangerous' is acceptable?

There is some type of behavior being shown that we should allow people a chance to 'be themselves'.....even if they self-medicate to a path that makes them dangerous. 

There's also a public frustration building up that suggests some type of institutions probably will come back in the next decade.