Nightline tonight (Wednesday) "Coming Home: Invisible Casualties"

[CoffeeCat]

COMING HOME: INVISIBLE CASUALTIES
December 15, 2004

We've all seen the images of joyful homecomings from the war in Iraq. The little girl running into the arms of her father who's back safely, the young couple kissing on the tarmac, awash with tears of happiness and relief. What we don't see in many of those homecomings are the deep psychological scars that are affecting, according to medical researchers, one in six American servicemembers. These are injuries that don't get much attention, partly because the injured so rarely talk about their problems. It's taboo. Tonight, an exclusive window into that world. You'll see American servicemen and servicewomen dealing with those hidden scars. Actually talking about them. It's painful and poignant. A unique portrait of what it's like to be at home, with a war living inside your mind.



Tonight, we begin a 3-program series on what war does to the mind. Here's a sample of what an American soldier, who's wife also served with him in Iraq, has been going through since the couple returned from Iraq:

She was a wreck. I mean...to see your wife laying on a bed, grabbing her ears and basically screaming out to make it stop or something like that, it does something to you. You know that there's nothing that you can do to make it go away and you just have to comfort her and try to realize that she's back in the states she's not in Baghdad anymore.

Simply put, the aftershock of having been in a war is a disease. It's called PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It can affect anyone who is involved in or sees horrible things happen to human beings. Firemen, rescue workers, policemen and women, all can suffer from this. Their work requires being thrown into violent scene after violent scene. They see people being injured and killed all the time. Soldiers and Marines experience the same thing, but in a war like Iraq, the effects are usually more severe as the experience is so intense - and long lasting. There's a euphoria, a high, that most soldiers and Marines experience in combat. It's exciting and terrifying. The stress of being a target or killing another human being is so intense that the experiences lodge deep in the mind. These experiences are lasting and can affect every person involved, whether they admit it or not.

In the military culture of the past, veterans didn't talk about the emotional problems that followed troops home. Even today, the usual way they deal with the stress is to share the stories of the battles with their own comrades- brothers and sisters-in-arms. The military culture has taken a long time to come to terms with the fact that the mental health aspect of war is something real and difficult. In the macho culture, bearing one's feelings has been viewed as a weakness. Troops tough through things. But now, the U.S. Military is starting to realize how important it is to deal with PTSD as a very real and serious health issue. After the Vietnam War, one in three veterans were diagnosed with PTSD. In the current war, that figure has decreased to one in six. Our special correspondent, John McWethy, who has covered the Pentagon and the US Military for many years, brings us a very unique portrait of the pain the returning soldiers are facing. In an exclusive series of interviews and coverage of group sessions, troops who are affected by these deep psychological problems talk about them in a very open and candid way. I think it's safe to say that these incredible stories rarely get heard anywhere outside of the therapy sessions. John McWethy and Nightline producer Richelle Rogers, visited For Polk, Louisiana to follow soldiers from the time they got off the plane upon their return from Iraq to months later when the servicemembers really started to deal with their problems. What you'll see is both compelling and important: a unique window into the invisible casualties of this war.

I hope you'll join for the broadcast tonight, Thursday and Friday

Madhulika Sikka & The Nightline Staff
ABC News
Washington Bureau

[Mountainman]

1. "with a war living inside your mind" It never goes away, ever .

And you never want to talk much about it either.

[medeak]

2. or wave a flag I presume n/t

[olacan]

3. How did

all the service men and women survive the second world war?

[peacebird]

4. please. society didn't speak openly of this back then.

i would imagine many fighters suffered then as well.

but olacan, your statement sounds like you are damning vets from vietnam clean thru the current vets from Iraq... it sounds like you are calling them all charlatans, fakers, weaklings, or cowards.

[medeak]

uncle didn't

came home very disturbed..divorced and became alcoholic and lived alone

edited to say he was discharged with some "mental" issue... military admitted he had ... what did they call it back then.. battlefield fatigue?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. Yes, I think it was called battlefield fatigue.

My great-uncle didn't do well. He left his fiancé and moved in with my grandmother, he never again lived on his own or had a substantial relationship with another person. He drank excessively and finally died of liver failure.

[Hieronymus]

10. Many didn't survive WWII............

it was called "shell shocked", at that time. Many were hospitalized for it.:think:

[MidwestTransplant]

5. Traitors. I hope Sinclair boycotts this heresy.

[w4rma]

7. Don't forget that nearly ALL Iraqis are being subjected to this, also.(nt)

[Cooley Hurd]

8. This is why "War is ONLY a last resort!"

The lives adversely affected by war and warfare extend far beyond the battlefield. A fucktard fratboy like Bush wouldn't know this, since he's been sheltered and coddled his ENTIRE life!:grr:

[luaneryder]

9. Had a uncle who survived

the Bataan death march. He came home to physically and mentally abuse his 8 children, but he never mentioned the death march until a year before his death (last Jan). Unfortunately, a stubborn stoic streak (for better or worse) runs in my family and I'm surprised he ever said anything at all. War is horror, pure & terrifying horror.

[NashVegas]

11. Locking

this is a program promotion, not a news story. When ABC news puts story text up, feel free to repost - and don't forget to include a link. thanks.