A gift we'll be getting for 50 years or more

The news that a large number of women have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in this war isn't really news. I just happen to think that the number diagnosed isn't close to the number who are suffering and are going to suffer -- and, the people who are going to suffer because of the folks who are unable to cope with life down the road after the PTSD, like the drugs somewhere outside of Barstow, kick in. These folks will live a long time -- and, they will have issues for a long time.

"It's an insane connection that you make with that person...it's like you're there with them and see their life flashing before them as you're taking it...any day above ground is a good one."

Now, I was lucky in my career as a soldier. I was particularly lucky in that I didn't serve in this clusterfuck of a war.  But, from some of the crap in my career, I have some PTSD. Normally, it manifests itself in ways that are eminently easy to handle, or that I can work on. However, both the spouse and the significant other figured out early on not to wake me by touching me, and not to take personally when I would go to the couch to sleep. Higher ceilings usually in living rooms than in bedrooms, don't you know.  My father was a submarine sailor and both a UDT and deep salvage diver in the navy. He suffered from issues from 43-48 when he was invalided out of the Navy until his death in 2000. When I talked to his older brother, Jack, after my mother died, he shared some things from his experience in 3 Combat Jumps with the 82d and the Battle of the Bulge. He'd been captured, and seen some very bad stuff as a POW. I have friends who served in Korea and Vietnam, and they had issues. But, the whole Rambo thing is really overblown. The Army learned from Vietnam. They aren't doing a lot of individual replacements but unit rotations because the whole Band of Brothers thing works. It helps people cope. But, the nature of this war is simple -- when you're there, you're there. No release. No bar girls, no Bahnebah (No 33) beer -- just there. Where the road can definitely rise up and meet you. You see, PTSD results and is magnified when things are insane, and you have to not only deal with them but act like they are normal. So, if you're doing something relatively inane, it can become insane. Your job is to drive medical supplies up and down this road -- until one day your convoy gets shot up. People die. Maybe an IED leaves body parts around. And then, the next day, you have to do it again. Every day, for 15 months because there is no rear area, you can't just grab a beer and chill out. You're eating junk, you're drinking junk, you'd kill for a beer but can't have one. If you thought the guys in Platoon have it bad, they could at least go out, flirt with a hooker and have a beer. Not here. The women have it crazier because it's a crazier situation for them. Most of the female soldiers I have and ones I deal with today are as capable of dealing with the Army as any guy, and in many cases, more so. But, the number of guys who are incapable of acting like adults increases exponentially under stress. And, the whole macho-sex thing is an important part of military culture. Of course, except for spanking Maureen O'Hara a couple of times, we didn't see the Duke engage in a lot of sexual harassment. Today, the whole macho mess really is summarized by the Tom Cruise bit in Top Gun. So, we're going to cycle 600000 or so people through the place over the period of conflict, conceivably a lot more...if the war lasts a 100 years like Batshit Crazy McCain envisions, 6 million will be a low figure. Back in the day -- and I am not advocating the re-birth of the Vietnam era sort of anti-war movement, we were totally gormless -- Steppenwolf summed it all up

Comments

[tom truthful]

Thanks for this.
Coupled with Amy Goodman's coverage of the WinterSoldier testimonies it's made it a more fitting week of reflection on what five years of invading and occupying Iraq has done for this nation.
Peace,
TT

[Brian]

I wonder if American cities will become unlivable as the lost souls of this war are reduced to homelessness and desperate crime to survive. It will be ugly.

I'd love to decamp for New Zealand. Somewhere a long, long way away.