U.S. military confronts unprecedented emotional war wounds

U.S. military confronts unprecedented emotional war wounds
BY MIKE THARP • MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS • July 27, 2008


KIRKUK, Iraq -- Sgt. Seth (Doc) Musikant could be a recruiting poster for the Army's new approach to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Last April, Musikant and his team were driving around a traffic circle in the city of Tuz. It was their second time through the roundabout that day, and between trips somebody had planted a homemade bomb. It blew up their Humvee.

One of his comrades was killed, three were wounded. In the frenzy that followed, Musikant handed his M4 rifle to the Iraqi interpreter, screaming, "Pull security!" Then Doc, a medic, scrambled to treat the wounded.

Musikant, with the 10th Mountain Division's 1st Combat Brigade, was on his second tour in Iraq. Although he felt that he'd proved he had guts during his first tour in Baghdad in 2005, the incident in Tuz bothered him. "It's like there's an invisible wall," Musikant said about the anxiety that temporarily troubled him.

He went to see the brigade's main mental health officer, Maj. Kyle Bourque.

"I told him it was bothering me," the 23-year-old former art student recalled. "I literally walked away with scratches. He said not to keep it inside, gave me some Ambien (a sleep aid). I still don't talk about it with anybody I don't know."

Never has the U.S. military been forced to confront so much of the psychological and emotional wounds of war. What's more, infantry soldiers no longer bear the brunt of such attacks; thanks to suicide bombers and homemade bombs, drivers, cooks and other rear-echelon troops also have been killed and wounded.
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I really hope to anyone who still does not get how these occpations are different than any other war, they pay attention to this part if nothing else.