I’m currently an active duty Infantry soldier who has served in both the Iraq and Afghanistan Theater. Over the years whether it be family, friends, or even strangers I’ve been asked many times the same particular questions. What about war is hard, why are so many soldiers suffering from PTSD, and what is it like? From the first day of basic training, we are taught that our main focus is to go to war and fight for our country. Our mentally changes and we start to develop an obsession with war. Our status as soldiers start to be defined on whether or not we’ve seen combat and when that time finally comes, we actively seek out the enemy in the hopes they have the courage to attack. This mentally is instilled in almost every Infantry soldier you
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When asked, I give them a scenario and ask that they put themselves inside it. Fear is a natural emotion, it kicks in our fight or flight response and this allows us to protect ourselves from danger. This emotion however, was never attended to be experienced for increased periods of time. When this happens, the psychological toll starts to affect both your body and mind. Every day, normal everyday citizens wake up from a peaceful night sleep. They get out of bed have breakfast and began to get ready for work. They get into their vehicles and head to the office. Their minds began to think about the tasks of the day they must complete. Not many, think about the many dangers that can come about just by simply driving to work or being out in the community. Now you take a Soldier during deployment. Exhausted from the physically rigorous patrol the day before. He wakes up exhausted because he doesn’t sleep well. See, the enemy likes to attack at night, first with mortars, then with small arms. From the first round impacting in the compound, it’s imperative he reaches his gear and weapon and makes it into the bunker so that he can have some sort of shelter from incoming shrapnel that blankets the area. He only wears
When asked, I give them a scenario and ask that they put themselves inside it. Fear is a natural emotion, it kicks in our fight or flight response and this allows us to protect ourselves from danger. This emotion however, was never attended to be experienced for increased periods of time. When this happens, the psychological toll starts to affect both your body and mind. Every day, normal everyday citizens wake up from a peaceful night sleep. They get out of bed have breakfast and began to get ready for work. They get into their vehicles and head to the office. Their minds began to think about the tasks of the day they must complete. Not many, think about the many dangers that can come about just by simply driving to work or being out in the community. Now you take a Soldier during deployment. Exhausted from the physically rigorous patrol the day before. He wakes up exhausted because he doesn’t sleep well. See, the enemy likes to attack at night, first with mortars, then with small arms. From the first round impacting in the compound, it’s imperative he reaches his gear and weapon and makes it into the bunker so that he can have some sort of shelter from incoming shrapnel that blankets the area. He only wears