Combat Trauma Research Paper

Combat trauma is something that has haunted my family since my brother and two of my uncles, tours in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. My uncles only served once due to both sustaining back injuries due to roadside bombings in the Iraq war. My brother served in both wars and it seemed as if he was deploying every other year until 2012. It was most understandable because he is Army Special Forces but he was leaving behind his wife, children, sisters and mother. My first experience with the effects of combat trauma was in December 2003, after my brother married his wife once he returned on his first break in between deployments. They got married the day after Christmas so my family basically celebrated from that day until New Year’s Day. I cannot …show more content…
They were traveling down the road and we had begun to light the fireworks. I remember seeing him running up the road leading to my mother’s home in the dark and my sister-in-law trailing him in the car, trying to get him to get back in the car. All he was screaming was “I want my mama” and he began to ramble about lost comrades and saying that he did what he was trained to do but still suffered fatalities. At the age of 8 or 9, I did not understand what was happening. He was in tears, in an infant-like state, on the floor with his head in our mother’s lap. Although situations such as this occurred constantly the more he deployed, this one sticks with me because I had no idea of what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was and had never seen my brother in that …show more content…
He discussed how the patients did not want the military to find out that something was psychologically wrong with them. The movie, Lioness, discussed the same thing in reference to the women, who served in combat (McLagan and Sommers,2008). I agree with this simply because my brother did the necessary to ensure that he never was flagged as someone with a psychological problem. He would be normal around his comrades but at home, my sister-in-law would often inform my mother of his actions and breakdowns. Although I agree with this point, it also causes me to question a couple of things. My question is why would they not want the military to find out about their psychological issues, would they be seen as weak and what would be so wrong about them knowing if they are providing them with the necessary help? The fact that they are willing to self medicate to overcome Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is confusing to me because they have some of the best help that our country can offer. Van der Kolk also discussed how his patient, Tom, would drink and was afraid to be around his family due to him being easily irritated (2014). My family has experienced this exact situation. When my brother would be in between deployments, his alcohol practice did increase drastically, and it appeared that when he was drunk, he could not control his flashbacks. In fact, when he was under the influence, it seemed as