Purple Heart for PTSD
Nathaniel P. Morris who claims to be a doctor writes in the pages of the Washington Post hat he thinks that Post Traumatic Stress is actually a combat wound which should be recognized with the award of a Purple Heart Medal from the Pentagon;
But a great deal has changed in the near-decade since that ruling. We now know more about PTSD than ever before. New findings suggest PTSD may stem from physical damage to the brain, much like chronic traumatic encephalopathy in the National Football League. Researchers have novel insights into the role that blast waves and traumatic brain injury play in its development. Suicide among veterans has become a national crisis, and we’ve learned those with PTSD have markedly increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
The ranks of those supporting Purple Hearts for PTSD has swelled, including public endorsements from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, mental health experts, and outspoken veterans. In fact, during 2011, branches of the military expanded Purple Heart eligibility for those who sustained concussions or mild traumatic brain injuries; but again, PTSD was left aside.
The good doctor admits that the award should be taken lightly, citing the fact that his own Grandfather had received one for his shrapnel wounds in World War II. That he believes that “Handing out this medal to anyone with mild anxiety, depression, or sleeplessness could undermine its inherent value.”
Well, then, Doc, you need to talk to your peers. There are probably thousands of people out there pretending to be afflicted with PTSD. People who are barely veterans blame PTSD for everything from speeding in their car to murdering their wives. We have the VA doctor who approved 100% disability payments to Joe Cryer for a totally manufactured story of him killing 77 Libyans in 1986. Dan Bernath claims that he got PTSD while taking his GED exam while on an aircraft carrier off the coast of Vietnam. Shaun MacMurray caught the PTSD while explaining to an ALJ judge how he caught the PTSD in the Navy. Jason Gourley, a military PTSD activist, claims he caught the PTSD in a class about guarding ships. Wesley Baxley got the PTSD while he was in basic training. Steven Goldmann claims that PTSD made him impersonate an FBI agent. Larry Rodriguez heard an explosion once, caught the PTSD and strangled a hooker because of it.
The pages of TAH are replete with folks who blame their bad behavior on imagined PTSD – and those of us who criticize these numerous incidents as bullshit, are subjected to a flurry of emails and comments about how PTSD is this mysterious disorder that is mercurial in consistency. That the medical profession has no grasp on what manifests as symptoms.
I’m sure there are millions of phonies just salivating at the thought of getting a medal that they can wave like a bloody shirt at the scene of their next crime.
Thanks to Chief Tango for the link.
Category: Dumbass Bullshit
No, no, f*** no never. What about the spineless wonders who caught the PTSD at the thought of deployment.
I did four tours in the recent conflicts, three as an infantryman below battalion level. Unfortunately, I have PTSD, and it has really affected my life since. I’m not saying it’s made me want to kill or hurt anyone besides myself sometimes but I will admit it certainly seemed to make me a lot angrier than I needed to be and push away those I loved. I can also say this, you can attack me me if you wish or call me whatever for having it, but I DO NOT DESERVE A PURPLE HEART for it. No enemy round or shrapnel or anything else ever pierced my body and I’m damned lucky it didnt. I lost quite a few friends to these wars and I’ve seen many more wounded, I think that particular award was meant to honor them not us who’s only scars are psychological in nature.
Amen Brother.
I treat my symptoms like I would the enemy, find, fix and overwhelm with superior firepower…and drugs (the legal kind). They, it (tha PTS or whatever) is MY responsibility. I must OWN the outcome. I didn’t ask for it but I can change the condition(s) by proper maintenance and framing.
Purple Heart for a couple sleepless nights and an abnormal response to stress?
No fuh-king way.
Absolutely right.
How people respond to traumatic experiences and overcome them defines their character more than anything.
In other words, don’t let what happened to you (or what you saw) define you – it’s what you do and how you do it to overcome it that does.
Just my opinion…
I served in Baghdad 2004-2005 I was deployed by myself had no training prior to going except the the training I received over the years, but this never prepared me of constant bombing, a SAM launched at C-130 bullets flying 2 feet over my head, having 2 people killed by rocket moments after handing over paper work for the first election, constant shelling, Gurkha camp blown up by mortars, car bombings etc. I feel like my life goes fast forward then someone hits the rewind button and my thoughts of suicide and desire to die starts all over. I am tired of sleepless nights, panic stricken mind confusion, night mares and my Government feels I don’t deserve a Purple Heart. But if you get a minor wound in combat you get a Purple Heart. I say F_ _ _ my Gov. has abandon me and there is nothing more to do….
I totally agree no PH for PTSD. I have TBI (traumatic brain injury) and PTSD. The difference is TBI can be diagnosed far more accurately, making it harder to fake, but i agree that all those fakers and valor thieves out there are salivating with this.
Awarding PH for PTSD will lower the intrinsical value of the PH.
The army has already lowered the value of all other awards.
Yef,
Nah, you can’t possibly have PTSD. I thought that PTSD was only for pogues, REMFs, and all other species of non-hackers who aren’t “infantry”.
As you constantly remind us, you’re an 11B. You’re always saying that you can do things that everyone else around here can’t do.
So suck it up and drive on, Infantryman.
Who was that comment for Yef?
I meant Bruno Stachel.. sorry
Yef. That comment was aimed squarely at Yef.
If you haven’t seen it, he’s been running his mouth way too much around TAH lately about how 11B infantry are superior to all of the other troops who have seen combat and disparaging everyone else’s combat service if they’re not infantry, and I for one am getting to be pretty damn sick of hearing it.
You know, it’s the same old “if you ain’t infantry, you ain’t shit” line. Well, if Yef is such a supremely hard-assed SuperGrunt, how could he possibly have caught the PTSD? In Yef’s little 11B world, that sounds like an affliction that only the lesser non-infantry pogues, REMFs, and other such undesirables could come down with. So, like I said above, Yef needs to suck it up and drive on like the bad-ass infantry combat soldier that he claims to be.
The last time that I checked, we are all on the same team. The only guy who doesn’t seem to understand that around here is Yef.
I assure you Bruno, I do not hold that opinion, I feel that without all jobs and MOS’s doing what we signed up to do there is now way we could ever win the fight. The infantry is just one part of the the battle, and if I’d been smarter, I’d probably chose a different career path, I’m referring to the physical toll on my body there, lol.
Damn, good shot. I think you hit something bad in my upper body. Open chest wound most likely.
Yef,
I was not an 11B so I must be below you in the MOS chain. I was in Viet Nam during Tet. Like I said I was not an 11B. I was just a little 91b20,you
know one of those medics that went with you 11Bs.
Oh, shit. What a crock.
No.no.no.no.no.no.
PH for PTSD?
I would say absolutely not.
“Researchers have novel insights into the role that blast waves and traumatic brain injury play in its development. Suicide among veterans has become a national crisis, and we’ve learned those with PTSD have markedly increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors.”
TBI may cause someone to exhibit the same symptoms as PTSD but too often the clinician can’t distinguish between what caused it. Plus it seems while many suggest there is a new epidemic of suicides, but the rate has stayed pretty much the same since before 911. 65% of suicides currently are Vets over 50 years old.
I believe PTSD is real. I believe there are plenty of people that deserve treatment and compensation. I also believe there are those that abuse the system. There are plenty of programs that actually may help but each person is different and results may and do vary. And if all the programs in place actually worked, every one would be healed. Then what??
Another Harvard genius who thinks he knows it all. He’s a pencil neck, a twit, and he likes to see his name in print. When he recently opted for psychiatry, he was compelled to write an article about why he made that decision. Who gives a flyin’ fuck? As of February, he was a medical student. So, what’s up with this f’ed-up idea of his? I think it’s found here: “Whether veterans with PTSD receive the Purple Heart has the potential to shape both the policies and the perceptions surrounding mental health in this country.” See that? It’s about psychiatry, a subject he has weeks, if not months, of experience with. He’s all ready telling the psychiatric world what’s what. Punk. Twit.
Nowhere in the diagnostic criteria for PTSD does it mention combat.
The enemy did not inflict the injury. Real or imagined PTSD is self inflicted.
TBI is now being used to award a PH.
My prostate was injured almost daily as a platoon sgt.
Sadly, military awards (with the exception of a very few) don’t mean a damn thing to me. As a general rule they no longer have any credibility as far as I am concerned.
They can waive their ribbon salad around all they want. Morek obliterated any pride in having a Army/Navy Com/Ach. Today, I see people with 5 and 6 of these things all the time. They no longer mean anything to me.
Combat Action Ribbons and Badges…Oh my. Who gives a shit anymore, not me. The military has made a mockery out of awards.
I clutch to my Good Conduct Medal, its really the only one I actually worked at.
+1000
My ARCOM means the world to me. I earned it.
It hangs on my bedroom wall and nobody ever sees it. Except when I get laid.
I feel the same way about my GCM. Really, I earned that bitch after 7 years. Barely, but I squeaked by.
I doubt my bedroom is an appropriate place to hang a Good Conduct Medal.
Performance varies these days.
Then again, it is the Good -Conduct- Medal, not the Good -Outcome- Medal.
A subtle difference, eh?
Everything started going downhill when they awarded a MOH to that Ranger SSG that grabbed a hand grenade thrown his way and tried to throw it back.
I was like, really? Are you telling me that jumping on top of a grenade to cover the explosion with your body, with complete disregard for your life, to save your battlebuddies, is the same than grabbing the grenade and throwing it back, which is the normal human reaction opposed to actually giving everything by jumping on top of the grenade.
Fuck no dude.
Ya, same thing with Dakota Meyer. I mean sure he went in the first time under fire to get people out, but 4 times?
Come on, you know he was just doing it for show after the first time Yef.
One Marine and a few dozen ragheads…hardly a fair fight.
Keep it up bro and people around here will want you to talk with this Sarc guy they keep sending me to. Not sure who he is but I think he is some kind of spiritual guru.
As you were.
Totally diff things. Making the actual decision to go in 4 times is not the same as reacting to a hand grenade. IMO the hand grenade thing warrants a DSC, not a MOH.
What about the dude that successfully threw the hand grenade back and got a SS? Why didn’t he get a MOH? Because he managed to throw it back before it went off? Are we punishing sucess? Well no. I agree catching and throwing a grenade back merits a valor award, but i see it more like a DSC than a MOH.
Or perhaps my standards are too high.
In other words, IMO when you something to save yourself, no matter how brave, it does not count as high as when you do something to save others, especially when you are risking your hide to save the others.
Therefore Dakota Meyer = MOH
Leroy Petry = DSC
I agree, we had a guy in my platoon who we put in for a DSC and it was downgraded over and over to a BSM w/v but we had a CPT who got a SS for literally the first engagement we had in country, which was weak in comparison to any other tick we had.
The award system is screwed.
Yef, It’s classless to bad mouth someone who has earned the MOH. I think you’re jealous and have some serious issues about your self worth.
Oh, i agree it is classless, but i thought here in TAH we were about the truth and only that.
So while i agree with you that i would not do these comments in polite company, here i am saying what i really think about the award system and how the army has been politicing and corrupting the system under our glorious leadership and community organizer in chief.
Now, this is my opinion and could be wrong, and i open to hear your take on it, and modify my position if you convince me i was wrong.
But i aint gonna be worry about being classless or not over here.
So i will be politically incorrect and say what i really think, at least until Jonn or Hondo kick my ass outta here.
I agree that the award system is screwed up. I’ve always held the process for the MOH at a higher level.
I am in absolutely now way qualified to EVER question the award of THE medal, I’m just happy some of us get it. I’ve never been more afraid in all my life, each and every time. God bless those who can perform above and beyond. I question if I ever could. Or, were you being sarcastic and I didn’t catch it?
Really a good cookie? More like didnt-get-caught-award.
Good cookie is like the NDSM as far as I’m concerned.
Exactly.
Now it seems they’re trying to diminish awards and what circumstances they’re earned. After all, they’re trying to diminish everything else about the military?
Why stop with gutting the military?
Yes. This is what i am seeing as well.
The libs really want to destroy the military, and use the money to buy votes through welfare.
They mean more when you deserve and earn them, and then don’t get them. Medals that is….
Hey bro., you just have to be able to put them to work. Any of my ribbons and badges come in handy any morning I stop to buy coffee. ANY one of them and two bucks will get me a cup. Better yet, ANY one of them and five bucks will get me a Big Mac or a Whopper. Add cheese for only fifty cents, along with showing one of the ribbons.
The black chick at McDonald’s now says to me, “Mofckr, if you ain’t got one om them hero badges with you, then you ain’t gettin’ shit!”
This is so wrong.
Geez, can I claim the paytayessday from working with sailors for 5 1/2++ years? There is only so much a girl can take without wanting to smack those dorks upside the head, y’know.
This is not something that should be taken lightly. Crime victims may develop it, whether the crime was violent or not. People involved in bad accidents may develop it. You have to learn to cope with it, but unless there is a piece of physical evidence like shards of metal – something like that – IMHO, it isn’t a ‘wound’ in the true sense.
Yes, a series of severe concussions can change someone’s behavior. There is no doubt about that. I just do not agree with that good doctor’s opinion because it trivializes the Purple Heart.
We are not all dorks, thanks very much.
No.
Out.
This is another case of politicians and other scammers jumping on a real problem that affects a very few (and my sympathies to them) and using it to their personal advantage. Despicable !!
I am also tired of hearing the questionable statistics with regard to “veteran suicides”. The media and others use the “22 veteran suicides each day” stat and the implication is that these are recently returned combat vets who kill themselves because of their experiences in the service. You have to realize that if I should commit suicide, I would be included in this data base although I retired over 20 years ago and the only “combat” that I was involved with was on destroyers on the gun line over 40 years ago.
Agreed.
He wrote the article to gain some traction in his looking for a “niche” to begin personal research.
And PTSD is a widespread and has an easily accessible study pool.
Curious as to if this clown can actually stratify the diagnosis while separating the bullshit in certain claims?
Buckeye: The studies clearly indicate that even the over-50 numbers may be wrong due to a flaw in the data collection. Typically in the over-50’s, a suicide’s veteran status is reported by family/friends/etc. The authors of the study readily admit they have no way of determining the accuracy of this reporting mechanism. They admit that it is quite possible that family will report a suicide as a veteran in order to mitigate the “shame” of the suicide. The over-50 age groups represent 16-17 of the 22/day meme. The under-50 groups represent 5-6 of the 22/day meme. The suicide rates for under-50 veterans are well below the rates for their non-veteran peers. The authors of the 2012 study actually pointed this out with bold print in the study.
So I have to ask: Who benefits from this 22/day meme? My conclusions: the psychiatrists (especially in the VA) and the anti-military.
Presuming the over-50 group does have a high rate of suicide, one has to ask why. It doesn’t make sense that it is PTS that triggers the suicide 35-45 years later. Yeah I can recall with clarity the combat actions I was in, and the faces of the Marines we were treating at a Naval Hospital who we lost. However, I can recall other “traumatic” events also with clarity: four life-threatening boating and car accidents, the births of my children, and my first public speaking engagement (sweated like a pig). Probably most of us “suffer” a traumatic event at some point in our lives. In the better percentage (like 99.9%?) of time, these events are not going to trigger suicidal thoughts.
Of course I am just one anecdotal case and maybe I am projecting, but the so called relationship of PTS to over-50 veteran suicides doesn’t make any sense to me.
I saw that the shrink in training referenced Patton and The Sicily Slap, but the pencil neck used the plurals, soldiers and slaps. I only knew of one, c/o the movie but, indeed, there were two. The soldiers returned to action. The famous one, the one depicted in the movie, was PVT Charles Kuhl of Indiana. He survived the war, never rising above private, returned to Indiana and worked for Bendix. He died of a heart attack in Jan 1971, about nine months after the movie Patton was released. He was 55.
Outstanding post. Thank you for that bit of history.
As a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, I am embarrassed each time a veteran of WWII, Korea or Vietnam thanks me for my service. What those veterans went through was far worse than the worst that we’ve gone through in this conflict. These other veterans came home and had successful lives without crying for a handout or blaming their problems on their military service.
I am sick and tired of hearing the whining from this current generation and the expectation of payments for life because they chose to sign up.
Well put.
My personal opinion: Doogie Morris hasn’t been around long enough to know the first thing about the effects of warfare on people. Until he’s been out in the world a little bit, or held someone dying in his arms, he doesn’t know squat.
Puberty must have been hell for the guy.
I would not say support has exactly swelled.
Look at the organizations. Increased, yes, swelled , no.
Any any case, screw this turd and the WP for publishing it.
If they do this, there will be no end in sight. Might as well hand one out with the Welcome To The Army Ribbons (NDSM, Rainbow and GWOT).
I once wrote to some gov’t agency asking them to drop to D from PTSD. My thinking is the word disorder leads to asking what’s wrong with you. To me, the reaction to any significant event that changes one’s personality should be thought of as a normal reaction and should be treated accordingly. That is not to say ignore it; I say help those who need help without stigma.
I was unable to find him listed as a “Doctor” in Kalifornia though I was able to find a friend of mine as a control search. So this resident manages to get an article published to what ends?
Like I wrote above, he loves to see his name in print. Here’s the punk’s stuff:
http://scholar.harvard.edu/nathanielpmorris/links
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathaniel-p-morris-34279993
https://twitter.com/npmorr
http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-im-becoming-a-psychiatrist-1454371033
My butt-hole hurts.
I got the PTSD.
Where is my medal?
I know a General Discharge shitbag kicked out for drugs. He draws 100% plus other monies I believe. Claiming the PTSD and arguing that he was “wounded” in battle as well and should get TWO PH’s.
Soooooo…..show me the 15-6! What a fucking loser.
This dildo just sits around and gets fat while staying high and drunk. He also has a tendency to “get lost” when honorable vets and PH dudes show up but that does not stop him running around town claiming he is the man and deserves a PH for all of his afflictions.
His day is coming…..
Sounds like Killer Killam.
BTW, Killam is legit. The 1st SEAC says so and he’ll have the proof positive if the FOIA the 3rd SEAC requested ever shows up.
Claw, I saw what you did…?????????
Foodchain respectfully asked ” Can’t Claw sic Scooby on Joey Cup Gainey or how about Mrs. Claw paying a visit to Texas to do a white glove inspection with her clipboard on the 1st SEAC of the JCS, as well as Michael Duane Killiam, Rocking Rick Cayton and Heavy Duty Dennis the Cheese?”
After all, they all are:
P= Pathetic/Piss-Poor (Take your pick)
T= Texans/Trash (Take your pick)
S= ???? (Big, steaming pile of Phil)
D= Dirtbags/DICKHEADS (Take your pick)
?
Foodchain said I was too mean and made the following correction for the Fab Four:
P= Poop
T= Texas Turds
S= Steaming ???
D= Dungs
To avoid confusion, why not just create a new decoration for PTSD. It can rank below the traditional Purple Heart but above other campaign ribbons such as the GWOT medal.
Better still, remove the disability payments for PTSD and watch the numbers drop so far you’ll need a microscope to see them.
“If you, or someone you love, are suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and you want help applying for SSD benefits, or if your application was denied, contact us right away.”
Ok my take on this is it should not happen. I have a PH for a TBI and mild 2nd degree burns. Nothing great or sexy and honestly I am more embarrassed by since it has been 9 years since it happened.
I will say I had a moderate case of PTSD when I retired. My behavior was subpar and I was kind of a dick and reckless. After about 3 years after my retirement I looked myself and the mirror and realized that I am the cause to all these problems. If I wanted to get better I had to want to move on from one minor event that sucked in a much larger life.
What would be interesting to see studied is how many doctors, nurses, and medics have developed PTS. My guess: not many. My experience as a corpsman is that we all develop coping mechanisms very quickly. You celebrate the life saving victories, and move on past the losses – though you don’t forget either the spectacular wins or devastating losses. Yet you do not develop PTS. As many have pointed out here at TAH, it is as much a mind set that moves one past the trauma as anything else.
NO PH for PTS! PTS is a nebulous diagnoses and its (ill-defined) symptoms can be caused by all sorts of things besides trauma.
I called it “professional sociopathy” and, yes, I agree that you have to have some mechanism to deal with bad shit. Just put it behind you as best you can and move on, that’s probably a pretty common method among medical types.
(I still don’t know how those who work in places like a pediatric ICU do it, though-they’re better men and women than I am)
Maybe I can induce PTS in some of you.
Graduating from Corps school, we are sent for a week or two to the SD Naval Hospital. I’m put on a ward and given my very first assignment: dig out a fecal impaction in an old Navy Captain. Even today I am not sure for whom this was the more traumatic event. Earning the title of ‘Shit for Fingers’, I’m still mortified.
aGrimm: Ditto my experience. Graduated HCS and to ENT Ward at NH San Diego. It was either 4E or 4W. Can’t remember but I’m leaning to 4W. Then it was off to FMS and the obligatory ‘meet and greet’ with the Grunts.
aGrimm, do you recall how many weeks FMS lasted? Serious case of CRS here.
HMC: It was 4 weeks at Pendleton. I remember a lot of classroom time on medical response, a little time on the range and one or two clusterfuck maneuvers training. Upon joining 1st Recon and doing RIP training, the reassuring first words out of our instructor’s mouth was, “Forget everything they taught you in the States”. Semper Fi squidly!
You guys got nothin’. When I was in college, I worked part-time for a veterinarian because I had this notion that I might apply to vet medicine school.
I went on calls with this vet and did a lot of things most wannabes never get to do. It was quite a glimpse into the real large animal med world.
But I changed my mind about being a LAvet because when he called me to go to a farm where there were hogs raised for market, he did not tell me ahead of time that the sow we were going to tend to had just farrowed 8 little piglets and was trying to kill them. That meant get the piglets away from their angry mommy ASAP.
There is nothing that will put the fear of hogs into you faster than being chased around a farrowing pen by an angry 375-pound mama pig who just wants to kill her children and eat them.
You remember it for a very long time, too. It did point me in a different career direction.
Ex, I have some experience with that. The tendency (It’s called savaging) to kill and eat the young piglets just falls under the “shit happens” category and usually happens to gilts.
Most of the time it comes from not being introduced to the farrowing pen early enough, being really noisy around the area, or her having a especially hard delivery with some oversized fetuses. It will also happen if some cross fostering has occurred.
There’s really nothing that can be done other than sedating her or in extreme cases muzzling her (like with an old boot) to see if things work out.
All in all, getting bacon seeds planted can sometimes be a chore.
Ah, bacon!!
My pig story had an unhappy ending. Grandpa raised all types of animals, including pigs. He kept several in one pen that was partially shaded by a persimmon tree. Man were those persimmons good. When ripe. So one day, being a dummy, I started feeding the ripe persimmons to the pigs. I threw the ripe persimmons on the ground inside the pen and the pigs would scarf them. So I throw them really juicy persimmons for a while and then, being a dummy (see above) I threw in a handful of rock-hard persimmons. So the pigs, thinking they were resupplied with tasty RIPE persimmons, began chowing down. Well, the next thing I know, the pigs break down the pen and are after my ass, wanting payback. I’m running like heck, stepping in cow dung. You know, pigs are much faster than I thought. I finally find safety in the chicken coop while the pigs run around outside, screaming to high Heaven. Grandpa comes running … until he sees the loose pigs. Then he joins me in the chicken coop. Grandpa wants to know what happened. Jeez, Grandpa, I’m just walking by and the next thing I know …
Lesson learned? Do not feed sour persimmons to the pigs. Ever.
^^^What aGrimm says.^^^ We also referred to it as gallows humor. Helps to smooth a rocky road. The losses were soul crushing, but the positive outcomes, especially when unexpected, were tremendously uplifting, although they did not negate the losses. It never resulted in an overall zero sum outcome, but the positive outcomes were absolutely required to sustain self.
As for a PH for PTS, no way. IMO, this guy’s proposal is a solution in search of a problem. I will say, though, that I believe PTS is real. I’m in no way diminishing those who genuinely suffer from this affliction. But a PH? No way. That would be a hell of a conversation in the barracks or bar, wouldn’t it?
I agree that this guy is full of crap and that an award of the Purple Heart for PTSD is unwarranted, but let’s not pretend like every Purple Heart ever given was awarded for losing a limb or an eye or something traumatic. Some were awarded the Purple Heart for some minor stuff-some shrapnel or even a cut. It meets the criteria and I’m not going to lose any sleep over someone getting the PH like that, but not every PH awarded indicates suffering on the part of the awardee, while some with PTSD suffer a great deal.
At the risk of sounding like a dick, this sounds like the route to “everyone gets a trophy.”
I am sure that those with legitimate PTSD sure as hell wish things were different
Damned funny to me they suddenly want to add PTSD to the P H recipients’ list…so quickly after this Long fellow killed folks in Louisiana. Don’t suppose Obammy had anything to do with this, thinking, “If I had a son….”. Yeh, tell us THAT asshole deserves some recognition. Real combat veteran he was (F’KN NOT!!!!!).
May Gavin Long be LONG GONE you dead MTHFCKR!!!!!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The tension that must be felt among troops rolling down a road, zipped up tight in a potential coffin, wondering if they’ll roll over an IED must suck, and I have little doubt that the psychological toll can be great. I also have no doubt that, as in all wars, there have been instances in Iraq/Afghanistan of people devastated by a singular event. Beyond that, I have never grasped how there possibly could be so many PTSD claims. Again, take away the $$ and the numbers would drop like a rock in a pond. It’s free cheese, military style.
Spot on.
I caught the PTSD from using Silvretta cable bindings on the world class lousy US Army skis when I was a ski instructor at Huckleberry Creek Mountain Training Camp.
If you’re ever tried to use those stupid things you would also catch it and a TBI to boot !!!
And how does the good “doctor” square this with all of the cases, the REAL cases of PTSD that have been diagnosed in rape victims, firefighters, police officers, EMTs, nurses, search and rescue personnel, and many others, who have NEVER had a combat related injury, or TBI?
I do not minimize the devastation that PTSD has had on the men and women who have been subject to it over the long, long history of warfare. War is a business that, by it’s very nature, is guaranteed to tear a man’s mind apart and make him wonder what the human animal is capable of. But, I do not support the idea that PTSD is something that should garner the award of the Purple Heart for PHYSICAL injury in the line of duty.
I’m proud of my combat infantry badge, it means I’m part of a group of men which goes back a long way. My Purple Heart I earned and it goes back to the revolutionary war.
The politicians and the pentagon are degrading all medals. The number of medals awarded today are astonishing considering the amount of actual combat people. There are more operators in both countries ( Iraq and Afghanistan) than combat troops. The joint chiefs of staff are political more now than ever . The rumor is that they are considering a Purple Heart and PTSD for drone operation people. Sickening!!!!
I second that on the cheapening of awards, I saw NCOs and Officers that never went outside the wire getting BSMs at the end of our tour for basically keeping coffee in the pot in HQ just because of their rank.
For those who still feel that PTSD isn’t a real
combat health issue, just stay with me for a moment. I was a Navy Corpsman who served with the 1st Marines in Quang Nam Province. I still cry when I think of all of the Marines who lost their lives there, or returned home with the loss of their limbs as well as other serious health issues. Too many other gallant heroes didn’t make it home alive.
I was the first responder to the Marine who had
just lost a leg, or had their chest blown open.
The NVA & VA knew that it was the corpsmen who would anything in his power to get the wounded
marine. Unfortunately, some of those Marines
lost their lives while waiting for the medivac
to arrive. Too many young Marines died in my arms while waiting for the medivac to arrive.
I now have a 100% rating for my PTSD. Most of the memories have surfaced a few decades after Vietnam, upon my retirement. The symptoms of
PTSD are with me 24/7, as well as the tears that were shed, didn’t surface until I retired.
I’ve reached a conclusion that is shared with
my doctors @ Hines VA Hospital & many veterans
who served in Vietnam, you’ll never understand the severity of PTSD, until you have it. And for those who don’t have this medical issue, thank God for keeping you away from this horrible health issue.
What really assists those who have PTSD, is
the support of their family & close friends.
I wouldn’t wish this health issue on anyone.