Since I have been reading all of these war stories it has gotten me thinking about all the difficulties soldiers face when coming back home from the war. It must be really hard to adjust to not having to wake up in such a hostile environment and fight for your life. Everyday a soldier overseas dreams about coming back home one day and it is almost cruel that something as glorious as returning home to your family can come with all of these problems.
One of the most common things soldiers suffer from when they come home is PTSD, which stands for post traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is a mental disorder that people have after they have experienced traumatic events. When a soldier struggles with PTSD he/she usually have episodes where they recall specific events that happened while they were in combat.These episodes can happen if the person does something as simple as dream or even just close their eyes. Soldiers that come back wounded are very commonly known to get PTSD because of their injury.Also hallucinations are common occurrencies.
It is because of this disorder that I feel coming home for soldiers isn't the happiest time of their lives. It is supposed to be a wonderful time that they can safely have with family and friends. Instead, it becomes some of the worst years of their life. I really have alot of respect for the men and women who have served for this country and I believe that it is a shame that when they come home they still have to feel and experience the terrors of war.
I wrote about pretty much the same thing. It is definitely sad to think that the soldiers that were lucky enough to make it out of the alive aren't fully "alive". They have seen such gruesome things during war that they will never be the same.
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ReplyDeleteI think that it is more than "sad" that the men and women that choose to defend our country have such a hard time upon their return, I find it heartbreaking. However, the thing that really breaks my heart is the fact that even though we see PTSD as a war injury, they don't. Most soldiers that suffer from PTSD choose to suffer in silence because it isn't a physical wound. I have experienced what PTSD can do to not only the person with the illness but also the people around them first hand. If there is anything that that experience has taught me, its that our soldiers should have our full love and support.
ReplyDeleteI feel for the men and women who come back with PTSD. They expect to come home to feel joy and love wanting to forget about the trauma of the war, but instead come home to the opposite reliving the war almost everyday. My dad's in the air force and had to go overseas but not to fight in the war. I don't know if I would be able to handle my dad going through something like that. I have a lot of respect for the families that stick around to love and support the soldiers with this disorder. During this time they need us most to help them overcome such a trying time,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. Coming home is a plus for them but having to bring back all the bad memories of war is definitely not a plus. I do not even have family members overseas but I know I could not handle the situation knowing that someone so dear to me could be killed any moment. I also respect those families who are still there for their soldiers even though it is hard to handle sometimes.
DeleteMy blog post was similar to this in that I used "returning home" as a sub-topic. It is an easy topic to discuss because there are so many possibilities of things that can happen to a soldier that is returning home. PTSD is a relevant and probably the most prominent aspect of how war changes a soldier after he is home.
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