PTSD: the silent killer... of heroes!
Un exécuteur muet... de héros !
Un exécuteur muet... de héros !
Ils étaient au Vietnam, ou en Irak, ou en Afghanistan, occupés à combattre le Mal pour rétablir le Bien. Remarquez : ces combattants de la liberté interviennent toujours à des milliers de kilomètres de leur pays, les Occidentaux ayant une bien curieuse manière de défendre leur "chez eux" : ils le font en attaquant les autres pays - de préférence du tiers-monde, donc présumés plus faibles ! - et en les couvrant de bombes. Et comme, la plupart du temps, ces guerres sont validées par la "Communauté Internationale", du coup, tous ces crimes risquent de rester impunis !
Sauf que quelque part, un terrible justicier veille, qui va s'évertuer à punir nos valeureux "héros" d'une bien insidieuse manière.
Ce justicier est connu de tous les psychiatres militaires - même s'il ne touche pas que les militaires - sous l'acronyme P.T.S.D. (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Et si, par exemple, on dit qu'autour de 6500 soldats américains sont tombés en Afghanistan depuis le début de la croisade, à la vérité, on se doit de multiplier ce chiffre par dix pour avoir une idée de l'hécatombe provoquée par le PTSD !
They were in Vietnam or Iraq, or in Afghanistan, fighting Evil in order to restore the Good. Let’s notice that those freedom fighters are always involved in operations thousands of miles away from their homeland, Westerners have indeed a very strange way to defend their "home" : they do it by attacking other countries - preferably in the Third World, that means presumed weaker countries! -, and covering them with bombs. And since most of the time, those wars have been validated by the "international community"; as a result countless war crimes remained unpunished!
Except that somewhere, a terrible avenger was watching around, striving to punish our brave "heroes" in a curious and insidious way.
That avenger is known to all military psychiatrists - even though it doesn’t only target on military people - under the acronym PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). And if, for example, it is said that around 6500 U.S. soldiers fell in Afghanistan since the begin of Bush’s crusade, actually one must multiply that figure by ten or even more to get a real idea of the carnage caused by the PTSD!
On the website 'Veterans Today' there is quite an interesting article by Ken Smith!
Here is an exerpt of the article:
I must confess right upfront that this posting is a little self promotion. Well, kind of. Three months ago, a dear friend of mine that I have known for over 25-years contacted me with an urgent request concerning his son who had recently returned from Afghanistan. It was an appeal by a desperate father for help and as I thought about what he was asking me to do, I had an idea. This friend’s email went something like this:
“Ken, Can you help me out?” he said. “For the past two weeks our son Tony has been staying in the basement , sleeping all day, watching animal programs on TV most of the night, missing meals, drinking too much and today he lashed out screaming at my wife who was just trying to pick up his laundry. So, I’m worried. I know when you came back from the Vietnam War you told me that you had PTSD with nightmares and flashbacks; do you think that’s what’s wrong with my son?”
It got me to thinking about the solutions I had figured on my own over the years to deal with PTSD, without anyone telling me what to do. After Vietnam, there were no veteran outreach centers or PTSD groups who were talking about nightmares, and if you came right out and said you were having flashbacks, well, you risked getting tossed into the cracker bin.
For those of us who suffer with PTSD the core issues are those of loneliness, betrayal and anger. There are no words to describe how “Very Alone” PTSD can make you feel. One minute your living your life to its fullest and enjoying kids, family, ball games, cold beer and then “”BLAM”” you are all alone. That feeling is very scary. It reminds me of the movie where the actor wakes up in the big city one morning and there are no more humans, he is the very last man on earth...
If you don't know what PTSD is, please activate your favorite searchengine !
On the same website there is the sad story by Katharine Russ of Sergent Senft, an American G.I. who killed himself in Afghanistan.
(...)
The “wall”, a beautiful granite monument, bears the names of those who served in both World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. The Tracy City Council accepted the Memorial in 1991 and allowed the War Memorial Association to decide which names of fallen heroes could be carved into the granite face.
There was opposition to Senft’s name carved on the memorial in perpetuum because he committed suicide allegedly making his service to country less honorable.
Scott and Julia Conover, residents of Tracy, whose own son, Marine Lance Corporal Brandon C. Dewey (age 20) was killed in Anbar Province, Iraq in 2006 by an improvised explosive device (IED) during his second tour of duty, told reporters they didn’t believe that Senft should be added to a memorial for those who served “honorably.” Julia Conover would not to comment about her opposition but did tell reporters that Senft’s suicide was “contrary to his Oath to serve.”
(...)
The Veterans Administration (VA) reports the suicide rate among male veterans it serves under the age of 29 hit an all-time high in 2006 and continues to climb. Those in that age group are more than twice as likely to commit suicide as people in the general population. The Army says that suicides have more than doubled in recent years among active duty personnel. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) will climb to epidemic rates when soldiers begin to come home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Senft’s IED was not a physical bomb, it was a mental and emotional bomb that finally exploded on November 15. Senft is survived by a wife and 5 year-old son, Landon, from a previous relationship.
His suffering was great but friends, family and fellow soldiers said his service to this country was admirable. David’s father said, “His final decision should not erase all that he was before that night. We love him none the less.”
On Veteran’s Day, November 11, 2011, SSG David Senft (July 4, 1983- November 15, 2010) will be added to the War Memorial, honoring hometown soldiers who perished while in combat.
Katharine Russ
The “wall”, a beautiful granite monument, bears the names of those who served in both World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. The Tracy City Council accepted the Memorial in 1991 and allowed the War Memorial Association to decide which names of fallen heroes could be carved into the granite face.
There was opposition to Senft’s name carved on the memorial in perpetuum because he committed suicide allegedly making his service to country less honorable.
Scott and Julia Conover, residents of Tracy, whose own son, Marine Lance Corporal Brandon C. Dewey (age 20) was killed in Anbar Province, Iraq in 2006 by an improvised explosive device (IED) during his second tour of duty, told reporters they didn’t believe that Senft should be added to a memorial for those who served “honorably.” Julia Conover would not to comment about her opposition but did tell reporters that Senft’s suicide was “contrary to his Oath to serve.”
(...)
The Veterans Administration (VA) reports the suicide rate among male veterans it serves under the age of 29 hit an all-time high in 2006 and continues to climb. Those in that age group are more than twice as likely to commit suicide as people in the general population. The Army says that suicides have more than doubled in recent years among active duty personnel. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) will climb to epidemic rates when soldiers begin to come home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Senft’s IED was not a physical bomb, it was a mental and emotional bomb that finally exploded on November 15. Senft is survived by a wife and 5 year-old son, Landon, from a previous relationship.
His suffering was great but friends, family and fellow soldiers said his service to this country was admirable. David’s father said, “His final decision should not erase all that he was before that night. We love him none the less.”
On Veteran’s Day, November 11, 2011, SSG David Senft (July 4, 1983- November 15, 2010) will be added to the War Memorial, honoring hometown soldiers who perished while in combat.
Katharine Russ
