War fighters justified even when reason for war was not

War fighters justified even when reason for war was not
De-tour Combat PTSD Survivor's Guide
Kathie Costos
July 28, 2013

When humans do something unselfish, end up suffering for it afterwards, we tend to forget why we even tried. We may try to save a life but if they die, we blame ourselves for missing something we should have done. When we try to stop someone from committing suicide, it is even worse. We keep torturing ourselves believing we failed them. We can't see how many other factors contributed to the anguish that made them want to leave.

Doing something for a good reason with a bad outcome eats away at our core. Believe me, I know how that feels. When we act on what our heart tells us to do, end up feeling used and betrayed, we think it is our fault and the next time, we are not so willing to even try again.

For the men and women in the military it is even worse. They have a good reason to want to go into the military. Sometimes it is because someone they admire in their family served. Sometimes it is because they never thought of doing anything else. It is a good reason to want to serve the country and an even better reason when they want to save the lives of others.

Lately there has been a lot of talk about the "moral injury" veterans must face to heal Combat PTSD. Like many before them, the reason they were sent pushes the reason they wanted to serve into the fog of war. This fog goes far beyond the battlefield. It makes it very hard to focus on the beginning when the end brought so much pain.
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Defining The Deep Pain PTSD Doesn't Capture

It is ridiculous how some researchers think testing rats and killing them to study their brains will even come close to what PTSD does to humans. After all is said and done, they have no way of knowing what other emotions and memories will be altered. Above that, they ignore the human spirit. Some researchers have failed to begin to understand the complexities of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They lump all PTSD cases together. Great researchers understood a long time ago, PTSD varies from different causes, number of exposures and length of time they were in fear of dying. There is also the factor of doing a job. First responders, law enforcement, fire figting and combat.

Defining The Deep Pain PTSD Doesn't Capture
WBUR
By Martha Bebinger
June 24, 2013

BOSTON — An estimated 22 veterans kill themselves in the U.S. each day. And suicide among men and women on active duty hit a record high last year — 349. As veterans and researchers try to figure out why, there’s growing interest in a condition known as “moral injury,” or wounds to a veteran’s spirit or soul from events that “transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.”

The concept has helped former Marine Corps Capt. Tyler Boudreau understand years of pain that medication and therapy for PTSD didn’t address. He tells his story, somewhat reluctantly, from the living room of his blue clapboard home in Northampton, Mass.

‘This Is What Occupation Looks Like’

Boudreau arrived in Iraq in the March of 2004 at the age of 33 shortly before four American contractors were killed in Fallujah. His unit moved into position for a planned assault on the city.

“We were always getting shelled, constant rocket and mortar attacks,” Boudreau explained. “An IED, the roadside bomb, blew up right next to my vehicle and I was involved in some firefight that was pretty, you know, pretty intense.”

The constant shelling wore on Boudreau. But the daily duties of war, what he did to Iraqis, also took a toll on him.

“It’s like this accumulation of presence and searching and patrolling and detaining people who, maybe they’re guilty, maybe they’re not,” Boudreau said, his voice building. “Bringing them back and putting them in locked rooms or in cages or putting bags over their heads and flex cuffs on the hands and all of these things that we do, day after day after day. This is what occupation looks like. Searching this house, searching that house, patrolling through the neighborhoods, questioning people.”

Boudreau has thought a lot about one evening when, as darkness fell, dozens of Marines pulled up to a farm house, ordered the family outside, swept their home and found nothing.
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Wounded Times Blog • a few seconds ago This was understood back in 1984 when Point Man International Ministries began working with Vietnam Veterans. Bill Landreth, a Seattle police officer didn't want to keep arresting Vietnam veterans. He started Point Man and Chuck Dean, noted author and Vietnam veteran, took the idea further. Today Point Man is still taking care of the spiritual wound, or as Shay put it, the "moral injury" because that is exactly what this is. I am Coordinator for the State of Florida among other things because this works.

Jonathan Shay was not the first psychiatrist to talk about the connection between veterans and type of PTSD they suffer with but he is fact among the best.

Combat used to be hand-to-hand, face to face and it was brutal. While they did not have term for it back in Biblical times, it has been recored throughout the Bible. All one need do is read Psalms to discover how deeply they were changed by what they had to do.

Now there is not just the violence of bullets but the bombs planted in roads that causes a psychological wound as much as a physical one. These weapons have more than the purpose of killing, more than maiming, they are designed to cause fear that with every step there could be another one.

Soldiers see opponents die, but they also see civilians die along with their friends. They see them maimed. Then they take all that pain upon themselves. These people are unique because they were willing to die for the sake of someone else but they forget that when PTSD has invaded their soul. They believe they have become an evil creature failing to understand that had they been evil, they would not feel so much pain.

There is so much they do not understand but if they learn from people like Jonathan Shay and Point Man, they are much closer to the day when they are living better lives and healing from where they were sent.

When Soldiers Betray Their Sense Of Right And Wrong

‘Moral Injury’: When Soldiers Betray Their Sense Of Right And Wrong
WBUR
By Martha Bebinger, Samara Freemark and Jeff Severns Guntzel
Illustration and layout by Andy Warner
June 21, 2013

Veterans who have been a part of something that betrays their sense of right and wrong often find themselves grappling with what researchers are only now beginning to understand – something that PTSD doesn’t quite capture. They call it “moral injury.” It’s not a diagnosis, but an explanation for many veterans’ emotional responses to their experiences of war.
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Real video footage of a wounded Marine in Iraq

When you think about Combat and PTSD being called the "moral injury" you need to take away one important point about it. It is because they love and care so much that they carry that deeper level of pain. Why? Because what makes them able to put the lives of someone else ahead of their own, willing to die for the sake of someone else, that comes from an incredible strength within them. That same ability is also what makes them grieve so much.

I was reading this news report and there was a link to the video below. It is not pleasant but I urge you to watch it. What the way they care for the their wounded "brother" and while they do that, others guard the group. This is what they do. The reasons they do it may seem unnatural to the rest of the population but it has been recorded throughout history.

Compassion remains within them and that is a testament to their character. Do not confuse compassion with the lack of courage because military service requires both. They have to be able to care in the first place and then be courageous enough to face whatever we send them to do. After all these years of helping them they are a magnificent example of true unselfishness.

PTSD plagues many military members, but help is available
KSDK.com
May 3, 2013
By Art Holliday

ST. LOUIS (KSDK) - Three Vietnam veterans try to explain the unexplainable, how something that happened 40 years ago causes so much anguish today.

"In terms of veterans, it's a war wound. It's permanent. It never goes away," said psychiatrist Dr. Jay Liss.

"You can't unsee something you've seen and you can't unhear something you've heard and you can't unsmell the ungodly smells of war," said Bob Thompson.

"There's no medication to help you to forget. You never ever forget," said Albert Boyd.

The Department of Veterans Affairs questionnaire for diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder has 31 symptoms, including: depression, anxiety, panic attacks, chronic sleep impairment, memory loss, impaired thinking, difficulty adapting to stressful situations.

Post-traumatic stress disorder can occur following a life-threatening event like military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or violent personal assaults like rape. Most survivors of trauma return to normal given a little time. However, some people have stress reactions that don't go away on their own, or may even get worse over time.
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