Kudos to CDR Salamander for sharing a letter from Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll in preparation for the holiday season. Mr. Driscoll addresses a long-standing problem, and offers hope. Click the image below for a larger, more readable view.
I had some experience of that sort of stress during my own military service, decades ago. Back in 2011, I wrote in these pages about a friend.
I remember Gavin, who was a member of a patrol that found a baby, too young to walk, sitting in the middle of a dirt road in a township, crying. As the point man and a couple of others walked up to see why the baby was just sitting there, the terrorists waiting in ambush blew up the landmine they'd buried beneath her, killing the point man and savagely mutilating the other two soldiers. Bits of flesh and blood from the soldiers, and the baby, splattered all over Gavin . . . across his face . . . in his eyes, nose and mouth.
For years, Gavin would start awake in the small hours at night, a scream of horror on his lips. "They blew up a baby! A baby!" Gavin's wife eventually left him, because she couldn't handle the strain of living with his nightmares. Psychiatric treatment couldn't break the cycle; nor could alcohol, or drugs (legal and illegal). Gavin took his own life at last, too tormented by what he'd seen to endure any longer, in the small hours every night, the parade of images across his closed eyelids. He was a hero in my book . . . and I'll always remember him as such.
There's more at the link.
There are too many like Gavin who never receive the help they need - not just combat stress and trauma, but the quiet accumulation of too many incidents, too much angst, too few friends. I hope Secretary Driscoll's letter will help to reach them before it's too late.
Peter
As a retired vet myself I say Well said and well-timed, Peter. Indeed, As someone who spent months at sea, I can say that just the separation from loved ones can send some people over the edge. And remember, it's not only the military that may need help at this time of year. Depression is known as "the common cold of mental illness" because so many people are affected by it, and it seems to peak at around Christmastime. Folks, you know who these people are. The ones that just seem "a little off" right about now. Check on them. I'm a ham operator. If Joe is on the air every day at noon and all of a sudden stops checking in, someone goes and checks on Joe personally, or calls someone who can. It may be nothing; a bad antenna. It may be EVERYTHING; Joe lying on the floor for two days with a broken hip. That's how it goes in ham world. If you ARE one of those people, reach out even if you feel hopeless. I've been there. It weighed me down for YEARS. I know how dark it feels. There IS a way out though. You WILL find it. The exit from the dungeon is different for everyone, but you WILL find it. Once you've escaped once, you'll know how to escape again.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you all this Christmas season.
Tom MacGyver
One must wonder at how a scene which would drive a normal person to suicide is considered an acceptable, viable tactic by another group of "people". The only logical conclusion is these are not actually people and not deserving of being granted that status. Instead they are pure distilled evil and the only rational, proper response to their existence is extermination. It's not possible to coexist with this level of pure evil and it's insane to even attempt it.
ReplyDeleteI cannot be 100% certain but in three different instances there is evidence that I was the last person on earth they spoke with.
ReplyDeleteFor years I had tried to find understanding of why. The only lasting conclusion is that suicide is the work of satan. I really mean that. It's the only explanation of why a well adjusted successful hadsome popular easy going man would do that. None of the three seemed themselves. They seemed like someone else in those last moments.
Fight, be strong and of good courage, do not believe death even when it is called a better way. The man size emptiness left in so many people is not worth it.
When feeling puny and alone, it is you under attack. Know there are more people who need you more than you think. You are fabulously loved. You are not alone.
Take a deep breath and know the sacred blessing of life. Please.
The US Navy has a history of (at best) indifferent treatment of sailors in distress. That changed after Afghanistan and I was shocked. My son-in-law interrogated prisoners of war at Baghram. He came back in very bad shape. The Navy stepped up to the plate 100% and helped him. I was shocked, but I saw what happened. I'm not saying that PTSD is no longer an issue for him, but he's living his best life and I give big credit to the Navy.
ReplyDeleteI saw what PTSD did to a brother-in-law. He was a "tunnel rat" in Vietnam. The worst part was his exposure to Agent Orange which is what finally degraded his body so bad that it took his life.
ReplyDeleteLong overdue, and well said.
ReplyDeleteThe Navy does a few things right. Knew an EM from a carrier that had fellow PO ground himself while working on a high voltage circuit. Before his remains could be hosed off the deck ol' boy was on a P3 headed for Navy Hospital. Do Not Pass Go, straight to the Psych deck for assessment and stand down. Shocked the heck out of me; in Big Green we'd have been lucky to get at chance to wiped the goo off our boots. Might be why we were have weekly Chaplain's calls when some offed themselves. Guess the Navy worries more about a crack up damaging one of their expensive boats than the Army does about trashing a tent. Different strokes right?
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