Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Remember Those With Shattered Minds

This article points out that not everyone wounded in battle has visible injuries.

Memorial Day: Let Us Not Overlook Those Wounded in Spirit
The Washington Post: "Today the country is supposed to honor the fallen of all its wars. But 'fallen' is a word for inscriptions and oratory - it doesn't really convey what happens to those caught up in the ghastly business of warfare and subject to all the horrors inflicted by flying metal, high explosives and machines made for destruction. Nor does it quite encompass what happened to many of those who served day after day in constant danger and surrounded by death. They lost something in the country's wars - but not a limb or eyesight or the ability to walk or any essential physical capability. What was lost was a view of life as having meaning, order, security, purpose."


As a society, we are responsible for those who have expended their well-being for our sake, whether the result is damage to the body, mind, or spirit.
Tags: community, holiday, news
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  • 4 comments
browngirl

browngirl

May 26 2009, 14:33:02 UTC 12 years ago

This is a very good point.
_paegan_

_paegan_

May 26 2009, 17:07:28 UTC 12 years ago

I was always confused about why government militaries spend weeks/months training civilians to be soldiers, but no time re-training soldiers into civilians.

But that might be because I learned to "low-crawl" before I was four by a Vietnam Vet father in flash-backs.
ysabetwordsmith

Hmm...

ysabetwordsmith

May 26 2009, 18:08:11 UTC 12 years ago

My guess is that 1) they gain something from training civilians to be soldiers, but they don't gain anything from training soldiers to be civilians, and 2) they only thing they lose by NOT retraining outbound is some goodwill when messed-up ex-soldiers cause problems in the civilian world. The military is all about getting the job done, and retraining outbound doesn't help with that.

The rising rate of suicide is making the military pay more attention to mental health care, though, and they're also getting more pressure from outside. That helps some.
_paegan_

Re: Hmm...

_paegan_

May 26 2009, 18:45:37 UTC 12 years ago

My guess is the same, but I always thought that the "government" part of "government military" would want reasonably functioning civilians.

Of course, the real world has not led me to that conclusion. But that's how things are run on Planet Jen.