Once they have seen the horrors of war, maybe it is too much.
Democrats are happy when soldiers commit suicide...means one less Republican vote, plus it feeds into their long-ago fantasies that our troops are a bunch of homicidal psychos.
I wonder what the rate was for Vietnam, Korea and WWII vets.
How are these horrors any different than those experienced by the men in WWI or WWII? Vietnam? I have several uncles still alive who served in Nam. While two of them are relatively normal and well-adjusted, the other suffers from horrible PTSD and, as he puts it, “hasn’t had a full night of sleep in 40 years,” but he’s alive.
A very close friend of mine returned from Iraq in 2010 after 6 tours. He was a shell of the person I remember in college. He told me that they give these boys all sorts of shots and tests before they go into the field, but he was convinced to his dying day that they gave them anti-depressants and Ritalin to keep them sharp. He took his own life just 6 weeks after returning home.
I’m worried about my son. He’s 18 and has enlisted in the USMC. He’s wanted to do this since he was eight. It’s been his sole motivation all the way through grammar, middle, and high school, the only thing that made him keep his grades up and keep working. He’ll be going to Parris Island after Christmas.
But he thinks war is a video game. He has very little maturity, little grasp of how horrible it can be. He thinks that because he has no difficulty field-dressing and butchering a deer that he won’t be affected by the nightmares with which he’ll be confronted. I hope he can survive psychologically as well as physically. Constant prayer going on here.
They DRUG them with cocktails with only G-d knows what in them.
It is not the horrors of war. When Obama took office, the suicide rate in the military was half of the general population of the same age group in general society. It now exceeds the general population.
With the rules of engagement changing under Obama and the frustration of not being able to protect themselves or the men under them that they are responsible for, they are feeling hopeless. I hear their stories.
I’ve talked to quite a few soldiers who tell me of their men being court martialed for returning fire when shot at by snipers. Of inept commanders pulling the perimeter guards and allowing truck bombs to enter their field bases. I hear the horror stories. Of being put in tents to sleep within range of insurgent fire, who open fire on them at night and then drop their guns. The soldiers are told they cannot shoot back unless the insurgent has a gun in hand and firing.
I hate to say it, but these men are turning their anger and frustration inward rather than at the administration that is creating this mess. It is only a matter of time until this explodes in a different direction. These men are angry!
The reason that Gen Ham was replaced was because he did not hold back on rescuing fellow soldiers in peril. It’s time the military realizes who their real enemy is!
It is not just that. Once a guy leaves the service things change. It is like leaving a family. Every vet I know misses the deep friendships only found in the brotherhood of service. My father and I both served. He has been out for over 15 years and I have been out for 12. The thing that we both miss is the bonds we had with men like ourselves.
In the civilian world, friendships are shallow in comparison. You may have friends but the deep bond is not there. What is happening now, is men are leaving the service and returning home with the weight of what they saw and did. Once away from the service they do not have someone to understand and relate with on a daily bases. This leads to the depression and for too many suicide.
Agree He was a casualty of his own mind.
Once they have seen the horrors of war, maybe it is too much.
Inded! I have worked with WWII and Korean War veterans and they have confided things to me that they witnessed or had to do or experienced at the hands of the enemy How any of them make it back with a sound mind is a miracle.
But the thing is, men who served in those wars did not have the support that the current veterans have. They internalized things and did not speak of them to anyone as a rule. Not family anyway. As an outside party they often told me things and said it was the first time they had spoken of it....and that was decades after the facts. Often we would cry together. There are things I wish I had not been told but I will not repeat them. I just carry them in a very heavy corner of my heart and pray for those who spoke of those things and carried the horrors with them for so long. I have no idea what the suicide rate was for the WWII and Korean War vets. I wonder if it was as bad as the current statistics.
It really isn’t a video game...
Add to the horrors the fact that most of the troops fighting are facing an equally horrible reality - they will be going back into that crucible time and time again. Granted the tours of duty aren't that long individually but they add up very quickly. The final straw is they, the troops, known that there is no end in sight - they will return time and time again until either killed or so severely wounded that they are retired.
This feeling and the under laying facts aren't new. A much smaller precursor was seen at the tail end of Vietnam. It was national policy that no SAC asset would be in SEA long enough to achieve short-tour credit (6 months plus a day). Until January 1972 this wasn't a serious problem. Then came BULLET SHOT. Between January 1972 and October 1973 SAC personnel were rotated in and out of SEA on a 165 day cycle. They came home for 30 to 45 days went right back, repeatedly. Me, I had only 2 of those in a year. Friends that I went through school with were working on their fourth one in Oct 73. The divorce rates went sky high, retention dropped like a rock, and moral issues were rift. While I am unaware of any suicides I am very confident that this was lurking in the back of many minds. How else could they escape from the pressures they were experiencing?
Which we are not allowed to win.
“Once they have seen the horrors of war, maybe it is too much.”
Maybe you meant ...
Once they seen the horrors of the Commander in Chief and the evils of gay aggressive behavior going unchecked, it is too much. Not what most of them signed up for.
There is also the wave of spouses back home filing for divorce while they are overseas that doesn’t help.
It is seeing the horrors of war and then coming home to a government that ties your hands. I would imagine that WWII vets who saw the horror of war, could at least take comfort in the fact that the good guys won, and it only took 5 years to win. These poor guys today, see the horror of war and they must ask themselves, “what was the point”. Now, there probably is a good point for their being in combat; some good has probably come from their sacrifice. Good luck finding someone who will actually report on that good.