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Originally Posted by Tiger815  Not to hijack the thread but, PTSD seems to me to be an epidemic these days. One has to wonder how the WWII generation was ever able to come home from their experience and lead the greatest wave of accomplishment in history, what with all their undiagnosed PTSD.
Apparently now over 70% of our troops being deployed to Iraq and Afganistan are coming home diagnosed with PTSD. While I don't discount the sacrfice todays soldiers are making, the fact is, statistically their chances of getting hurt or killed are very, very slim. Compare that to bomber crews in WWII, where statistically you're odds of surviving a full tour were very near zero and many, many units had over 100% casualties (in shear numbers, not that every original guy was wounded or killed). How is it that the vast majority of these guys were able to come home after enduring these conditions for YEARS, adjust and live long and prosperous lives, while today it seems a few months overseas (or one scary incident) with a very remote possibilty of being killed sets a person up for a lifetime disablity? I do believe there is such a thing a PTSD, but I also believe there is such a thing as "Job Security" for mental health "experts" and progress is being made on one front.
We now return to your regularly scheduled discussion. |
I hear you, but keep in mind that many veterans have been able to survive due to advances in medical technology (blood transfusions, prosthetics, etc.) that didn't in WWII. War has never been "pretty," but seeing your fellow soldiers without their limbs return to wife-less homes does not bode well on the psyche. Guerrilla tactics, something that was generally unheard of during WWII, makes the transition to normal street life harder. Going from fighting normally-clothed combatants on one city block to shopping with the kids on another is a lot different than trench warfare. Kind of like how flying with cynical pilots makes you cynical if you don't watch out. Downward comparison is a proven psychological phenomenon.