Yet again today, I saw another episode of a show which depicts a veteran with post-traumatic stress syndrome going wacky. Worse, the show investigated the possibility that his stress was the result of some illegal government experiments. Fortunately, by the end of the show, the government turned out to be innocent. But, at the end of the show, it was yet another show about explosive PTSD soldiers. It reminded me that after the Viet-Nam conflict there were some movies and shows of that type.
At the same time, it must be admitted that PTSD is a problem. Afghanistan is now the longest conflict in which the USA has ever been militarily involved. (No, it is not legally a war since the Congress never declared war.) Because we have National Guard people rotating through every couple of years, the stress on those families is incredible. National Guard people do not normally sign up for regular service, but for service in case of emergency and great national need. Many National Guard troops answered their country’s call after 9/11 and went freely to Afghanistan (and then Iraq). But, they were not expecting to keep going and going and going like the Energizer Bunny™. The damage to the careers of many of them has been well documented, since employers are loath to promote people to key positions if they are regularly going to lose them. Moreover, the toll on those who own their own business has been incredible, with many business failures also documented. All this adds to the stress which a member of our Armed Forces feels when separated from family and friends, and put in harm’s way.
Sadly, neither the previous Republican Congress nor the current Democratic Congress have voted for the obvious solution, which is to increase the size of the Armed Forces of the United States of America until such a time as the conflict(s) are finished. And, they have not done so because to do so would indeed clearly necessitate either a raise in taxes or the cutting of parts of the Federal budget. So, our gutless wonders, both Republican and Democrat, have taken the easier way out, figuring that they can keep using the National Guard regardless of the emotional damage to individuals. And, both Republicans and Democrats have easily agreed to running a deficit on the Armed Forces as something that they label a temporary emergency need. The fact that the “temporary” has now become the longest conflict in USA history seems to pass right by our Congresspeoples’ sight.
And so, we end up with people (National Guardsmen) placed under a greater stress than those who serve in the regular Armed Forces. And we suffer under successive Congresses, both Republican and Democrat, who are still talking about a “conflict” and not legally admitting that this is a war, and who are still willing to sacrifice a few so that they will not have to make the difficult decision between “guns and butter.”
Regardless of who gets elected or re-elected in a couple of weeks, I doubt that there will be any change in this policy. And so, cases of PTSD will continue to increase faster than they ought to thanks to our political parties. May Our Lord protect our young men and women from caving to the stresses they must undergo.
Excellent article Fr., thank you for highlighting this problem. Especially in the context of congress.
Due to the research on PTSD, we know some ways to decrease the incidence of this syndrome. Unfortunately, the political structure has not made it possible for those preventive measures to be implemented as they should be. Repeated deployments of citizen soldiers who have not had the intensive training and do not have the supportive facilities in place for families and livelihood that career military have does nothing but increase the incidence. Even with the support in place, the career soldier who is being deployed and deployed and deployed is increasingly vulnerable.
If a congressman had to be deployed with each brigade and serve in the war zone with the troops for the entire deployment, this nonsense would stop quick, fast and in a hurry.
Alix