Tuesday, Jul. 14, 2009

Our duty is to help

A few days ago I read a moving letter from a mother that was published in Army magazine.

For several years the magazine has included a section of letters and messages on aspects of company level command.

I don’t often read that section of the magazine, but I’m very glad I did this time. A soldier’s mother wrote to Army magazine about her son’s struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Most people probably don’t give PTSD much thought unless they have a family member or close friend in military service.

Nonetheless, I think we ought to take a moment to consider the impact this is having and will have on our nation and the young people who are now enduring the savagery of war.

Psychological issues

PTSD is not new, even though we hear it talked about more now than I heard in years gone by or than I heard my parents’ generation talk about.

Nonetheless, whether referring to battle fatigue or being shell-shocked, soldiers being affected by the horrors of war is not a new phenomenon. Soldiers often avoid treatment for psychological problems because they fear being labeled as a coward, or not being a real man, or not being tough enough to endure the unendurable.

That’s unfortunate because the effect is real. The responses to this mother’s plea for help made it clear that PTSD affects soldiers of all ranks and skill levels in the wartime environment they face today.

My war was easy compared to the dangers soldiers undergo in Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m not a psychologist and freely admit that, but I think the stress of the hidden danger from improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers now has a different mental effect.

When the enemy is clearly marked and the battlefield is structured, the danger remains very real but at least the location of the threat is generally known. I think the uncertainty of fighting an enemy who dresses like noncombatants and obeys no rules of war places a strain on our soldiers of all skills that as a nation we really do not understand.

Add to that the repetitive tours that many soldiers have faced where they rotate into combat for 12 to 15 months then come home for a year and then go back for another tour. This has to take a toll on soldiers’ minds.

Face the impact

This is on my mind because of that issue of Army magazine. But we need to be ready to face the impact as we care for those young men and women — and some not so young men and women — who are risking their lives daily for us.

We need to understand their difficulty in adjusting and also be ready just to talk if that’s what they want.

As citizens we had better be sure to fund military and veteran health care to be ready to treat soldiers and help them and their families manage the impact of the environment where many are spending a substantial part of their youth. Our duty is at least to help where we can.