Many of the people who send us to war have never been in war. I don't need to talk Bush down as a draft dodger or deserter...that is not my point.

Many moons after wars end they still loom on inside heads of soldiers. The lives which are ruined are not just those who are killed, that would be too easy.

From the official PTSD site "The estimated lifetime prevalence of PTSD among American Vietnam theater veterans is 30.9% for men and 26.9% for women. An additional 22.5% of men and 21.2% of women have had partial PTSD at some point in their lives. Thus, more than half of all male Vietnam veterans and almost half of all female Vietnam veterans—about 1,700,000 Vietnam veterans in all—have experienced 'clinically serious stress reaction symptoms.' "

I only think of this because a lady I worked with has a son who was there when Saddam's sons were shot. What did it do to his mind? Can he ignore the blood he has seen? Or his friend who died? Can he ignore the young teen who was shot dead?

National Center for PTSD // National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder