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| Afghanistan |
| Rx for Combat Stress: Comradeship |
| 2011-04-04 |
| Posted by: |
| #6 Proc2K, you got it. And Beldar, you're on it. The Legion and VFW are what they are because we know when we go, that the guys (and gals now) there have been there, done that, and importantly, they know what we know. And we know what we need amongst each other. Its hard to explain in plain words. Sometimes the silence and a look shared between veterans over a glass, speaks more eloquently and truly to the heart than any words a counselor or shrink could utter. And Steve, as Groucho Marx said Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2011-04-04 21:45 |
| #5 Get everyone a dog. They are soothing companions and they would drive the muzzies nuts! Personally, I can't see how anyone comes back from combat without needing some major smoothing and re-entry help. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2011-04-04 20:13 |
| #4 Leslie Marmon Silko's novel "Ceremony" is a modern recounting of this whole issue. It is highly likely to provoke 'flashbacks' in those suffering from any form of PTSD. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-04-04 15:42 |
| #3 An video example telling about one cultural ritual, the Crow Indians' "Warriors Return" ceremony, copied from a display at the Museum of American History in DC on 11 Nov 2004. It'sa 14 MB download. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2011-04-04 15:33 |
| #2 For thousands of years, the release of the hell of the battlefield [for which most of the time was standing face to face literally butchering the man in front of you for a hour or more] was the outlets of alcohol, looting, and 'camp followers'. Today those are basically culturally and officially outlawed. So we instead seek psychotropic drugs and counseling administered by accredited professionals. It is the support of the hunting group, which for tens of thousands of years offered the solace of loss and recovery of traumatic shock of things gone wrong, that still provide aid in dealing with it. Society has lost the cultural rituals that used to be practiced to cleanse and to offer atonement for those it asks to provide for its survival and existence. We're too modern to acknowledge that which we still carry with us and instead substitute official and approved measures not as much for the individual but for our own self satisfaction. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-04-04 11:26 |
| #1 Is that why the American Legion was formed? |
| Posted by: The Other Beldar 2011-04-04 10:05 |