> General Macarthur was infinitely strong minded, but when he saw someone with war induced PTSD in a hospital bed he slapped him across the face for being a coward. I give him the benefit of the doubt that his own strength made it difficult to see what was a much less understood thing back then. This case is not even close to PTSD, but the concept is the same in that emotional capacity varies widely, even when we practice resiliency.
I believe you mean General Patton here, not Macarthur. I know this story well and I don't think this came from a place of personal attack either. It came from a place of misunderstanding. This is the critical difference I'm getting at. The personal motivation is what matters, not the lack of preemptive filtering of the words or actions themselves.
The solution there was an evolution of the understanding of PTSD. The General was caring deeply about such an important thing, such as not letting well-trained soldier be a coward and hiding in the hospital when other men are dying in the field. And he saw many young kids die and it made him raw.
It's also been said the General may have had his own PTSD and emotional problems, and he wanted to attack the weaker man who made HIM feel that way.
Ultimately he was wrong factually, for misunderstanding the motivations of the soldier. The soldier wasn't being a coward (AFAIK) but suffering from serious mental trauma. If this happened in 2017 it would be a different story because Patton should have known better and what he did was abusive in that context. AND Patton could also have been better informed about his own risks of behavioral problems if he had modern science and education.
Does this mean Patton's brutal honesty was the problem? Or was it the general understanding of PTSD? I believe the latter.
Ultimately this doesn't mean Patton shouldn't have been brutally honest with his regular troops on the battlefield. Which he was, and he was also brutally effective at running the war too, and he was loved for it by his troops. The guy in the hospital is a different story and should have never happened, but I don't think I would have sacrificed Patton's honesty because society and common sense was wrong about a few subjects.