war comes home

[Kevin]

After seeing a bit of the military firsthand last year at Basic, I feel nothing but sympathy for the 4th. They were put in hell's mouth and came back pretty scorched. It appears so far that the stigma about seeing a shrink is in full effect as well as the usual military bravado approach to such matters.

Agreed. I served 8 years in the National Guard I did not see any combat fortunately, but I got a lot of first hand with that. My father was a marine in Vietnam, he and my oldest brother were in Desert Storm. I've got uncles and cousins that are active duty, I had 2 grandfathers who served in WWII and Korea who saw combat. My Dad and brother saw the periphery of combat in Desert Storm. My dad saw combat in nam.

They have all been in counseling but the stigma is there as you say, and it doesn't always help. I had a coworker here at the university who saw combat in Nam and desert storm, he was pretty much fine for years, great guy to be around, until he went to help with clean-up after Katrina and that made him snap. It's very difficult.

They can do stuff for PTSD (actually some of the tips and tricks for that have been very helpful for me with some of the stuff I've been dealing with) but it's very tricky.

I am hopeful that the government is doing more for these folks as you mention there is stuff in the works that will help. But there isn't a simple solution and not every solution works for every person either. It's a very individual affliction.