Maj. Chris Faris talked about was the affect that war had on his and his daughter’s relationship. The talk he had with his daughter allowed him to see the pain and hurt that comes from him being away at performing his military duty. His daughter, now 118 years old, reminded him of the last time he was home for her birthday, which at that time she was 10 years old. Each time he was only home for 2 months at a time; this made it difficult for him to have a positive relationship with his wife and children.
More than 5,000 families in the United States, have sedulous relative fighting for our country’s freedom. Many of those families have not the slightest idea of what war is like, and all of its physical and mental effects. The author uses descriptive words to take the reader on a mental voyage. The soldier keeps a conversationalist tone and uses rhetorical strategies such as imagery and rhetorical questions to show how miserable he is living. The e-mail begins with the solider mentally describing your living area; he describes it like a million dust particles that are glued to you.
Weiner introduces a duality between caring for others or oneself to depict a stressful situation that influences Allison’s thoughts. Allison Weiss bears a sensitive child, a disconnected husband, a dependent mother, and a sickly father. Along with caring for her child and maintaining a genuine relationship with her husband, Allison feels responsible for her parents’ welfare, from getting her “parents’ house on the market” (177) to filling out mandatory paperwork the “long-term care required” (177) to creating a “long-term plan” (177) for her mom. The workload causes a mental strain that produces anxiety and degrading thoughts, driving Allison to believe she is an unworthy mother, wife, and daughter. In order to manage these taxing obligations
Lt. Eric Strom served active duty in the United States Marine Corps for five years. In 2009, he received his master’s in social work. A year later, he became a behavioral health officer with the Minnesota Army National Guard. Presently specializing in trauma with veterans, he now works in private practice in Northern Minnesota.
More than half a million service members face mental health challenges during and after war. During war, soldiers are exposed to many different traumatic events that raise the chances of facing mental health challenges. The most common mental health problems soldiers are more likely to carry with them after war is PTSD, depression, alcohol addiction, and anxiety. In the book, “The Things They Carried,” written by Tim O’Brien, characters carried things that are both literal and figurative. While the soldiers carry heavy physical items, they also carry mental, emotional, and physical baggage.
In Soldier from the War Returning, Thomas Childers writes that “a curious silence lingers over what for many was the last great battle of the war.” This final battle was the soldier’s return home. After World War II, veterans came back to the United States and struggled with stigmatized mental illnesses as well as financial and social issues. During the war, many soldiers struggled with mental health issues that persisted after they came home.
“The court, like more than 50 others created during the past three years across the nation, specializes in working with troubled veterans to get them counseling, link them to government benefits, help them regain a sense of discipline and camaraderie they had in uniform, and steer them onto a more positive course in life.” said William H. McMichael in his article, “Special Courts Help Vets Regain Discipline”. In McMichael’s article he follows two veterans who were in Russell 's’ Vet Court program. One veteran John Clum was deployed twice, both instances in very dangerous zones with multiple fatalities of close friends. Once back home, Clum faced many demons without help. He began to depend on alcohol, which led to his two DUI’s that landed him in jail where he tried to commit suicide.
Mike Haynie takes a stand on how veterans are portrayed to the public through the media. Being a veteran himself, he is well aware of how the media’s reports are focused on displaying the negative side of veterans. Cases like Itzcoatl Ocampo’s, paint veterans to the public as being violent. Awareness on this issue has been raised before. In 1999, President Bill Clinton held a conference to shed light on mental illness and the stigma that surrounds it.
Many suffer from diseases like Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). In fact, according to the American Psychological Association, around ⅔ of all Homeless Veterans suffer from PTSS, PTSD, or CTE (DeAngelis 1). While others suffer from depression and chronic pain from injuries sustained while at war. There are ways to treat these diseases and injuries, but sometimes Veterans have trouble reaching out for help. Often times, many Veterans, especially those that are Homeless, are very introverted which makes it difficult for them to talk about their problems.
In The Help, Miss Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan takes many risks and has to make some very hard decisions that could seriously affect people other than herself. Throughout the story, Hilly Holbrook is extremely rude and difficult to handle. Being put in Skeeter's shoes, I definitely wouldn't have been friends with Hilly for as long as she was. I feel as though Skeeter was guilted into being ¨friends¨ with her because they grew up together.
In Jane Brody’s alarming article, “War Wounds That Time Alone Can’t Heal” Brody describes the intense and devastating pain some soldiers go through on a daily basis. These soldiers come home from a tragic time during war or, have vivid memories of unimaginable sufferings they began to experience in the battle field. As a result these soldiers suffer from, “emotional agony and self-destructive aftermath of moral injury…” (Brody). Moral injury has caused much emotional and physical pain for men and women from the war.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in The Things They Carried During the turbulent times of the Vietnam War, thousands of young men entered the warzone and came face-to-face with unimaginable scenes of death, destruction, and turmoil. While some perished in the dense Asian jungles, others returned to American soil and were forced to confront their lingering combat trauma. Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried provides distinct instances of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and reveals the psychological trauma felt by soldiers in the Vietnam War. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD for short, is the most common mental illness affecting soldiers both on and off the battlefield.
Another issue that veterans struggle with when they come back from war is mental illnesses like PTSD. According to “bringing the war back home”, “Of 103 788 OEF/OIF veterans seen at VA health care facilities, 25 658 (25%) received mental health diagnosis(es)”. This disabilities can make getting into the workforce much more difficult and even leave veterans to live on the streets from lack of employment. The solution discovered from this research is that if these mental diseases are caught early enough, the veterans will receive the help they need and be able to continue their normal civilian lives. “Targeted early detection and intervention beginning in primary care settings are needed to prevent chronic mental illness and
Nearly 20 percent of 30,000 suicides are attributed to veterans each year (Cesar, Sabia & Tekin, 2012). This number represents a substantial number of military personnel suffering with mental health problems. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (2011) PTSD impairs one’s ability to function in social or family life, which includes instability, marital problems, divorce, family conflict, and difficulty in parenting (p. 3). PTSD causes much impairment and has many contributing factors; for that reason, it is important to discuss the quality of services available to
Soldiers train rigorously, preparing for the departure of war. They sacrifice all that they have to fight for their country. As they return after the war, they are left with painful experiences and traumatizing memories, suffering from their inevitable conditions. However, the spouse, families and children back at home are suffering even more than soldiers.
