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Are there any (combat) vets WITHOUT PTSD?
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I knew a few Viet Nam combat vets when is was in my 20's and working outdoors in cable TV as a lineman.
We would party after work. They had stories, pictures, hand guns, collected ears...
I remember one guy who would hit the dirt so fast if an unexpected loud noise happened. The first time you see it you think "dude WTF..." but the you see it again a few months later and realize it's not a joke and you feel for the guy.
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" collected ears"?????????
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That's not all that was collected.Other memento's included dicks, scalps and eyes. So I heard.
PTSD is real. Bless them all who return and readjust.
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A lot of people of all color died in Vietnam.
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Link to statistics of Viet Nam deaths and only 15% are AA
They all served this country with honor and ALL of those lives matter.
🇺🇸
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Jackass33 Were any of those AA fat gals as you called them.
Fat black "gals" "make you want to puke" as you said in this blog link below.
(Click link below 12th comment down) (Pure racist shit from this smoe)
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^ are you really that bored with yourself?
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Unlike WW1 and WW2 and the Korean War, where soldiers were clearly identifiable by their uniforms, in Vietnam you couldn't know who was a friend and who was a foe. If you hesitated, you might be shot by a local youth wearing black pajamas who bore zero insignia indicating a person involved in combat.
If you did NOT hesitate and shot first, you could be court-martialed, found guilty of murder of civilians and spend years in Ft. Leavenworth.
The uncertainty of one's options and the casual, random brushes with death contributed to the PTSD common to many Vietnam vets, not to mention shit-dipped punji sticks, Bouncing Betties, tiger traps, Malay man-traps, tunnels and ambushes common to any soldier who actually did foot patrols in the 'Nam.
One more thing: In WWII, GI's were slowly mobilized home upon the cessation of hostilities. They boarded troop ships for the weeks-long voyage back to "the world" during which they decompressed, shared stories, communed with other men and women with similar experiences.
Upon the end of one's 13 month tour in The 'Nam, you were shooed onto a jet at Tan Son Nhut airbase, and in 24 hours you were in San Francisco, walking through the civilians looking at your uniform and combat ribbons with distaste on their faces, likely wondering if you were a baby-killer like Lieutenant Calley.
Just one geezer's opinion, though...
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I know a guy who knows a guy...
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I have family that was in Nam. It can range widely in it's effects.
My Step-Dad was a Marine. He was pretty mild, kinda uncomfortable around big fireworks displays. Ok to watch from a distance.
One uncle was a Green Beret. He was a tunnel rat. HE was sketchy as fuck. Gotta be careful around him after dark. Don't fucking surprise him.
Another uncle was infantry. He got bayonetted in the legs, AND was a Agent Orange victim. My family said he was never the same when he came back but they just chalked it up to the Agent Orange. His life was really rough until he passed away in 83.
Some of the middle east guys are pretty fucking sketched out. I would give them a wide berth on the 4th if there are fireworks going off.
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And, here I was, wondering why a veterinarian would have PTSD.
Never mind
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Good friend of mine is a Desert Storm vet. If he's watching the fireworks, he's ok. It's the random neighborhood fireworks, that he's not expecting, that freak him out a bit. Doesn't like low flying helicopters either. They're all triggers.
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I think I'd be ok as you can be in a war, if it was in the desert where you can kinda see what's going on.
But, that jungle shit is no bueno.
Got a family member who was an FO in Nam.
Second highest mortality rate after helicopter door gunner
Get as close as you can to enemy lines in order to direct artillery fire
And, hope your own guys don't blow you up
Fuck that shit
As Jack Nicholson once said
"I'd rather stick needles in my eyes"
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Depends what you mean by PTSD. I am a vet. For me it is smells. Something about the smells that sometimes rock me to the core. They are in mind forever. The smell of burning diesel fuel, smell of burning hair, smell of dirty putrid living conditions, smell of sweat and blood and being in the same uniform for days, smell of canvas, smell of a rucksack. When now I smell odors similar to these it can knock me for a loop.
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Stay upwind of the fireworks and you're good then.
Thanks for your service.
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.......with no expectations lol
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I have a 70% rating.. The first year back was a nightmare but it's getting better as time goes by.
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I guess those of us who have never served in those conditions/situations can’t imagine the psychological impact.
I read an article a few weeks ago about the neighbor who shot the “shooter” who killed 18 people in a church in Texas.
2 years later, he thinks about it every day. “I have no remorse. I know it was right and necessary. But killing someone changes you. I can’t explain it. It just does. We weren’t built to do that.”
That guy had about 15 minutes of “engagement”... can’t imagine what those with extended exposure to combat experience deal with.
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'Depends what you mean by PTSD. I am a vet. For me it is smells. Something about the smells that sometimes rock me to the core. They are in mind forever. The smell of burning diesel fuel, smell of burning hair, smell of dirty putrid living conditions, smell of sweat and blood and being in the same uniform for days, smell of canvas, smell of a rucksack. When now I smell odors similar to these it can knock me for a loop.'
Studies have shown that 'smell' has a direct correlation to memory and is one of the strongest triggers for memory, such as the smell of cookies baking can trigger a memory of you when you were a kid in the kitchen watching your mom was baking etc.
Gilbert33, thank you for your service and sacrifice.
Atticus Finch
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I never served in the military but have the utmost respect for those who served and fought.
I did a lot of sailing throughout my younger days. Offshore boat delivery and yacht races to far away places. We had to go through storms at times. Sailing upwind in a storm is like being in a Winnebago tilted sideways while someone keeps lifting the front 15 off the ground and dropping it every 30 seconds.... for days on end. PTSD will set in while mother nature is slowly trying to kill you.
Sailing downwind in heavy weather is fast. Everyone knows that falling overboard at night your toast. I remember one time in a heavy storm we had an agreement that if someone goes over we keep going because trying to stop and turn around would cause far more death and destruction.
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My trigger used to be heavy Santa ana wind conditions... for days would raise my anxiety.
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I never thought about the smell thing.
I wouldn't call it PTSD but if I smell Jet fuel, diesel, Av gas, hydraulic fluid, grease... stuff like that, I will have dreams about being back on the flight deck working for weeks. That shit is just as real as when I was in. When I wake up sometimes I'm completely disoriented.
That's a pretty good mind fuck.I can only imagine what it's like for the other guys that were deep in the shit. That's gotta be FUCKED UP..
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stress affects everyone.
some, just like PTSD.
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In high school 1980 when all the "real" Vietnam war movies had just come out (deer hunter, apocalypse now) and a pbs documentary were my first exposure to the concept of war. Then at a 4th of july party i met a Vietnam veteran. He and i ended up talking about his experiences. as we talked he became more and more agitated. I had no clue what was happening until his wife came into the room. She asked what he was doing talking about that "stuff".? Then she turned her attention to me. " you dont have to deal with what happens after he gets started. You dont live with him. I do." I felt so small. I fed off his real war experiences. At that time no one i met ever talked about war. That was quite an eye opening experience. Yeah.. war is hell for everyone.
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Gilbert 33, smells are among the most trigger-able memories. They are actually stored in the brain as a chemical called neuropeptide. A memory triggers the release of neuropeptide and that stimulation of brain receptors replays the actual smell perception in your brain.
The smell memories are among the worst. Using a pinch of C4 to cook a can of C-rats in the field; the smell of diesel used to burn latrines; the smell of rotting death when entering a 'ville where a firefight had occurred prior; the smell of a festering wound when the medevacs couldn't get there timely.
Thank you for your service, may God bless, and happy Fourth.
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Too bad there isn't a good test for sociopaths
Half of you on this site could go to war and not be affected
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