PTSD SOLDIERS:They used to shoot them, now they just abandon them

From 'Imagine' A World Of Peace,Understanding,Tolerance
Friday, March 21, 2008
"Shell Shock"; PTSD, and Executions of Those With!!
The following Video was left as a reply in my Daily KOS posting, yesterday, on Nadia and 'Veterans Village'.How far have we come as to what Wars do to those we send to fight them?We don't Execute?, but we Still don't Understand, some Denie, and we Don't Give The Care Needed!Societies 'Love War', at first, especially Wars of Choice, but Societies only send a small fraction of to engage, than they make them Fight for what it does to them!
WWI Veterans Recall Executions
During WWl, over 300 British and Commonwealth soldiers were executed for desertion or cowardice - some as young as 14. Ahead of Armistice Day, Charles Wheeler spoke to some veterans of the Great War about the executions.10th November 2005
You can do a search on this tragic policy of WWI to find out more.

This didn't just happen in the UK. It happened in every nation participating in combat. They were shot for being cowards.

Expectations of war
World War One soldiers knew their king and country expected them to fight to the death. Such was the expectation of their military commanders, their political leaders and even their loved ones that there was no question that if mortal danger came, they should face it like men. It was the only way for good to triumph over evil.

But this conflict quickly became the most brutal war in history and not even the most seasoned serviceman was prepared for the scale of carnage that unfolded before him. For many the horror proved too much. Hundreds were unable to cope, many were driven insane and several simply ran away.

But the army could no more afford to carry cowards than it could traitors, and many of those who did flee faced instant retribution with a court martial and death by firing squad.

'... their names still do not appear on official war memorials.'
British and Commonwealth military command executed 306 of its own men during the Great War. Those shot brought such shame on their country that nearly a century on, their names still do not appear on official war memorials.

Relatives and supporters of the executed men are fighting to win them a posthumous pardon. Their Shot at Dawn campaign claims the soldiers were blameless because it was severe psychological trauma, not cowardice, that rendered them physically unable to cope with the shocking scenes they had witnessed.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwone/shot_at_dawn_01.shtml

Canada

"Those who go to war at the request of their nation do not know the fate that lies in store for them. This was a war of such overwhelming sound, fury and unrelenting horror that few combatants could remain unaffected," said Minister Duhamel. "While we cannot relive those awful years of a nation at peril in total war, and although the culture of that time is subsequently too distant for us to comprehend fully, we can give these 23 soldiers a dignity that is their due, and provide closure to their families."
The Honourable Ron J. Duhamel, Minister of Veterans Affairs, Dec. 11, 2001

http://home.cogeco.ca/~cdnsad/

Don't think the attitude has changed that much.
Georg Andreas Pogany

Reduced Charges for Soldier Accused of Cowardice in Iraq

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: November 7, 2003
Army officials dropped cowardice charges on Thursday in the case of a sergeant who said he had suffered from a panic attack in Iraq but charged him with the lesser offense of dereliction of duty.

Legal experts say the reduced charge is far more common and easier to prove than cowardice, an offense that has not resulted in a single conviction since the height of the Vietnam War.

The sergeant, Georg Andreas Pogany, who said he had been so upset by the sight of a body in Iraq that he could not function, is accused of being derelict for having ''willfully failed to perform his job as the interrogator'' for a team of Green Berets, according to his charge sheet.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEE
DC1539F934A35752C1A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

What happens now is they are being discharged as if they have something to be ashamed of instead of a wound caused by their service. There were over 20,000 this happened to.