War's Aftermath ~ Moral Injury

[Ptah]

This is from a blog by a lifelong friend.

http://predatorhaven.blogspot.com/2012/08/wars-aftermath-moral-injury.html

I'm a veteran of the Vietnam War. I served from March 1968 to March1969, during the height of our military presence, when half a million Americans were in-country at any given time. I saw my share of carnage (though not as much as many veterans did), and experienced terror, boredom, rage, confusion. I was the target of rockets, mortar rounds, and sniper fire. Due to the nature of my job (high security communications), I had a bounty on my head. Within two weeks I became radicalized against the war, and deeply cynical toward anyone who espouses war without a compelling reason. Most of the reasons we hear are not adequately compelling.

When I came home, there was no counseling, no time spent sharing experiences or venting feelings, no adjustment period. One day I was in a jungle war, and twenty-four hours later I was discharged and released into civilian society in San Francisco. "Turn in your gear, sign here and here and here, take your pay, see ya."

[Ptah]

1. Just two more paragraphs:

Over time, my reading, counseling, and thinking have given me insights into the shadows which haunted me. The process is ongoing. Recently I came across two resources which share the most evolved thinking about war and its effects on warriors. One is a piece written by Nan Levinson called Mad, bad, sad ~ what really happens to U.S. soldiers. She introduces the concept of moral injury ~

"It's a concept in progress, defined as the result of taking part in or witnessing something of consequence that you find wrong, something which violates your deeply held beliefs about yourself and your role in the world. For a moment, at least, you become what you never wanted to be. While the symptoms and causes may overlap with PTSD, moral injury arises from what you did or failed to do, rather than from what was done to you. It's a sickness of the heart more than the head. Or, possibly, moral injury is what comes first and, if left unattended, can congeal into PTSD.