By Daniel Hartill,Staff Writer
Maine is following a program begun by the New Hampshire National Guard.

LEWISTON – As new groups of Maine soldiers return home from Iraq, every one will be ordered to visit with a mental health counselor.

The reason is that too many soldiers need help but fail to ask for it, said Maj. Gen. Bill Libby, who ordered the change.

“These men and women have been forever changed by their experiences,” said Libby, Maine’s adjutant general and a veteran of the Vietnam War. “Thirty-eight years later, I am still struggling with my experiences.”

And many of Maine’s newest vets are, too, said Roy Driver, who leads the Lewiston Vet Center.

Some are drinking too much, withdrawing from their families or sleeping poorly.

“There’s a lot we can do to help them,” Driver said. “But they need to come in.”

Libby ordered the change late in 2005, after attending a conference with his counterparts from around New England.

The conference included a presentation by leaders of the New Hampshire Guard, which had made short interviews with counselors a mandatory part of soldiers’ return home, like physicals and discussions about benefits.

“I have them for three days after they get back,” Libby said of each soldier’s demobilization. “This is now going to part of the process.”

Every soldier will have a one-on-one session and will be scheduled to keep the times fluid.

They may last as little as 15 minutes or as long as an hour.

The key is getting the soldier to begin the process, Driver said.

Some worry that their military careers might suffer if they ask for help, as if it were a sign of weakness that could show up in their Department of Defense records. Others worry that friends, family or civilian employers might hear about it, Driver said.

Unless the person seeing a counselor tells someone, people won’t find out, though. Counseling records are secret, even from the Army.

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