The Human Consequences of War

The Human Consequences of War


Brett Schwartz


Center for Defense Information

Jun 14, 2008

June 13, 2008 - Winston Churchill once said, “Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter.” The consequences of these tides and hurricanes often times remain with the soldier long after he or she returns home from the battlefield. Sometimes the effects are physical, forcing a veteran to adapt to life in a wheelchair or learn to function with a missing limb. However, in many cases, soldiers return home with what a recent RAND report describes as the “invisible wounds of war.” These are the psychological wounds resulting from experiencing firsthand the horror and dangers of combat. They are “often invisible to the eye, remaining invisible to other servicemembers, family members, and society in general,” states the report, released in April.

Due to medical advancements and improved hospital care, many more soldiers today are surviving injuries that might have killed them in past conflicts. However, the cruel irony of recovering from these wounds is that these soldiers may then face a different kind of enemy once they return home – the enemy of depression and mental trauma. Even soldiers who were not physically injured during their deployment may have experienced what researchers call “combat stressors,” scientific jargon for the all-too-real experiences facing military personnel during warfare. These may include being attacked, seeing death, and having a comrade killed or injured.

Five years ago, the term “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder” (PTSD) was perhaps familiar only to mental health experts and researchers. Today, however, it has entered our nation’s lexicon as more and more soldiers return home from Iraq and Afghanistan with mental distress. The National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder describes PTSD as an anxiety disorder that may occur following a traumatic experience, causing a victim to feel “scared, confused, or angry.” PTSD, first diagnosed by scientists in the 1970s, can be initiated by a variety of experiences besides military combat. These include experiencing physical or sexual abuse and life-threatening accidents or disasters.
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http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10384