Report: PTSD barracks near firing range

FORT BENNING, Ga., June 3 (UPI) -- A newly built Army barracks designed to help soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder is located near a firing range, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The location of the barracks on the grounds of Fort Benning (Ga.) is producing additional stress and anxiety attacks among patients who are within earshot of constant barrages of rifle and machine gun fire from training exercises, the newspaper said.

The barracks for the Warrior Transition Battalion, part of the Martin Army Community Hospital at Fort Benning, were established as part of an effort to ease the growing number of soldiers with PTSD back into normal life. But in interviews with the Post, barracks residents said the proximity to the firing range is counterproductive.

"You hear a lot of shots, it puts you in a defensive mode," Sgt. Jonathan Strickland, a diagnosed PTSD sufferer, told the newspaper. "My heart starts racing and I get all excited and irritable."

Army officials said they were unaware of problems with the barracks' location.

"No soldier has talked with me about the ranges," Lt. Col. Sean Mulcahey, commander of the Warrior Transition Battalion, told the Post. "If it is an issue, "we will address it."