The Forever War of the Mind...

[Bfgrn]

“EVERY day I was in Vietnam, I thought about home. And, every day I’ve been home, I’ve thought about Vietnam.” So said one of the millions of soldiers who fought there as I did. Change the name of the battlefield and it could have been said by one of the American servicemen coming home from Iraq or Afghanistan today. Wars are not over when the shooting stops. They live on in the lives of those who fight them. That is the curse of the soldier. He never forgets.

While the authorities say they cannot yet tell us why an Army psychiatrist would go on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas, we do know the sorts of stories he had been dealing with as he tried to help those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan readjust to life outside the war zone. A soldier’s mind can be just as dangerous to himself, and to those around him, as wars fought on traditional battlefields.

War is haunting. Death. Pain. Blood. Dismemberment. A buddy dying in your arms. Imagine trying to get over the memory of a bomb splitting a Humvee apart beneath your feet and taking your leg with it. The first time I saw the stilled bodies of American soldiers dead on the battlefield is as stark and brutal a memory as the one of the grenade that ripped off my right arm and both legs.

No, the soldier never forgets. But neither should the rest of us....

More...

"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers"
Jose Narosky

 

[CrusaderFrank]

The Muslim who was never in combat suffered PTSD?

Yeah? Is that the new story?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Kerry forget where Cambodia was, maybe this explains it?

 

[garyd]

That has got to be the dumbest idea yet BFRGN. Are you trying to make the case that PTSD is contagious?

 

[Bfgrn]

That has got to be the dumbest idea yet BFRGN. Are you trying to make the case that PTSD is contagious?

No... if you'd READ the op-ed by a Vietnam vet with no legs and one arm, you'd know that he is not trying to make that case...

The ravages of war will not end when our sons & daughters come home...they will NEVER end for many...


"If we don’t stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, we’re going to have a serious problem coming down the road."
George W. Bush

 

[California Girl]

This is a 'current event' how exactly?

 

[Bfgrn]

This is a 'current event' how exactly?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

That has got to be the dumbest idea yet BFRGN. Are you trying to make the case that PTSD is contagious?

The Islamist got hit with the PTSD Virus

 

[California Girl]

This is a 'current event' how exactly?

Can I take that as 'I can't answer that question so I need to ridicule the questioner'?

Excellent use of Rules for Radicals, Bf - unfortunately these days, it just makes the user look an ass. That'll be you.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

That has got to be the dumbest idea yet BFRGN. Are you trying to make the case that PTSD is contagious?

No... if you'd READ the op-ed by a Vietnam vet with no legs and one arm, you'd know that he is not trying to make that case...

The ravages of war will not end when our sons & daughters come home...they will NEVER end for many...


"If we don’t stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, we’re going to have a serious problem coming down the road."
George W. Bush

"Senator AIKEN. I think your answer is ahead of my question. [Laughter.]

SAIGON GOVERNMENT'S ATTITUDE TOWARD COMPLETE WITHDRAWAL DATE

I was going to ask you next what the attitude of the Saigon government would be if we announced that we were going to withdraw our troops, say, by October lst, and be completely out of there -- air, sea, land -- leaving them on their own. What do you think would be the attitude of the Saigon government under those circumstances?

Mr. KERRY. Well, I think if we were to replace the Thieu-Ky-Khiem regime and offer these men sanctuary somewhere, which I think this Government has an obligation to do since we created that government and supported it all along. I think there would not be any problems. The number two man at the Saigon talks to Ambassador Lam was asked by the Concerned Laymen, who visited with them in Paris last month, how long they felt they could survive if the United States would pull out and his answer was 1 week. So I think clearly we do have to face this question. But I think, having done what we have done to that country, we have an obligation to offer sanctuary to the perhaps 2,000, 3,000 people who might face, and obviously they would, we understand that, might face political assassination or something else. But my feeling is that those 3,000 who may have to leave that country"

WinterSoldier.com - <p>Complete John Kerry Testimony, 04/22/71

Is that why John Kerry was off by a factor of 1,000 in estimating the extent of the slaughter after we left, what with 2,000,000 being so much greater than 2,000?

 

[The T]

The Muslim who was never in combat suffered PTSD?

Yeah? Is that the new story?

Maybe it's Pre-Traumatic?

 

[Bfgrn]

This is a 'current event' how exactly?

Can I take that as 'I can't answer that question so I need to ridicule the questioner'?

Excellent use of Rules for Radicals, Bf - unfortunately these days, it just makes the user look an ass. That'll be you.

Ironic you introduce the word rules...yes, for the anal retentive far right...rules move ahead of everything; even humans...

You can't respond to the thread, so you ridicule and evoke rules...I violated the "location rule"... OMG...no less than death by injection I'm sure...

 

[Sunni Man]

Thanks for the opening post Bfrgn

 

[editec]

Hell, I probably think about Viet Nam every day and I wasn't even in country!