11–20 of 67 posts
Imagine for a second you're a white male growing up in rural America. Your first experience with the rest of world is a Iraq...
It must be traumatizing.
I wonder if the shock of going from a first world country to a third world country contributes to these problems. Imagine for a second you're a white male growing up in rural America. Your first experience with the rest of world is a Iraq... It must be traumatizing.
Here are a few of my personal friends:
Abraham Kamarck and Kevin Powell Army and Navy Vets. Founders True Made Foods:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robindschatz/2016/04/20/mission-...
Kim Jung and Emily Miller. Army Vets. Founders, Rumi Spice:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/business/smallbusiness/a-s...
Mike Janke. Navy Vet (SEAL). Founder Silent Circle:
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/1...
...and there are thousands starting and running their own businesses, charities, churches, schools, working at googamafacesoft etc...none of them looking for special treatment or special recognition. It's a part of our story that most of us are proud of, but it's not everything.
We take care of our own as best we can, and people fall through the cracks. The issues with the care system for vets isn't perfect, but it also takes effort on the part of those who need help, and those who aren't willing to help themselves and take advantage of those programs are the ones you hear about.
So lets stop treating our vets like they need special treatment - good or bad.
We hear a lot about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from the point of view of the soldiers but I feel we're not seeing the full picture nor hearing the full story. What about soldiers, and civilians, and even the opposition? Is there any research or information for the following: - Do men or women suffer more from PTSD? - Which ages suffer from PTSD? - Which groups are more likely to have PTSD: the soldiers (us), the…
Junger's contentious theory: PTSD is partially a side-effect of not belonging. [2]
[0] https://warisboring.com/the-last-patrol-is-a-haunting-eulogy...
[1] http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/05/ptsd-war-home-sebasti...
[2] Junger views this through the lens of an anthropologist, lived war as a journalist until his friend Tim Heatherington was killed in Misrata, Libya ~ http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2011/04/sebastian-junger-...
As an Iraq War veteran myself I'm pretty sick of these stories being what get headlines and pages of coverage about military members. People read these pieces and think it defines an entire generation of War Veterans. It doesn't. No hit on the authors, they all seem to be genuinely wanting to help/tell a compelling story - but I think it comes with some kind of fetish for war that they are trying to get in touch with…
There is truth to what you say. The biggest issue I see, isn't the story so much trauma, trauma and war are hand maidens in history, it's how main-stream western society is shielded from the military. There is no common experience. Period. That's the bigger story.
The author is C. J. Chivers, USMC (Capt. Retd.), so yeah, ^the fetish for war^ is strong. So strong, he had to quit for the sake of those around him. [0]
[0] http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a37838/end-of-war-1015/
As an Iraq War veteran myself I'm pretty sick of these stories being what get headlines and pages of coverage about military members. People read these pieces and think it defines an entire generation of War Veterans. It doesn't. No hit on the authors, they all seem to be genuinely wanting to help/tell a compelling story - but I think it comes with some kind of fetish for war that they are trying to get in touch with…
"I'm pretty sick of these stories being what get headlines and pages of coverage about military members. ... No hit on the authors, they all seem to be genuinely wanting to help/tell a compelling story - but I think it comes with some kind of fetish for war that they are trying to get in touch with." There is truth to what you say. The biggest issue I see, isn't the story so much trauma, trauma and war are hand maide…
We talk about this a lot and it's an odd topic.
On the one hand it's great that western countries have the luxury of having so few impacts from wars that many don't even know that the US still has 8,400 military personnel in Afghanistan.
On the other hand it makes the population really not give a shit about issues surrounding formal war or it's personal impacts, so they end up just letting politicians slide on stuff.
As an Iraq War veteran myself I'm pretty sick of these stories being what get headlines and pages of coverage about military members. People read these pieces and think it defines an entire generation of War Veterans. It doesn't. No hit on the authors, they all seem to be genuinely wanting to help/tell a compelling story - but I think it comes with some kind of fetish for war that they are trying to get in touch with…
"I'm pretty sick of these stories being what get headlines and pages of coverage about military members. ... No hit on the authors, they all seem to be genuinely wanting to help/tell a compelling story - but I think it comes with some kind of fetish for war that they are trying to get in touch with." There is truth to what you say. The biggest issue I see, isn't the story so much trauma, trauma and war are hand maide…
I wonder if the shock of going from a first world country to a third world country contributes to these problems. Imagine for a second you're a white male growing up in rural America. Your first experience with the rest of world is a Iraq... It must be traumatizing.
I've got family in three different armed forces, and a couple clients. Too many of their anecdotes begin with drinking. Some of it is certainly them self-medicating, but much of it is also boredom. Lots of soldiers just aren't happy with their daily routines. I remember chatting with a kid in the US navy on his way to Japan (connecting flight through seattle). What he was most excited about was the lower drinking age. He had his first weekend all planned out ... complete with pics of bars emailed by buddies. I wasn't going to lecture the kid. A new job in a new country and that's all you are happy about? (I wont say what the kid was tasked with as he likely divulged more than he should.)