It Can't Go On Forever

Yes, meanwhile we are waiting to hear how Wilso really feels.

It's amazing how often I hear comments like that.

A **********?
That is supposed to be an insult?

Bush isn't exactly the one I was insulting.

Is it an insult?
A whole lot of people suck cock. Is there something wrong with that activity?

Re: Is it an insult?


Your point being?

Answer my question and
I will tell you my point even though I suspect that you actually know what that is.

Can we agree that Bush is a shithead?

Actually, I would be very interested in finding information and statistics on soldiers returning from war situations. We've all heard about soldiers returning with drug habits, who come back shell shocked or traumatized by the things they've witnessed but it's my guess that there are thousands and thousands of stories that we don't hear. It's probably common for many soldiers to return with slight behavorial problems of some sort, in various states of agitation, full of anger and fear. Hopefully it just takes a little time for them to calm down. Get back on solid footing. Relax and feel relatively safe again.
Can anyone speak on this?

I think I'd be more worried about anyone who could return from all that and seem completely normal.

What's really hard this time around is the fact that you have many soldiers not sure of or worse, just out and out not believing in this particular war, how it came to be and what it's all about. Now that would drive many a person mad, don't you think?

I would not be surprised at all to see the mental health situation has deteriorated in the US since dubya came to power.

I will point to WW2 and Korea where millions of people came back from fighting in a war which was far worse than anything experienced in Iraq or Afghanistan. Were they all traumatized or had mental conditions?

That's my question, au1929. WWII, Viet Nam, Korea. I'm sure not ALL come back with problems, and by "problems", I don't mean raving lunacy but minor (hopefully) emotional and social difficulties after being in such conditions. EVERYONE doesn't react exactly the same to such situations but my guess is that more war veterans have trouble "coming back" than we know.

There is a large body of research that suggests vets of WWI, WWII, Korea, etc... suffered PTSD in the same proportions as vets of later conflicts.

Tartarin
And for the most part went on to perfectly normal and productive lives. Does what we see, hear and experience have an effect? Of course, however, people, almost all, learn to live with their fears and experiences and their personal devils.

A) I'm not Tartarin.
B) Most of the veterans of most conflicts went on to lead productive lives. Different people cope with stress diferently. It has nothing to do with them being a "good" or "bad" person.
There is a recent work by Harold Kindsvatter that addresses this issue in one of its sections. One of the points he makes is that the understanding of human reaction to stress has increased over the last century. In addition, changes to ideology have ocurred. Hopefully we have advanced past the "war is good and fun" mentality of the early half of the twentieth century. But, with the advances in ideology must come the discarding of labels like "cowardice," etc... There is the famous story of Patton abusing a "shell-shocked" soldier, whom he believed was merely a "coward." If anyone was dysfunctional, it was Patton!

People may learn to live with their fears and experiences but how well are they living? A junkie or alcoholic is living, as long as he/she stays alive.

Touchy touchy. I know you are not Tatarin.
For what it is worth Patton was slightly of the wall. Maybe that is what makes a good soldier in time of war.

Most of the Vietnam veterans I have known are indistunguishable from the rest of the population in the same age and social groups, eoe. They will all have memories, some few will have problems. I'm going to agree with hobitbob. You're right to worry, but it will probably come to nothing.