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PolWatch
07-20-2015, 07:35 PM
I saw this interview today and thought it was appropriate since the subject of POW's has been in the news.

'At night the Iraqi men come again for Jessica Lynch (http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/16/us/jessica-lynch-fast-facts/). They chase her through the woods. The crunching of the earth beneath their boots drowns out her pounding breath. She turns but can't see their faces. Before they grab her, she wakes up. The nightmare has never changed over 12 years. The woman made famous for being a prisoner of war would give anything for it to stop.
<snip>
While Lynch fought the alienation and the sense of dislocation that soldiers experience when they return from war, she committed to giving what she felt she owed the public -- the retelling of her story, often through motivational speeches and appearances.
<snip>
For 12 years, Lynch never saw a mental health professional. She rethought that as the anniversary of her capture approached this March and she was unable to will her way out of depression.
"I put up this wall, this barrier, it was my way of dealing with things," she said. "In the beginning, I was able to block everybody out, whereas now it's getting harder ... to deal with."

video & more at link: http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/20/us/jessica-lynch-where-is-she-now/index.html

Common
07-20-2015, 07:39 PM
It happens, I know men personally that it took 15 yrs to push down the nam war. Many carry scars.
Any extremely traumatic experience can stay with a person a liftetime in some cases. Some have the inner ability to push it down, some not so easily. I wish her only the best.

Bob
07-20-2015, 07:40 PM
She needs quality help from the Army doctors.

PolWatch
07-20-2015, 07:40 PM
I have friends that still have problems....in addition to cancer from Agent Orange.

Tricia
07-20-2015, 07:49 PM
I wish better help was available to veterans, both medical and emotional. It's heartbreaking what some of these folks have endured.

Common
07-20-2015, 07:53 PM
The kids today are being totally battered. Tour after tour even people that generally support the military cant grasp the magnitude of being ripped from your family over and over. The pain military wives and children endure. The heavy load of worry the soldier takes with him facing yet ANOTHER TOUR.

No the soldiers today dont endure the great number of casualties wars past have but they have a new kind of nightmare to relive day in and day out and it can be said its far worse.

whatukno
07-20-2015, 07:58 PM
I'm not sure how anyone expects people to just be okay after war, especially if something horrific happens to them during that war. PTSD is a very real problem for our vets, and it's something that every vet should be able to go to someone about free of charge for the rest of their lives if need be. I wouldn't mind my tax money going to helping vets try and piece their lives back together after things go horribly wrong in combat.

PolWatch
07-20-2015, 11:08 PM
The military is great when we need them.....but some seem to forget about them when they need us.

There are occasionally reports about organizations that build or customize homes for wounded military....handicapped access, etc. They are heart warming & I proud that people do things like that.

At the same time I'm disgusted that these people who gave so much to our nation have to rely on the charity of community organizations.

WE (the nation) OWE them and they should never have to struggle to survive because we don't meet our debt to them.

Redrose
07-21-2015, 12:55 AM
The kids today are being totally battered. Tour after tour even people that generally support the military cant grasp the magnitude of being ripped from your family over and over. The pain military wives and children endure. The heavy load of worry the soldier takes with him facing yet ANOTHER TOUR.

No the soldiers today dont endure the great number of casualties wars past have but they have a new kind of nightmare to relive day in and day out and it can be said its far worse.


We don't treat our vets properly when they return home. Most VA hospitals I've heard about leave much to be desired. The vets should be at the front of the line for jobs.

These young people voluntarily put on a uniform, some never return home, some come back a shell of who they once were. We must take better care of them and honor them.

Cthulhu
07-21-2015, 03:33 AM
I hate to say it, but part of the reason we have so many broken vets has little to do with the wars they were actually in - at least in cases of PTSD and other mental/emotional problems.

We are getting weaker stock in the military and weak people break easier and require more resources to patch back together if even possible. Lynch's story while sad, shouldn't even exist.

Mostly because women shouldn't be in the service for a host of reasons. But men are also breaking down more as well.

The reason for this is because they are not properly formed growing up. A bad family situation is more destructive than people realize.

Sent from my evil, puppy-munching cellphone.

whatukno
07-21-2015, 04:27 AM
The military is great when we need them.....but some seem to forget about them when they need us.

There are occasionally reports about organizations that build or customize homes for wounded military....handicapped access, etc. They are heart warming & I proud that people do things like that.

At the same time I'm disgusted that these people who gave so much to our nation have to rely on the charity of community organizations.

WE (the nation) OWE them and they should never have to struggle to survive because we don't meet our debt to them.

I think you are thinking about the Wounded Warrior Project (http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/). It's a privately funded charity that helps disabled vets.

I personally don't support the military industrial complex, but I do support the troops that risk and give their lives because they believe in the principals this country was founded on. The worst thing I see, and I see it often, is homeless vets on the streets. I'm not talking about the panhandlers that fly a sign claiming to be a vet, but the real vets that have serious untreated PTSD. It's a massive failing of our nation that this goes on.

Captain Obvious
07-21-2015, 09:48 AM
The military is great when we need them.....but some seem to forget about them when they need us.

There are occasionally reports about organizations that build or customize homes for wounded military....handicapped access, etc. They are heart warming & I proud that people do things like that.

At the same time I'm disgusted that these people who gave so much to our nation have to rely on the charity of community organizations.

WE (the nation) OWE them and they should never have to struggle to survive because we don't meet our debt to them.

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/metallica/disposableheroes.html


"Disposable Heroes"

Bodies fill the fields I see, hungry heroes end
No one to play soldier now, no one to pretend
Running blind through killing fields, bred to kill them all
Victim of what said should be
A servant 'til I fall

Soldier boy, made of clay
Now an empty shell
Twenty-one, only son
But he served us well
Bred to kill, not to care
Do just as we say
Finished here
Greetings, Death
He’s yours to take away

Back to the front
You will do what I say, when I say
Back to the front
You will die when I say, you must die
Back to the front
You coward
You servant
You blind man

Barking of machine gun fire does nothing to me now
Sounding of the clock that ticks, get used to it somehow
More a man, more stripes you bare, glory-seeker trends
Bodies fill the fields I see
The slaughter never ends

Soldier boy, made of clay
Now an empty shell
Twenty-one, only son
But he served us well
Bred to kill, not to care
Do just as we say
Finished here
Greetings, Death
He’s yours to take away

Back to the front
You will do what I say, when I say
Back to the front
You will die when I say, you must die
Back to the front
You coward
You servant
You blind man

Why, am I dying?
Kill, have no fear
Lie, live off lying
Hell, hell is here

I was born for dying

Life planned out before my birth, nothing could I say
Had no chance to see myself, molded day by day
Looking back I realize, nothing have I done
Left to die with only friend
Alone I clench my gun

Soldier boy, made of clay
Now an empty shell
Twenty-one, only son
But he served us well
Bred to kill, not to care
Do just as we say
Finished here
Greetings, Death
He’s yours to take away

Back to the front
You will do what I say, when I say
Back to the front
You will die when I say, you must die
Back to the front
You coward
You servant
You blind man

Back to the front

Captain Obvious
07-21-2015, 09:50 AM
Here's the tune in case you want to hear it live, it's a pretty good tune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJqHjDsfKP0