Mental Health Is a Warfighting Readiness Problem for the U.S. Navy
BLUF – The article argues that the Navy’s shortage of mental health resources ashore and at sea is a warfighting readiness vulnerability, proposing expanded access to trauma care through Military OneSource, incentives to increase the TRICARE counselor pipeline near fleet concentration areas, and a 250-member civilian mental health auxiliary that could augment deployed “triads of care” during major combat operations. For Navy Medicine, the recommendations frame behavioral health capacity as an operational requirement rather than simply a healthcare benefit, particularly as prolonged maritime combat could expose sailors to sustained stress, sleep deprivation, trauma, and other conditions that degrade decision-making and combat effectiveness.
https://warontherocks.com/mental-health-is-a-warfighting-readiness-problem-for-the-u-s-navy