RE: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,159288,00.html

Sad...but I think senior leaders / NCOs have already forgotten and avoided what PTSD is and what it is doing. Just in combat when a soldier is "ordered" to the Combat Stress Team, he or she is looking for only one answer...when he or she can come home.
In today’s war, the home front has to move on, the “not so oiled machine” has to continue to move forward, and PTSD is something that only stands in the way of a new senior leader / NCOs commands success...

Ms. Cheryl Softich,
I am a Vietnam Veteran and have many freinds that suffer from P.T.S.D. To the man,I mean boy, that isn't ready to jump on the P.T.S.D. bandwagon,I personnally don't want you on it. You apparantely don't know that smell of death!! I guess your too tough to have the ability to let that smell bother you. If you think suicide is the cowards way out,I suggest you give it a try. Trust me,it isn't easy and by no means is Army Specialist Noah c. Pierce a coward!!
Cheryl,I think your son is a hero, as are the many others who carry the smell of death with them every day! May you find peace of mind in knowing your son is in a better place away from these hard *** guys who think you are a coward if you have feelings in your heart that make me cry everyday, for the brothers I served with and unfortunately had that awful smell. Not all of us deal with death in the same way,but some of us understand why your son, Noah C. Pierce is a hero!
Bob Stouch
N Rangers 75th INF. Vietnam

PTS is the last battle injury in every war.

No bleeding to stop

No bone to set

No shrapnel to remove

No sutcher to close the wound

No antibiotic to halt the infection

No anesthetic to ease the pain

No medal to recognize the sacrifice

hepvets574

Well said!!

That person who wrote anonymously that about PTSD and not ready to jump on the bandwagon as well as suicide being the cowards way out, has no idea what PTSD is really about. Besides, anyone who writes anonymously is a coward in my book. My heart goes out to this mother and I think what she is doing is terrific. I am supportive of her. I also am very impressed that our VA system has stepped up to the plate and finally diagnosing PTSD properly and treating our veterans. Although, PTSD isn't just a miltary problem, and you don't have to have the smell of death to experience PTSD. Many people suffer from PTSD, men and women, young and old. So we need to remember that when someone who happens to be a civilian says, "I suffer from PTSD", we not shut them out just because they are a civilian or other member. They too my have something very constructive to contribute.

Call it what you will, PTSD has been around since the creation of war and killing. For anyone not to believe in it is foolhardy. Signicant life changing events of every type register within the mind and are there to stay forever. Unfortunately some surface in destructive ways that we cannot always control. This young man chose the only way out of a bad situation that he could think of at the time. Right or wrong is irrelevant. Too many vets of yesterday and today are not being properly cared for by our administration. One only has to look at a song written by a soldier during the Korean war, "Suicide is Painless", for an example. Many of you know this as the theme music to the TV show MASH.

As for ANY individual that wants to hide behind the ANONYMOUS name or the PROFILE hidden tag, they are not a man or woman. They have not reached the level of maturity to stand behind their words. Until they can, they should NOT have the right to speak. They should NOT have the right to written expression. Theirs is the truest form of COWARDICE that I can think of. THese are the people that sit at home and derail the government and military while those that are willing to stand and fight are the ones that sacrifice their time, their lives, and sometimes come home in a shape worse than dead.

My heart goes out the this young man and the family and friends he left behind. I hope that his mother is successful in her goal as it is an extreme necessity for our Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen.

With Deepest Respect and Condolences,
George Suchey (USN Retired)

To the above comments I can only say Amen Brothers, Amen..

To those who have not stared into the Abyss, you would do well to temper your comments with compassion for the Brothers and Sisters that have..

All wounds are not visable!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by SinePariDonster:
PTS is the last battle injury in every war.

No bleeding to stop

No bone to set

No shrapnel to remove

No sutcher to close the wound

No antibiotic to halt the infection

No anesthetic to ease the pain

No medal to recognize the sacrifice

I used to askmy shrink over and over, why do I still smell death in movie theatres, at night with family eating popcorn, alone in the woods....he hands me a bottle of pills,"Maybe these will work.." ha, lifes big effing joke. Well, the best I can do is go on. Never quit, never put a gun to my head, flush the pills. Nice prose sineparidonster.

I did like this poem...to bad he didn't live, he did have some things to say and in his deathhe spoke to me:

Everything I imagined

They yell get out of the truck
I just wonder why as I take over
“Boom” and I think I hope that’s friendly.
Someone yells open fire
Don’t know what I’m shooting at.
People fall, but did I do it?
Just keep shooting
Really just want to roll up in a ball and wake up
If only it were a dream
As we advance I no longer fear for myself
I worry about whoever that guy is next to me
My eyes burn from all the smoke
I wonder if the smell of death will ever
leave my nose
People shake my hand now
They say thanks for serving the country
Sorry, you guys were the farthest from my mind
That day was exactly the way
I imagined war

Yep, i have PTSD..but in a way, I never imagined the horror of war as my imagination never went into the depths of hell like that reality before...it's been almost thirty years....damn,

Killing the enemy is one thing, it's either him or you but taking the life of the innocent even though procedures were followed and seeing your buddies blown to bits are the main PTSD culprits. Unfortunetly in war neither will disappear.

From the song "Endangered" written by retired Army VN & Desert Storm Vet -- Copyright Yankee Medic Music 2002

Never said this was easy
Things that last seldom are
Some may cost you those dog tags
Some may leave with a scar.

Now, some wounds grow hidden
others are plainly in sight
hope the faith that we carry
gets us all through this night.

PTSD is very real, ask the wife of a VN vet. I have lived with and dealt with it for many yrs now. My husband also wanted to die, drank himself to a stupor, made life hell for me and his kids, we didnt know what PTSD was back in those days. It never goes away. He is now dealing with his PTSD but the damage that it caused not only to him but his family is great. He is still fighing those demons. The VA doesnt do a whole lot to help, but at least he is getting some help now. PPL would ask why do you put up with it? How can you turn your back on someone who needs you the most, its bad enuff the military did. I am glad that it is being reconzied now and there is help for this new generation of warriors. God bless all of you. And for the women who wrote and called this soldier a coward, you dont have a clue!

The anonymous woman who called any member of our armed forces who, suffering from PTSD, commits suicide is, to put it simply, STUPID!!!
She has no idea of the terror, the sacrifice, the filth, the living nightmare that is war for the individual.
Some are better able to cope with combat, be it heavy or otherwise, than those to whom life has become a living hell because they can't forget what they went through and because they must constantly relive, in flashbacks, that awesomely terrible time in their lives.
Whoever that woman is, she doesn't have a clue of how life-changing finding oneself in the middle of a war can be, in either a positive or a negative manner, and those experiences are always much more negative than positive.
I'm a two-time 'Nam vet, lucky enough not to have PTSD, but I do remember experiences I'd as soon forget but can't that happened 40 years ago but might as well have happened yesterday.
I've had buddies and close friends, unable to handle the psychological terrors of PTSD, kill themselves because they knew of no other way to exorcise their demons.
Suicide is the final, fatal way out for those who have found life too unbearable, too soul-scorching, to awful to comtemplate. None of them were or are cowards!
I hope you read this, Miss or Mrs. Anonymous. I hope, also, that you learn some compassion for those who've been active participants in warfare and what it can do to their minds, even though their bodies show no scars; a wounded mind takes much longer to heal, if it ever does, than the physical body.

The article said the anonymous writer was either He or she. Let's not just assume that it was a female, as there are many cowardly males who would make that statement.

PTSD is real, it not only affects, war personnel, it affects anyone exposed to death on a daily bases
I served my country for four years, I never had to go into combat, and I guess I can think god for that, I was trained and always ready to go when needed or told to.
After my service time, years after, I became a Paramedic,in the 20 plus years I probably seen every way a man , woman or child could die,I have seen suffrage, maybe like some combat soldiers have never seen,you might say 20 plus years of daily combat.I have been on depressant pills for 14 years , now all you people out there, take what I just said and add to it some one shooting at you or trying to blow you up, as our troops face on a daily bases and say that PTSD don't exist , then you have more holes in your head then you were born with, and don't say they can suck it up and go on, some can , some can't, I did but with the help of a little yellow pill, and no one was shooting at me or trying to turn me into vapor.
I salute all you that have to go through any ordeal dealing with death and suffrage.
SEMPER FI to all of you.

There are many that feel that somehow PTSD is a sign of weakness. Truth is it shows that Humans are not made to function like mindless machines and blow off blood and guts like its no big deal. Any of you combat experianced hero's with an IQ above 70 know the score! A lot of troops are shamed into trying to hide it. This whole situation is all of our nightnares just getting bigger! I say support the troops!!!!!! Being in Nam lookin back over your shoulder then,at a divided Country was a mess! These younger troops, Probably get PTSD from coming back from Iraq into total chaos and a system that is collapsing under its own lack of patriotism not to mention moral and social decay. OVER!!!

In my experience, no one who experiences combat comes home the same person they were before. Even those who carry on "normally" are affected.

I must say I am speechless at the positive response from the public and the press at my humble post having the honor of being named after Noah. I also must say that I am very pleased that in naming our post after Noah that we have gained the attention of certain members of congress that are willing to work with Noah's mother and other veterans to have a "Noah's Clause" Written into military contracts for mandatory after care for returning soldiers so they can get the help they need without having to admit that anything is "wrong".

Shawn Carr
Commander
AMVETS Noah C. Pierce Post 33

PTSD SUCKS..........For years it was ignored & swept aside. Those afflicted had to deal with it on their own. I am glad it is being addressed & that there are programs & people willing to help. Amvets Post 33, I salute you.

Mick LaFever
Commander American Legion
Post 294

Hello Mrs. Softich, I am a OIF2 Vet and I to suffer from PTSD! In the past, the military (all branches) thought that it was a sound of weakness and did little to help Soldiers returning from war suffering this. I live in New Jersey and the Veteran Admin here are going all out to help Soldiers suffering from this, but it's really up to the Soldier to initiate the counselling! As you have stated, I think it should be a clause in the contract of all Soldiers returning from combat that they be ordered to take the counselling or not be able to re-enlist, but that would simply cause a exodus i n the military, because no one wants to be considered weak, but the real weak ones are the ones that won't go get the help! I PROUDLY SAY I WENT FOR THE HELP AND I THANK GOD FOR IT! God be with your son, because I to know of the pain he and many other of my brother & sisters i n arm suffered, the Theraphy helped ! If you're Soldier enough to defend the Country, the Country should defend us, healthy or otherwise!
Spc. Lynn Washington 759th M.P. Bn,89th M.P. Bde