Combat PTSD In-fil-trator
by Chaplain Kathie
Wounded Times Blog
July 3, 2012
An
infiltrator according to Free Dictionary is "To penetrate with hostile intent" and "To gain entrance gradually or surreptitiously." along with "One that infiltrates, especially an abnormal substance that accumulates gradually in cells or body tissues." This sounds a lot like Combat PTSD. Doesn't it?
After all, it comes in, fills the thoughts, fuels the actions and betrays the character of the veteran.
We know that PTSD is much like an infection. When you get wounded, it opens you up to infection if the wound is not treated. The infection gets worse, eats away more tissue and invades the blood stream taking more and more of the body until it is either treated or the infected dies.
Did you know that the word "trauma" is Greek for "wound" and one of the reasons trauma was put into the term used to explain what happens to humans? Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is actually "after wound" but veterans were programmed to blame themselves for not being mentally tough enough to take the attack and fight it off.
Psychologists question Army resilience program many years after they should have been questioning it. I am not a psychologist but even I came out against it in 2008 simply because I paid attention and have enough knowledge of what combat PTSD was to know this was not a good thing to do.
Soon I was proven right when I held a Marine with full blown PTSD while he was crying in my arms, for the first time and heard him say that he was sorry for not training right. I said the word "Battlemind" and he cried harder.
Veterans say they drink so they can sleep at night and they talk themselves into believing that is true until someone points out that they are not falling asleep but are passing out instead. Then they admit that while they are passed out, their nightmares are even stronger. They wake up more drained, take their medications and then wonder why they are still feeling lousy. They talk themselves into blaming the medications instead of alcohol.
Then they blame their doctors for not listening to them when they won't tell them exactly what is going on including the fact they can't sleep unless they get drunk and pass out.
They say their doctors don't know what they are talking about, so they won't talk to them at all. While this is the case with far too many psychologists, most of the time the veteran won't tell the truth so they can understand them. No, this is not the case of them exaggerating but more of a case of them holding back.
Families are another issue. They push their families away at the same time they want their support. They give up on trying to explain why they act the way they do and then blame their families for not "understanding" and supporting them. They still want to drink or feel as if they have to no matter what else alcohol and drugs are doing to their own bodies or to their already fracturing relationship with their families.
A lot of psychologist are just as guilty in all of this because they are too lazy to learn what they have wrong. When the DOD came out with the "resiliency" approach to "preventing" Combat PTSD, they said it sounded good so they just did it. When the VA heard that so much money and time was invested in this, they did the same thing even though the numbers were proving it made things worse.
Over 4 years later, the number of suicides and attempted suicides committed by veterans depending on these departments increased but they had the nerve to wonder why the numbers were so bad at the same time they increased the push to depend on what was already failing.
Combat PTSD veterans need to know the truth beginning with why they have it and others don't but so far the DOD has not been able to tell them simply because after all this time and money, they don't know why. (I do, but the won't listen to me.)
Families need to know why their family member came back from their 5th tour but changed when all the other times they just got over it. The DOD won't tell them when they cannot even acknowledge their own research proving that repeated deployments increase the risk of PTSD by 50% or the fact their research also proved the need for dwell time. They ignore their own findings but what makes it even worse is they ignore the research they did 40 years ago when Vietnam Veterans fought for it.
Combat PTSD is an enemy invasion supported by what sounds good at the moment and funded into the pockets of "experts" without knowledge but a great PR campaign and politicians needing to "prove" they are doing something so they are willing to do anything that gets them a headline!
Do you blame any of these veterans for feeling as if digging a grave is less expensive than healing a life?
This is one of my videos from 2007 that you may want to watch if you want to know what we already knew back then. You'll be more disgusted with how we've treated veterans than ever before!
