Posted on 09/21/2015 7:18:06 AM PDT by huldah1776
After the sixth suicide in his old battalion, Manny Bojorquez sank onto his bed. With a half-empty bottle of Jim Beam beside him and a pistol in his hand, he began to cry.
He had gone to Afghanistan at 19 as a machine-gunner in the Marine Corps. In the 18 months since leaving the military, he had grown long hair and a bushy mustache. It was 2012. He was working part time in a store selling baseball caps and going to community college while living with his parents in the suburbs of Phoenix. He rarely mentioned the war to friends and family, and he never mentioned his nightmares.
He thought he was getting used to suicides in his old infantry unit, but the latest one had hit him like a brick: Joshua Markel, a mentor from his fire team, who had seemed unshakable. In Afghanistan, Corporal Markel volunteered for extra patrols and joked during firefights. Back home Mr. Markel appeared solid: a job with a sheriff’s office, a new truck, a wife and time to hunt deer with his father. But that week, while watching football on TV with friends, he had wordlessly gone into his room, picked up a pistol and killed himself. He was 25.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Yes, we fought in war and never heard of PTSD. Many of us got out of the hospital from being medivaced from RVN to Japan and then the states and we got a job after discharge. The military disability retirement system these days is easy to get medically retired from. We have Vets who never saw combat who claim PTSD and get disability now. Those psychiatric pills do a job on vets. The VA shrinks keep them doped up.
I had PTS , this does heal it .
The medication they try to give you just numbs you and does not heal you
Family is everything. Mom, Dad, 2.2 kids and a dog in the backyard. The reason why suicides and mental disorders are higher than they used to be is as you say - no social structure.
If kids from broken homes have greater problems with education, relationships, and other normal routine activities, then how in the world is this disfunctional kid supposed to adapt to PTSD?
Despair is fought with purpose. They went to war not knowing that there is also a war going on at home. Not with weapons but with deception and lies, corruption and injustice, betrayal and treason. They came home to find the vow they had taken to be forsaken at the highest level of their government and its proliferation becoming evident in the departments meant to support their future.
They live with their brothers having died for them. The greatest love. They have not been told of the eternal facet of that love. They do not realize the eternal facet of the single battles they fought and that they are part of the war that has been waged since the fall.
My brother died in Nam. He died saving his platoon. He loved them. The One who died for us all and sees each sacrifice that echoes His own will not allow them to have died in vain. They each did their part in the time they were given. Now they stand before Him asking how long it will be until He comes back to end all wars.
My place of peace is thinking about that time. Getting there takes perseverance and is described as “overcoming” in His word. I pray every day they never give up.
They went to war, America went to the mall.
This article really hits the VA hard.
I hate the mall. At every entrance there should be a sign, “Entrance fee paid by the US military.”
If someone came up with why 1/4 of the guys come back with PTS then preventive measures could be taken. That 1/4 includes those who have not seen combat and those suffering do so at different levels. Not all have chronic PTS and most civilians who do are abused kids. First responders also suffer.
I have my own theory about it but have a little more research to do.
Modern faith structures tend to be weak too. Something like biker ministries might be up the alley of some veterans. Where did the knight of old go. We need him back today.
There are degrees of PTS. It is also multiplied with each trauma. It can also be delayed for decades. So complicated.
So glad you are well! Maranatha!
A theological/faith perspective helps greatly. To furnish a sane context within which armed service (and indeed all else) takes place. That is a challenge given that this society is getting more and more relentlessly secularized. I think churches (”the church”) would have an opportunity to step up to the plate here.
WW2 vets were there for years without coming home and came home on ships that took a month plus the nation had sacrificed with them. The difference in percentage may be the difference in survival rates. Also, the treatment would have been almost non-existent since most advances are being made now.
I disagreed with the late George Carlin on a lot of things, but he nailed it here:
I don’t like words that hide the truth. I don’t like words that conceal reality. I don’t like euphemisms, or euphemistic language. And American English is loaded with euphemisms. Cause Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. Americans have trouble facing the truth, so they invent the kind of a soft language to protect themselves from it, and it gets worse with every generation. For some reason, it just keeps getting worse. I’ll give you an example of that.
There’s a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It’s when a fighting person’s nervous system has been stressed to it’s absolute peak and maximum. Can’t take anymore input. The nervous system has either (click) snapped or is about to snap.
In the first world war, that condition was called “shell shock”. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, “shell shock”. Almost sounds like the guns themselves.
That was seventy years ago. Then a whole generation went by and the Second World War came along and very same combat condition was called “Battle Fatigue.” Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn’t seem to hurt as much. “Fatigue” is a nicer word than shock. Shell shock! Battle fatigue.
Then we had the war in Korea, 1950. Madison Avenue was riding high by that time, and the very same combat condition was called “operational exhaustion”. Hey, we’re up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. It’s totally sterile now. “Operational Exhaustion”. Sounds like something that might happen to your car.
Then of course, came the war in Viet Nam, which has only been over for about sixteen or seventeen years, and thanks to the lies and deceits surrounding that war, I guess it’s no surprise that the very same condition was called “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder”. Still eight syllables, but we’ve added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I’ll bet you if we’d of still been calling it “Shell Shock”, some of those Viet Nam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I’ll betcha. I’ll betcha.
You are correct and, in fact, the vets have a unique perspective to help civilians learn about war in that we civilians need to learn about putting on the gear of God and fighting spiritual battles. Vet experience with obedience, training, discipline, preparedness, vigilance, and loving your brother from another mother, are desperately needed by citizens.
I came across a really good site and emailed with the pastor. Marine vet Pancho Juarez.
http://mitchin.com/Spiritual%20Warfare.html
enjoy! “The joy of the Lord is my strength.”
PS I was in a combat infantry outfit and I did not know of any suicide.
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There are degrees of PTS. It is also multiplied with each trauma. It can also be delayed for decades. So complicated.
So glad you are well! Maranatha!”
I know a lot of people who have been in combat who this has helped . I have seen it turn their lives around .
I know it helped me too , I was stalked for 7 years , have been shot at and held hostage with a gun to my head by the stalker . I should be a complete basket case , I lead a very normal life with NO torment .
Well said.
I read the story and recognize the similarities of the results of war on men’s psyche, especially the commonality of trying to medicate away the pain through drink and/or drugs. My dad was a WW2 vet, serving in the Army Air Corps through North Africa, Italy, and England in various bomber groups. He was the youngest of 4 brothers from small-town Kansas and ended up being the first to die at age 53 as an alcoholic. The others had some drinking issues but lived out natural lives into their 70s and 80s.
I spoke to a prominent member of Dad’s VFW Post who knew drink was a problem for Dad since the Post was where a lot of the drinking was done. I just wanted to yell at him for not intervening but I understood that was just not the way of that generation. For the men of the story, I’m so glad to read that they have decided to hold themselves accountable to/for each other.
I could go on about this forever but others have covered it well on how little regard is given for those who sacrifice so much. War cheapens life and that’s what these men are sensing, the reduction of the value of their life. This is where we owe the debt, returning value so they know not to cheapen it through their own actions.
An honor to hear from you. Hugs!!! (When my son was coming home from the stan the first Marine I saw was a military policeman in the parking lot of the main gate at Lejeune—I hugged him and his expression was priceless-stone with hope no one was watching... still makes me laugh.) I am so glad about everyone being hopeful. It makes me want to know how and why. Was faith more prevalent, closure because of a victorious end?
Also, not many who volunteer today have started working but it would be good to look into. And peers are so immature today. Right out of boot my son was years ahead of the friends he left 3 months before. The Corps has the youngest average member with a high turnover.
Hmmm. I wonder, did you all stay together for the whole time like Band of Brothers? Are the 7 month or 1 year tours and transfers a part of the issue?
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