Sgt Sostand
05-20-03, 09:43 PM
i just recive this from a friend May 20 2003
Many soldiers felt that killing the enemy was a part of their duty. They were rewarded for doing it well, so they carried no overwhelming guilt for this after the war.
“When you’re in combat all you can think about is staying alive,” reported Johnny. “Your reasoning powers are replaced by animal-like instincts. You’ll do anything to stay alive and come home.”
Then he added: “Killing from a distance was no big problem. But we would attack at night, and once you made the eye-to-eye contact with enemy soldiers that you then killed, it worked on your mind.” Such personal encounters or the engaging in needless or unjust killing often left deep emotional scars on the men, and this produced guilt and depression.
However, with other soldiers guilt and the accompanying depression did not come from action taken toward the enemy. For instance, one twenty-five-year-old combat pilot entered a convalescent hospital after his twenty-fifth mission. He was tense and deeply depressed. His speech was retarded. Fruitlessly he had tried to decrease his anxiety by heavy drinking. Finally, under treatment, he revealed that as a flight leader he felt guilty over the death of one of his fellow pilots who was shot out of the sky during a mission. “Oh, if I had only picked out another spot, a safer target,” sobbed the young man. “If I had gone in some other place, he wouldn’t have got it. . . . I can’t get him out of my mind.”
Flashbacks
David, a veteran of Vietnam, had returned home after having encountered indescribable brutality. Scenes of human butchery that few persons would believe possible were etched forever in his mind. One day, shortly after his return, he and his wife were driving in an open-top car. His wife, Elaine, explained what happened. “A car in the approaching lane of traffic backfired with a loud bang. Without thinking, David, who was driving, attempted to jump out of the car. Halfway out he realized what he was doing and said, ‘Hey, I’m not in Vietnam. No one is shooting at me.’ I began to scream, ‘What are you doing! You can’t do that!’” Miraculously, they managed to steady the car and pull off the road.
Often the sounds of sirens or of aircraft will make a veteran feel that he is in combat again. He may even dive for cover under furniture while at home. Some combat veterans, when jarred while asleep, will come up swinging and get into a fighting stance as if ready to kill. At times, this disorder will last for years. Fueled by spectacular press reports regarding such flashbacks, many persons view men returning from combat as “walking time bombs,” prone to violence—either consciously or subconsciously.
Are They More Violent?
Actually, a study of several hundred men who served in Vietnam found that only a “significant minority of veterans” had difficulty with controlling their violent feelings. The report in Archives of General Psychiatry stated:
“Despite the fact that much has been written about the violent feelings and behavior of veterans, serious difficulty with control of aggressive effect was a major problem for a relatively small minority of the soldiers. Although 40% reported being more irritable and shorter tempered on return, for most this was a temporary, time-limited phenomenon that passed within the first three months.”
Many felt as did one World War II veteran who said, “It was such a relief not to have to kill anymore.”
Though it has been observed that violent crimes increase in virtually every nation after a war, there is no statistical proof that it is the returning soldiers who are responsible for this. In Psychology Today researchers Archer and Gartner explained:
“Perhaps the increases are due to the legitimation of killing in the eyes of the whole society. Wars provide concrete evidence that homicide can be acceptable. This reversal of the prohibition against killing may make it easier for any person to resort to murder as a means of settling conflicts in everyday life.”
So, really, all of society is affected mentally by the effects of war, not just veterans. The conditions on earth since World War I, starting in 1914, have clearly shown that we are living in what the Bible terms the “last days.” Some of the identifying features listed in the Bible are that “men [in general, not just returning soldiers] will be . . . without self-control, fierce . . . [advancing] from bad to worse.”—2 Timothy 3:1-5, 13.
As for the war veterans, Dr. Kolb, researcher at the VA Medical Center in Albany, New York, working with some of the most disturbed men, revealed: “Even among the group I am presently working with, the vast majority have never been in a hospital. Many hold down jobs. A lot of these are conscientious, hardworking devoted people. Often their value systems are better than those of the average man on the street.”
Yet these men still had mental damage that required professional help. A 1981 study indicated that more than a third of the men who saw heavy combat in Vietnam suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Usually, what is offered as help is group psychotherapy in outreach centers. There the veteran can engage in a rap session with other vets or trained counselors who try to readjust his thinking. At times drugs, usually tranquilizers or sleeping pills, are used. However, a number of veterans suffering mentally from the war have found another answer. One of these, mentioned earlier, returned from Vietnam with serious post-traumatic stress disorders.
From the 1980 edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, an official publication of the American Psychiatric Association.
A team of American doctors evaluated the incidence of depression in a sample of Vietnam veterans who had returned from an average of over two years of combat. This study found that 33 percent of these men were clinically depressed. The usual prevalence of depression in the general population is 15 percent.
Studies done since World War I have not been consistent. In 1973 the Bureau of Prisons found that 32 percent of their inmates were vets. However, according to the Veterans Administration, 49 percent of American males between sixteen and sixty-five have served in the armed forces. Also, between 1963 and 1973 the homicide rate increased dramatically for both sexes. The rate for women, who were certainly not combat veterans, increased 59 percent
:marine:
Many soldiers felt that killing the enemy was a part of their duty. They were rewarded for doing it well, so they carried no overwhelming guilt for this after the war.
“When you’re in combat all you can think about is staying alive,” reported Johnny. “Your reasoning powers are replaced by animal-like instincts. You’ll do anything to stay alive and come home.”
Then he added: “Killing from a distance was no big problem. But we would attack at night, and once you made the eye-to-eye contact with enemy soldiers that you then killed, it worked on your mind.” Such personal encounters or the engaging in needless or unjust killing often left deep emotional scars on the men, and this produced guilt and depression.
However, with other soldiers guilt and the accompanying depression did not come from action taken toward the enemy. For instance, one twenty-five-year-old combat pilot entered a convalescent hospital after his twenty-fifth mission. He was tense and deeply depressed. His speech was retarded. Fruitlessly he had tried to decrease his anxiety by heavy drinking. Finally, under treatment, he revealed that as a flight leader he felt guilty over the death of one of his fellow pilots who was shot out of the sky during a mission. “Oh, if I had only picked out another spot, a safer target,” sobbed the young man. “If I had gone in some other place, he wouldn’t have got it. . . . I can’t get him out of my mind.”
Flashbacks
David, a veteran of Vietnam, had returned home after having encountered indescribable brutality. Scenes of human butchery that few persons would believe possible were etched forever in his mind. One day, shortly after his return, he and his wife were driving in an open-top car. His wife, Elaine, explained what happened. “A car in the approaching lane of traffic backfired with a loud bang. Without thinking, David, who was driving, attempted to jump out of the car. Halfway out he realized what he was doing and said, ‘Hey, I’m not in Vietnam. No one is shooting at me.’ I began to scream, ‘What are you doing! You can’t do that!’” Miraculously, they managed to steady the car and pull off the road.
Often the sounds of sirens or of aircraft will make a veteran feel that he is in combat again. He may even dive for cover under furniture while at home. Some combat veterans, when jarred while asleep, will come up swinging and get into a fighting stance as if ready to kill. At times, this disorder will last for years. Fueled by spectacular press reports regarding such flashbacks, many persons view men returning from combat as “walking time bombs,” prone to violence—either consciously or subconsciously.
Are They More Violent?
Actually, a study of several hundred men who served in Vietnam found that only a “significant minority of veterans” had difficulty with controlling their violent feelings. The report in Archives of General Psychiatry stated:
“Despite the fact that much has been written about the violent feelings and behavior of veterans, serious difficulty with control of aggressive effect was a major problem for a relatively small minority of the soldiers. Although 40% reported being more irritable and shorter tempered on return, for most this was a temporary, time-limited phenomenon that passed within the first three months.”
Many felt as did one World War II veteran who said, “It was such a relief not to have to kill anymore.”
Though it has been observed that violent crimes increase in virtually every nation after a war, there is no statistical proof that it is the returning soldiers who are responsible for this. In Psychology Today researchers Archer and Gartner explained:
“Perhaps the increases are due to the legitimation of killing in the eyes of the whole society. Wars provide concrete evidence that homicide can be acceptable. This reversal of the prohibition against killing may make it easier for any person to resort to murder as a means of settling conflicts in everyday life.”
So, really, all of society is affected mentally by the effects of war, not just veterans. The conditions on earth since World War I, starting in 1914, have clearly shown that we are living in what the Bible terms the “last days.” Some of the identifying features listed in the Bible are that “men [in general, not just returning soldiers] will be . . . without self-control, fierce . . . [advancing] from bad to worse.”—2 Timothy 3:1-5, 13.
As for the war veterans, Dr. Kolb, researcher at the VA Medical Center in Albany, New York, working with some of the most disturbed men, revealed: “Even among the group I am presently working with, the vast majority have never been in a hospital. Many hold down jobs. A lot of these are conscientious, hardworking devoted people. Often their value systems are better than those of the average man on the street.”
Yet these men still had mental damage that required professional help. A 1981 study indicated that more than a third of the men who saw heavy combat in Vietnam suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Usually, what is offered as help is group psychotherapy in outreach centers. There the veteran can engage in a rap session with other vets or trained counselors who try to readjust his thinking. At times drugs, usually tranquilizers or sleeping pills, are used. However, a number of veterans suffering mentally from the war have found another answer. One of these, mentioned earlier, returned from Vietnam with serious post-traumatic stress disorders.
From the 1980 edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, an official publication of the American Psychiatric Association.
A team of American doctors evaluated the incidence of depression in a sample of Vietnam veterans who had returned from an average of over two years of combat. This study found that 33 percent of these men were clinically depressed. The usual prevalence of depression in the general population is 15 percent.
Studies done since World War I have not been consistent. In 1973 the Bureau of Prisons found that 32 percent of their inmates were vets. However, according to the Veterans Administration, 49 percent of American males between sixteen and sixty-five have served in the armed forces. Also, between 1963 and 1973 the homicide rate increased dramatically for both sexes. The rate for women, who were certainly not combat veterans, increased 59 percent
:marine: