Post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD poll

[39mto39g]

Most of your coments belong on the political forum, (I think) and your letting your political views influence your opinions of other VN vets on this forum (SS)
If you want Kerry, thats ok, I can't understand it, but I can't understand a lot of things, To me if something smells like shit it useually is a terd. John Kerry is (to me) a worthless peice of shit.
If he were hear in front of me, he would have a broke nose and I would be in jail, (and I would leave my summons in DC at the wall for those guys).
But now Im getting political.

Ron

Well...let's see...one of 'em may have thought avoiding combat was a good idea,and one of 'em asked for combat then bugged out on his buddies when he realized that the bullets were real and folks were playin for keeps.I have a hard time seein any real good role model here.

Yep. there're folks that will say or do anything for a free ride.They are one of the reasons that there is also a large group of vets who refuse to entertain the idea that they have unresolved lifealtering problems.Who wants to run the risk of being mistaken for one of these slugs?Hard enough to admit we aren't everything we would like ourselves to be.

[frisco-kid]

Like Ron, the 2nd choice suited me the best but the "NO" stopped me short. I don't believe I do, but I can't honestly say for sure. Early on, like most of us, I had the dreams; a couple of them recurring ones. But through the years they have diminished. Haven't had a rough one for a few years. The first several years after getting out I probably had a serious drinking problem [it was affecting my family and work to one degree or another]. My hand injury at age 30 pulled that up short. The most positive thing to come out of it. Still drink, but like a normal person. Enjoy a couple beers on the weekend. About 8yrs. ago, started taking anti-depressant meds prescribed by a shrink. Even after sessions with them, never did pin it down to VN. I wasn't a very happy kid growing up with a sometimes abusive alcoholic father. Like alot of other people, I've suffered some personal losses, financial ups and downs, physical injury, etc., over the years. I, in good conscience, can't blame all of this on the war. And, I probably will never go to the VA to see if any of it can be. Hell, it's as good a chance as any that it's a chemical imbalance in the brain. The meds work and talking to a Doc a couple of times a year helps. And ultimately, that's the goal isn't it? To be well? I'm sure, because I have a CIB, that I could probably get some type of compensation from the VA but, right now, I honestly couldn't feel comfortable about it. Plus, I can't believe that absolutely all of us came home a casualty and Brice's testimony supports that.

I've never really suffered from guilt about killing people during the war. I never hesitated in battle because of it. I volunteered to be there, and always knew what my job description was and what was expected of me. I never knowingly killed anyone that wasn't trying to kill me or my brothers. I've NEVER felt that I MURDERED anyone. Like Ron, I just never dwelt on it much.

I don't say any of this out of some sense of macho bullshit. Those of you who know me, knows this. This has been my experience through it all, and like has been said before, we all react differently to the same situation. Also, I don't believe that I'm better than anyone that was truly affected by PTSD, just luckier. I've met many of you personally, and am PROUD to call you "My Friend," so I know better.

Most importantly, whatever your experiences were, if you did the best that you could do, always be proud of who you were, who you are, where you've been, and what you did. I still look back on it sometimes and am fuckin' amazed with myself at the things that I did, and the things that I saw others around me do. Whether you believe it or not, we were ALL heroes boys. It takes alot of balls just to SHOW UP for a gunfight.

[DMZ-LT]

Amen , Brother. Did the best I could. Like to think I saved lives

[SEATJERKER]

..."it takes a lot of balls just to SHOW UP for a gunfight",...

..."I didn't have one, and still was called for attendence",...

...

...thank you Tom,...

...

[catman]

Tom...best damn words i have read in a very long time. Peace brother.

Trav

[Stick]

PTSD and what is it?
I am sorry Murph but it really is real. I wake up this morning at 0636 and go outside. As I go out in the dark, I shake with fear. I look up and down the perimeter of the yard to see if there is any movement and the ?wire? is clear. I look down the road across from the house and there is not any movement but I am still scared.
What the f--k am I afraid of? Why am I shaking as I write this?
God help me.

[MORTARDUDE]

Below is a description of my Dad's unit in WW2 in the Pacific ( 43rd Infantry). Every time I talked to him about these battles it was as though he was reciting a script. He would tell the same stories, but nothing about the 81 straight days of combat in one of the most hellacious climates in the world. Invariably, if I would ask if he killed any Japs, he would give me a strange look and change the subject. PTSD ? I saw it everyday in my Dad.
Call my Dad a coward to my face, if you have the cojones.

*********************************************





http://www.ranger95.com/military_his..._solomons.html


Inexperienced troops, unfamiliar with the realities of Pacific island combat and the demands it placed on individual initiative and fortitude, did have difficulties. Such was the experience of the 43d Division on New Georgia, where the untested unit suffered one of the highest rates of neuroses casualties of any American division during the war. But the division's loss of 1,500 men in a three-month period reflected most of all the extreme hardship the troops endured. Poorly prepared, ill supplied, and surrounded by a fetid jungle that was almost as dangerous as the enemy, these men fought a grim war of attrition in the Pacific War's equivalent of World War I trenches. Acquiring their knowledge in combat, even men physically unscathed by combat paid dearly. Still, the 43d Division reconstituted after New Georgia and, as a veteran unit, later fought well in the Philippines.

[MORTARDUDE]

Ron :

Your quote from above :

"Killing people is what our Infantry, Tanks and arty is all about, if someone can't deal with that, just don't raise the right hand. There are other things in the military someone can do.
The worst thing someone in the infantry can do is say they can do the killing and then they can't, That action has got a lot of good men killed. If someone can't kill, its not a big deal, unless your in a spot where that someone has to do it, Then they get PTSD bad, or they get there buddies killed by ther in-action..."


I got drafted. I had no options.

Larry