US Marine: "You have to become a psycho to kill like we do. . . . "

[leftchick]

http://electroniciraq.net/news/1765.shtml

~snip~

How will they go back home?

Evan Wright, a journalist who was embedded with Marines during the 2003 invasion, recently interviewed a Marine who testified, "We are a subculture that created and programmed to fight their wars. You have to become a psycho to kill like we do. . . . If the American public doesn't like the violence of war, maybe before they start the next war they shouldn't rush so much" (Village Voice 24, November 30, 2004).

According to a study conducted last year by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 16 percent of Marines and 17 percent of Army soldiers showed symptoms of depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from Iraq. Those figures are probably deceptively low due to the shame connected with reporting a psychological illness. Other soldiers experience increased rates of marital discord, high-risk behavior, and suicide attempts--all needing attention from a veterans' healthcare system that has received no new funding since the Iraq war began.

[teryang]

1. That's why it's called DELAYED post traumatic stress disorder

Because the symptoms don't show up clinically until a substantial time after the exposure to combat stressors. This is why the 16 percent estimate is way off. It isn't shame, it's survival guilt. That is the guilt of still being alive after combat while others died.

[Soopercali]

2. Wrong.

PTSD is more strongly correlated with having KILLED than with survival guilt.

[KayLaw]

3. It's really awful

I worked at several restaurants in Miami, and met many Vietnam vets who lived in group homes and were barely able to work at all. I guess the people who ran these homes helped them find jobs as dishwashers, etcetera.

Some were so mentally disturbed, you wouldn't believe it. One was addicted to methadone and kept falling asleep on the job, another might begin loud ranting at anytime. These were actually decent, but very damaged guys.

[Disturbed]

4. Our trained killers...

sometimes cannot adjust to coming back.

Does the Bush Junta care about the grunts whether on duty, in hospital or back home?

[leftchick]

5. kick...

:kick: