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Concerned

Reading about the ever-increasing high number of veterans returning from military service suffering from physical, mental and emotional disabilities raises the question: Was it always so but our valiant servicemen of the past bore it all silently instead of seeking help from the government that sent them off to do battle in foreign lands? As the niece of a large number of World War II vets and friend of far too many Korean War and Vietnam vets, I saw so many signs that they also suffered anonymously all of their lives after doing their duty for our freedom. No wonder so many become addicted to alcohol, hard drugs, or other things when they come back home. How negatively their lives and those of their families were impacted by what happened to them during their patriotic service to our country! Every time I hear our illustrious elected officials who served promote efforts on behalf of veterans or speaking of things military and of military action, never having heard most of them speak of their own physical and mental and emotional damage from their military service, I wonder, "How would their hidden war-related problems affect their psychological abilities to properly make decisions on behalf of the electorate? Wouldn't they have a legitimate bias? How did their military service affect their judgment today?" I wonder mostly about those who don't appear to have suffered any such "damage"--how did they manage to avoid what happened to so many others? Do they then live with guilt because they were the lucky ones which can be as harmful as PTSD?

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Veterans

Speaking for the generation of Vets who dealt with the first Gulf War and came home to try and lead normal lives, I have to say we ALL still deal with some form of mental stresses from our time in the service. It is harder for some than for others to cope with and I truly hope any of my fellow vets that need help do in fact seek it out. Its never fun trying to cope with such things alone. As for our "leadership" for the most part they drink to excess and many have actually had the addiction issues you mention. They're human, just like everyone else. Should that bar them from running for office? I think not. I think that we NEED those types of people in charge because for the most part they actually understand the people better than someone who never served at all.

2012-07-03 | 18:07:49

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