Understanding Damage

Sooner or later, the mental and emotional damage all our veterans bring home affects our culture. You may not see it now, but I have been looking at it for nearly 30 years. You need to open your eyes. The damage is everywhere.

Some of it is evident…every generation of combat veterans constitutes a large percentage of the homeless. I find this is no surprise.

Sure, you see it, but do you “see” it?

They are searching for where they belong. We are all searching for this. But for them, there is no place. If they are lucky family is there when they come home. But, they may be too damaged to find any security at home. Some – many – will flee.

Some – many – will not be able to find peace and will take their own lives or try to. It is hard to see this much damage first hand. I have seen it. And, I have stopped suicide. I cannot possibly explain to you hard this was. I just want to try. That’s why I started this blog.

Write About What You Know

It’s a surprise to me that this is something I know. I am living with war, or rather, the sequellae of war. I decided that, maybe, if I wrote down what I have learned, it might be helpful.

I am the wife of someone with PTSD. I am a person in my own right, happy in my work. But, every day I watch my spouse, who has struggled for 40 years to approach normalcy, face his demons.

You cannot take 20 year olds, teach them to kill, and expect they will become civilized beings if they survive. By definition, you have disabled them.