PTSD:“Killing really changed me.”

When I was in Ohio for the IFOC conference, I was interviewed by another chaplain who is also a therapist. I told her about the depth of cuts. They come in all sizes when we're talking about PTSD. Combat soldiers have the deepest cuts because they are exposed to horrific events more often and they are also forced to kill. The second comes the police officers, there again, horrific events and often they are force to kill. The third level are the National Guards, reservists and firefighters. They are exposed to horrific events as well, but in their core, they do what they do in order to help. Most never think of having to take a life when they enter into the world of the citizen soldiers but they find themselves in combat between Iraq and Afghanistan, a rock and a hard place. The numbers are higher for the citizen soldiers but I believe the depth of the wound is higher in the soldiers, then the Marines, Navy and Air Force. Each time they kill, the cut of the wound sinks deeper.

I do not come to this conclusion lightly. It's from years of communicating with them online. It comes from listening to them from different walks of life. Just as I believe the God factor plays a huge role in the wounded warriors, also from what they've said, it does not take a lot to see what connects them and what makes them different.

Study: PTSD rates higher for troops who kill

By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Nov 22, 2008 12:51:21 EST

CHICAGO — New research presented at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies shows post-traumatic stress disorder rates are higher in service members who have had to kill someone.

Shira Maguen, health sciences assistant clinical professor at the University of California, began her research when she realized that the Vietnam vets she treated at the San Francisco VA Medical Center were “really struggling with taking another life,” she said, adding that they often told her: “Killing really changed me.”

She started hearing the same complaint from veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but found “there’s not much discussion” about the issue in VA and Pentagon research. She and her colleagues decided to look into past research to see if there was a correlation between those who had killed and those who had mental health issues. They found that killing is “strongly predictive of PTSD.”

She talked to 259 veterans involved in the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study, and found that if a person had killed someone, they were 3½ times more likely to have symptoms of PTSD than someone who hadn’t killed.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/military_ptsdkill_112208w/