Originally Posted By DyGDisney <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090726/ap_on_re_us/us_soldier_slayings" target="_blank">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200...slayings</a> This article is horrifying, but so telling. I've wondered about the mental health of a person who has seen so much death and has been trained to kill. The talk about purposely killing innocent Iraqi is especially disturbing. Many here in our country have been so gung-ho about the war, chanting "9-11" as their mantra, that they have forgotten the innocent killed by our own hands.
Originally Posted By DAR Yeah it's sad and we have make sure all our veterans are taking care. But again this but a small portion of our military. They always make the effort to save as many innocent people as they can, something like this is just an abberation.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 Yeah it's sad and we have make sure all our veterans are taking care. But again this but a small portion of our military. They always make the effort to save as many innocent people as they can, something like this is just an abberation.<< Exactly, and part of me thinks that a percentage of these cases, are soldiers doing the wrong thing, then placing blame on the "horrors of war", hoping to get leniency from the courts....
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones My girlfriend's dad was a Vietnam veteran who got screwed up in the head and had complications from agent orange, and it took him years to get his benefits. He didn't even do it for himself, he did it for his family. This has been going on for a long time. Veterans are practically discarded after they are used up in war.
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 This has been going on for a long time. Veterans are practically discarded after they are used up in war. << I disagree, the VA has plenty of counseling/treatment programs but many vets choose not to use it....
Originally Posted By DyGDisney But I wonder about the mental training they get which prepares them for war. Maybe the military needs to be looking after the soldiers psychological needs while they are at war as well.
Originally Posted By barboy ///But I wonder about the mental training they get which prepares them for war./// I can only imagine the long lasting psychological impact of killing another in self defense let alone invading someone else's home and gunning them down. If I did what US soldiers and pilots have been doing in Iraq(killing and injuring) then I'm fairly sure that I would just commit autocide or swallow about 100 sleeping pills for harboring too much guilt.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I, on one hand, appreciate the concern about veterans mental health but at the same time I also worry that overemphasis on it will have everyone looking at veterans as if they are all about to pounce. I am a Vietnam veteran and I came back without any noticeable mental health problems. I am not a threat to myself or others but I do get upset when enough is said about it that it creates a stereotype situation that most of us do not deserve. Most of us that came back from that war (and I might remind you that 50,000 of us didn't) are and have been stable, hard working, mentally strong contributors to our society. We don't wonder around having "flashbacks" or in deep anger. My only regret is that I used up a year of my life that I will never get back. I believe that all that can be done, should be done for our veterans, just don't over react and create a situation where everyone fears our veterans. Some of us are and have been doing just fine.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo This is an interesting article. I have not been in the military, but in my younger years, I had delivered aid to war zones and attrocity areas in africa, the former Yugoslavia (I will never forget the stench of the burnt out homes replete with inhabitants nor the cold feeling going past a rape camp and having nothing I can do about it while most of europe and the US did nothing), as well as orphanages in Romania. Things that have both scarred me and strengthened me in many ways. But as Goofyrnmost stated, this is not new, and not all vets are whack jobs. Did you guys know the amount of torture and rape the Allied troops inflicted on Germany after WWII as a form of retribution? Yet we treated these people as heroes (and of course, the vast majority were). It seems that as war has become less about defending the home turf and has extended more as an instrument of policy in Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf, the questions of legitamacy and the demeanour of our troops have come under greater scrutiny. The reality is, the military is made up of patriots and heros, violent characters and those on the cusp of poverty, pacifists and strategists. They are large organisations, and in the theatre, the impact of an experience will vary greatly. But I do think that more support should and could be given to the pastoral care of service men and women.
Originally Posted By Sara Tonin <<I disagree, the VA has plenty of counseling/treatment programs but many vets choose not to use it....>> Do you know how backed up the VA is?
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 <<I disagree, the VA has plenty of counseling/treatment programs but many vets choose not to use it....>> Do you know how backed up the VA is? << The help is still available for them, and for those on Active Duty, such as all of those in the article posted in link 1, the army has a program called "Army 1 Source" where you can see a mental health professional, without them notifying your unit, so the stigma of seeing a phrink is greatly reduced. The military has taken great steps in attempting to get help for PTSD, and other mental illnesses.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>The help is still available for them, and for those on Active Duty, such as all of those in the article posted in link 1, the army has a program called "Army 1 Source" where you can see a mental health professional, without them notifying your unit, so the stigma of seeing a phrink is greatly reduced.<< Sounds like socialism to me! Government providing healthcare and all that. I anxiously await the outsourcing of the VA - clearly it's the best option.
