This says more about our country than the war

I read that article earlier, and I'm not sure yet how I feel about it.

What do you think it says about our country?
 
It means there are places where you can't expect to safely walk the streets.

That's not to say war doesn't affect an individual.

My partner at work served in the first Gulf War and joined the National Guard after 9/11. He's married and has two young daughters.

He served in Iraq for about a year and half. He was trained as a tank driver but in Iraq they patrolled on foot. He was a non-commissioned officer.

A fellow NCO killed himself before him.Apparently they check in their ammo after a patrol. The NCOs check their men. But they didn't check one another. As they are cleaning their weapons in a tent, one NCO says to another, "Hey, your weapon's hot." (meaning "loaded") The man promptly pulls his pistol out and shoots himself in front of them.

The NCO had recieved a "DearJohn" letter from his spouse.

A couple of times I have complained about something minor our boss had said and he, jokingly, asks, "Do you want me to kill him? Because I can, you know?

Another time he said something about "Iraqis." I volunteered I had only ever met one. He immediately clarified he was talking about insurgents.

Nice guy. Great family. Hopes he keeps it together.
 
I don't think he was being a blowhard. I think it was his way of saying it was something minor not worth worrying over.
 
I'm still confused about what it says about our country.
 
I think that sentence would work better verbally - I read it as meaning that the story just isn't a very good indicator of the effects Iraq II has on our soldiers. He's downplaying it by saying this story just goes to show how dangerous parts of America really are.

IMO, this story just shows that if a person is even slightly unstable, going to war isn't the best thing for them. To that, my response would be, "no ****."
 
Tens of thousands. get that? Tens of thousands of our combat troops will suffer from symptoms of PTSD which tends to be chronic and not very curable with therapy and/or medication.

I was at a family wedding recently and talked to a Marine who served in the first Gulf War. His son is a US Marine and had just come back from a tour in Iraq to get married. He was telling us funny stories about camel spiders and such but I had a feeling there was more to his son's experience. A bit later during the first night out, he told me about how his son's buddy was shot in the neck and killed by a sniper as his buddy stood right next to him lighting a cigarette after dark. Then he told me about how his newly wed son is unable to sit still in a car during a red light.


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austex - Foot in the mouth disease is no excuse for you to change the subject from what you stepped in. How about you do some research on PTSD rates in Iraq/Afg and get back to us.

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Is it an indictment of our country or an indictment of war? I'm going off of the original post and I read the OP to be claiming such a story is an indictment of our country, not war as you did. What are you changing the subject to? Numbers that I mentioned which were a mere sidenote in this discussion? Odd fight you chose to pick.

I am not an expert on shellshock or PTSD, but it sounds like you are, as you are on a wide array of subjects evidently. Please, educate us with your wisdom because I'm not real good at completing homework assignments I receive from some guy on the internet.
 
Guess we shouldn't let Vets have a right to bear arms...or so the story suggests. Hey, go figure, a bill has already been passed that will facilitate that very thing.

Chalk up another large segment of the population who are having their Rights threatened.
 
It doesn't say anything about our country, except that we are going to start paying a very dear price for this war. Thousands of veterans suffering from various mental and physical conditions will be coming home to try to reintegrate with civilian life in their communities and some will not be able to live normal lives.
War is hell, and should only be considered as a last resort.
This is one of the main reasons war should not be an option unless absolutely necessary, i.e. Pearl Harbor. There is a toll on society far beyond the war zone.
We are still living with this toll from Viet Nam.
Training a lot of people to settle disputes with guns and then returning them to their communities is bound to produce big problems on down the line.
 
So you talked to a guy at a wedding and I ventured an uneducated guess at a figure of PTSD cases and you whip out a BS detector on me?

If you haven't read my PM to you, you should.
 
Tough story to read. Feel bad for the guy.

I think its simple and has nothing to do with our country as much as its just human nature. We train kids to be killers and that is what they turn out to be. We also throw them in war where their basic reality of society is taken from them, so they get a bit mental, at least thats what people can say.

Its war and we have to come to grips with what it can do to people. This story, and many like them, are often overlooked in the price we pay.
 
Since both triple and Anastasis are too humbled to say it, I'll say it for 'em.

austintexas, triplehorn is a treating psychiatrist...he actually IS an expert in PTSD as well as numerous other mental health disorders.

Anastasis is finishing his Ph.D. in pharmacology.

The reason that it's funny is that you stepped right in and got your own **** all over you. Even funnier is that you kept digging. And...in your last post...then you simply dove in the big pool of **** you created and dug, AND then sent him a PM...a PM than one can only conclude is meant to ridicule or ask triple to prove his expertise

Carry on.
 
Good for him. If you'll look at my post, I claim nothing but awareness that PTSD is a serious problem. But triplehorn being the type of person he/she is, decided to pick a fight. Nothing new.

When the discussion moves into my area of expertise, I do my best not to sound like a condescending, arrogant jerk when posters cite figures that are incorrect. A simple correction of the figures would have done nicely for all. triplehorn's reaction is the perfect example of the type of behavior so many hate about the WM.

I just looked and I don't have **** on my feet. Just another day dealing with triplehorn, who is now an expert in the U.S. Navy's conspiracy to begin a war with Iran, with help from the Republicans, of course.

KE, go away. You have no idea what I PM'd him.
 
KE, sorry I left you out. Your entire first post on this thread also nicely illustrates the ugliness that infects this board too. A contribution that had nothing to do with the OP with a singular intent on insulting another poster. Well done.
 
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