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Richardols
Guest
They don’t need to get more. That’s what Mr. Rumsfeld says.
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vern_humphrey
Guest
As the man said, there is not a significantly higher incidence of mental problems among Viet Nam vets than the general population.
There are plenty of studies showing that mental problems were more prevalent among non-combat personnel than among those who saw considerable combat (exactly what the current study shows.)
My own experience is that much of the Viet Nam era problem was drug-related, and simply mirrored what was happening in society as a whole.
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Simeon_Hovey
Guest
I suppose I should give some kind of warning about this, I have PTSD and the followng is a relatively frank discussion of what it is like to live with it. And how I got it without getting into the gory details…So since I’m a new member please don’t read this and then report me. I value the spiritual blessings of the CAF far too much to want to lose it. (I’ve read this several times now so I apologize for grammatical errors. I only just happened to run across this thread and it’s a timely God send to be able to “talk” about it.
Speaking as a Viet Nam vet who came home, unknowingly, with PTSD, I suspect the number is far larger than the VA will ever admit*. That would require additional funding for services that congress just won’t fund. Over there I had to learn how to sleep with one eye and one ear open for 18 months if I wanted to survive. The things I’ve seen, and done continue to haunt me. I know that God has forgiven me but I am unable to forgive myself. Yes I’m avoiding talking about what I’ve seen and done to other human beings, but having been in Hell, how do I just forget about it? I’ve never had a so-called flashback but when something triggers the memories they can flood back and it can take months to get back to “normal.”
Because of it ever since I’ve lived a live apart from others around me, I have friends but I never really feel completely a part of them because they don’t understand me, There is a part of my life that I have to hide away and can only talk with other veterans about it, and many of them don’t want to talk about it. And after the things I’ve been through I’ve never been able to see the world as I used to see it. Danger lurks everywhere, I have insomnia, I have what is called “hyper-alertness”. (Twice as a civillian my peculiar skill set has saved my life.) I live out in the country with a well stocked pantry so that I can survive an emergency or the collapse of society (I’ve seen it happen.) Last night I was watching Bonanza, an episode about Little Joe looking up an old friend who’d become a gunfighter and now had to carry and sleep with a weapon always. Little Joe set out to cure him but I couldn’t finish watching it. And the memories that came back last night are with me today; and I haven’t slept since Friday. I know that the VA has PTSD treatment but I was told I was too functional to qualify for a scarce seat in one of the classes. And here’s the other question I ask myself, do I really want to be re-brain washed into believing that the world is a safe place when I know it isn’t? I fear, that like Adam and Eve, I eaten from the tree of knowledge of good and evil – and there is no going back.
I was permanently disabled in an auto accident, a spinal cord injury made me a paraplegic so I’m on Medicare and collecting SSI, about $1800/month. I find that Medicare is superior to the VA in almost everyway. Cost, availablity of service, response time, and caring medical staffs. I’ve been in some real H*** Holes of the VA and try to get medical care elsewhere whenever I can. I live alone, and with few friends. My life is a difficult one but I’m forever grateful to Jesus because I couldn’t carry on without him. In a recent set of atypical circumstances he put me in a place where I got a German Shepard puppy, 6 months old now, 45 lb’s and the 2nd love of my life.
I apologize if I went too far.
Speaking as a Viet Nam vet who came home, unknowingly, with PTSD, I suspect the number is far larger than the VA will ever admit*. That would require additional funding for services that congress just won’t fund. Over there I had to learn how to sleep with one eye and one ear open for 18 months if I wanted to survive. The things I’ve seen, and done continue to haunt me. I know that God has forgiven me but I am unable to forgive myself. Yes I’m avoiding talking about what I’ve seen and done to other human beings, but having been in Hell, how do I just forget about it? I’ve never had a so-called flashback but when something triggers the memories they can flood back and it can take months to get back to “normal.”
Because of it ever since I’ve lived a live apart from others around me, I have friends but I never really feel completely a part of them because they don’t understand me, There is a part of my life that I have to hide away and can only talk with other veterans about it, and many of them don’t want to talk about it. And after the things I’ve been through I’ve never been able to see the world as I used to see it. Danger lurks everywhere, I have insomnia, I have what is called “hyper-alertness”. (Twice as a civillian my peculiar skill set has saved my life.) I live out in the country with a well stocked pantry so that I can survive an emergency or the collapse of society (I’ve seen it happen.) Last night I was watching Bonanza, an episode about Little Joe looking up an old friend who’d become a gunfighter and now had to carry and sleep with a weapon always. Little Joe set out to cure him but I couldn’t finish watching it. And the memories that came back last night are with me today; and I haven’t slept since Friday. I know that the VA has PTSD treatment but I was told I was too functional to qualify for a scarce seat in one of the classes. And here’s the other question I ask myself, do I really want to be re-brain washed into believing that the world is a safe place when I know it isn’t? I fear, that like Adam and Eve, I eaten from the tree of knowledge of good and evil – and there is no going back.
I was permanently disabled in an auto accident, a spinal cord injury made me a paraplegic so I’m on Medicare and collecting SSI, about $1800/month. I find that Medicare is superior to the VA in almost everyway. Cost, availablity of service, response time, and caring medical staffs. I’ve been in some real H*** Holes of the VA and try to get medical care elsewhere whenever I can. I live alone, and with few friends. My life is a difficult one but I’m forever grateful to Jesus because I couldn’t carry on without him. In a recent set of atypical circumstances he put me in a place where I got a German Shepard puppy, 6 months old now, 45 lb’s and the 2nd love of my life.
- [Just like they won’t admit to how many Viet Nam era vets were infected with Hepatitus C with those pneumatic needle injections they used. It didn’t occur to them to sterilize the enjector after each use so that someone with HEP C wouldn’t infect those who followed him. Esimates are as high as 50%,at least I was lucky on that one.]
I apologize if I went too far.
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Simeon_Hovey
Guest
I was in long enough to establish a good relationship with an LTC (Leutenant Colonel) who made it all the way up to Brigadier General. And things at that rarefied level can become very political when one’s career is paramount. At least for most of them. As to the studies, the troop casualty levels are very far down from where they were a few years ago so I’m not surprised.
I cannot begin to explain just how exhausting and stressful it becomes when I (we) had to learn to sleep with one ear and one eye open – and then do it for 18 months. After about a year I seriously believed I was loosing my sanity but didn’t want a "Section 8. Besides, I scarcely knew what to say to anyone as I had no understanding of what was happening to me. After about 14 or 15 months of it I began vomiting for no physical reason (which I hid very well), it stopped after I’d been home about 4 months. And then have spent the rest of life always in some level of fear (56YO). And… well, I was going to relate one event, I typed it out, studied it awhile, and then deleted it. I don’t need to return to this thread and see it again. And I don’t think anybody else really needs to know.
Also, according to a VA psych, many young vets are eager to get back into life, repress it and then it may not come out for decades.
I think one of the big differences between WWII era Vets and Viet Nam is that after WWII there was a huge body of veterans who were together and could talk. Now I don’t even know any other veterans. In my family, whenever we did any kind of small social event from picnics with friends to group camping all of the men were Vets. We boys would gather a little ways off from them and pretend to play but really we were hanging on every word our fathers said. I wonder if this cohort was an early form of self-help group?
BTW Do you know how many army generals died in Viet Nam? 1. He was the Commanding General of the Mai Lai operation and was killed in a helecopter crash before he could testify at the Mai Lai Trial. (Sorry if this belongs on a conspiracy blog it just popped out of my mind.)
Simeon
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Simeon_Hovey
Guest
We’re talking different eras here. I got out (of the USAR) in 2004 and the army, in my estimate, was almost universally on the Right, I only ever heard one soldier say he liked Clinton. While the rest of us loathed him. Can you imagine that Chelsea Clinton was so indoctrinated by her parents that the first time she had to ride in the back of a limo with a military officer, she said to him, “You stay on your side because you’re the enemy!” From the San Jose Mercury Bulletin.
As to those on the supply convoys, they were regular targets of IED’s and ambushes along the road.
According to a VA psych, many young vets are eager to get back into life, repress it and then it may not come out for decades.
I think one of the big differences between WWII era Vets and Viet Nam is that after WWII there was a huge body of veterans who were together and could talk. Now I don’t even know any other veterans. In my family, whenever we did any kind of small social event from picnics with friends to group camping all of the men were Vets. We boys would gather a little ways off from them and pretend to play but really we were hanging on every word our fathers said. I wonder if this cohort was an early form of self-help group?
I cannot begin to explain just how exhausting and stressful it becomes when I (we) had to learn to sleep with one ear and one eye open – and then do it for 18 months. After about a year I seriously believed I was loosing my sanity but didn’t want a “Section 8.” Besides, I scarcely knew what to say to anyone, as I had no understanding of what was happening to me. After about 14 or 15 months of it I began vomiting for no physical reason (which I hid very well), it stopped after I’d been home about 4 months. And then have spent the rest of my life always in some level of fear (56YO). Though I love dogs I now have to have one. I’m training a 6 month old G Shep and she is spending the night at the Veterinarians because she was spayed today and I can’t sleep.
Simeon*
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Simeon_Hovey
Guest
Has anyone checked Section 401 of the Health Care Bill? It eliminates the VA in 5 years and rolls it into the National System.
Also, page 425 requires that our Senior Citizens collecting medicare will have to go in every 5 years for “End of Life Counseling”, it will include cost benefit analysis counseling of getting life extending care.
No wonder Obama wanted it passed before anyone had a chance to read it.
waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/AAHCA09001xml.pdf
Simeon
Also, page 425 requires that our Senior Citizens collecting medicare will have to go in every 5 years for “End of Life Counseling”, it will include cost benefit analysis counseling of getting life extending care.
No wonder Obama wanted it passed before anyone had a chance to read it.
waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/AAHCA09001xml.pdf
Simeon
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