The Forever War of the Mind

(10:00PM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

No one is trying to find excuses nor defend what the Major did at Ft Hood to his fellow soldiers, but what he was doing for his service career, whether it helped push him over the edge or not, is of major concern for what this country faces for it’s support of it’s extremely failed policies.  

I have been trying to follow any facts, and not the rantings from the extremist within, but facts, of this tragic event. And the more I find the more it looks like one huge failed Military Cluster F**k again, joining the many we already know about, of these present times, and those of our time as we served and returned from Vietnam and the years after. Like why he was even transfered to Hood, why was he promoted, why the Army seemed not to be listening to him as he had to get a lawyer in trying to get discharged, why was he getting enhanced weapons training at Hood in preparation to leave for Afghanistan, why he even had orders to deploy, why there seems to be reports prior to just listed that should have started the lights going off in the Command Structure. I hope to try and put something together if I can wrap my mind fully around all these seemingly Military failures and this Major’s Extreme Criminal Act. But let me say this, expanded abit from what a brother ‘Nam Vet stated earlier today: “Everyday a Ft Hood happens in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now in Pakistan, they’ve already suffered through Many 9/11’s in these nine years!!”

The following really touches on the reality of these times as to the soldiers serving multiple tours in these occupation theaters and were printed in media outlets today:

Shortage of military therapists creates strain

Amputations. Combat stress. Divorce. Suicide. For troubled service members, military therapists are at their sides.

But with the U.S. fighting two wars, an acute shortage of trained personnel has left these therapists emotional drained and overworked, with limited time to prepare for their own war deployments.

An Army psychiatrist is suspected in the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, and the rampage is raising questions about whether there’s enough help for the helpers, even though it’s unclear whether that stress or fear of his pending service in Afghanistan might be to blame.

An uncle of Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan said Saturday that Hasan was deeply affected by his work treating soldiers returning from war zones. “I think I saw him with tears in his eyes when he was talking about some of patients, when they came overseas from the battlefield,” Rafik Hamad told The Associated Press from his home near the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., a psychologist in the Navy Reserves, said the toll is sometimes described as “compassion fatigue” or “vicarious trauma.”…>>>Rest Found Here

My subject title comes from this Op-Ed By Max Cleland in the New York Times

“EVERY day I was in Vietnam, I thought about home. And, every day I’ve been home, I’ve thought about Vietnam.” So said one of the millions of soldiers who fought there as I did. Change the name of the battlefield and it could have been said by one of the American servicemen coming home from Iraq or Afghanistan today. Wars are not over when the shooting stops. They live on in the lives of those who fight them. That is the curse of the soldier. He never forgets.

Snip

War is haunting. Death. Pain. Blood. Dismemberment. A buddy dying in your arms. Imagine trying to get over the memory of a bomb splitting a Humvee apart beneath your feet and taking your leg with it. The first time I saw the stilled bodies of American soldiers dead on the battlefield is as stark and brutal a memory as the one of the grenade that ripped off my right arm and both legs.

No, the soldier never forgets. But neither should the rest of us.

Veterans returning today represent the first real influx of combat-wounded soldiers in a generation. They are returning to a nation unprepared for what war does to the soul. Those new veterans will need all of our help. After America’s wars, the used-up fighters are too often left to fend for themselves. Many of the hoboes in the Depression were veterans of World War I. When they came home, they were labeled shell-shocked and discharged from the Army too broken to make it during the economic cataclysm…>>>Rest Found Here

Max has just came out with a book of his life, I put up a post about this as he was making the rounds discussing it, this is a cut from one post:

Former Sen. Max Cleland (D., Ga.) lost his legs and one arm in the Vietnam War. More than 30 years later, he returned to Walter Reed to be treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). His new book, “Heart of a Patriot:” begins with an open letter to America’s soldiers, urging them to seek help when they need it.

What are the chief obstacles for a soldier seeking treatment for PTSD?..>>>>>The Rest Found Here

Max’s Book: “Heart of a Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam, Walter Reed and Karl Rove”