PTSD, an equal generational stalker

If you watched Ken Burns The War, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. PTSD has not changed since the beginning of time other than the name they call this stalker.

stalker
–verb (used without object) 1. to pursue or approach prey, quarry, etc., stealthily.
2. to walk with measured, stiff, or haughty strides: He was so angry he stalked away without saying goodbye.
3. to proceed in a steady, deliberate, or sinister manner: Famine stalked through the nation.
4. Obsolete. to walk or go stealthily along.
–verb (used with object) 5. to pursue (game, a person, etc.) stealthily.
6. to proceed through (an area) in search of prey or quarry: to stalk the woods for game.
7. to proceed or spread through in a steady or sinister manner: Disease stalked the land.
–noun 8. an act or course of stalking quarry, prey, or the like: We shot the mountain goat after a five-hour stalk.
9. a slow, stiff stride or gait.


Origin:
1250–1300; ME stalken (v.), repr. the base of OE bestealcian to move stealthily, stealcung stalking (ger.); akin to steal

You heard the stories of the men addressing the horrors of combat held so freshly in their minds that these events could have happened yesterday. These elderly people very well could be the same people having trouble remembering if they took their medication or not along with a lot of other memory problems, but not the memories of combat and the traumatic events they lived thru.

When you read history books encountering stories about combat, you find the same ability to report on events as if you were there in that moment through their vivid retelling. Combat does not leave them just because they leave combat. It follows them home. No matter what generation they belong to, what nation they fight for, some will be stalked by the ghosts others left behind.

The WWII veterans, Korean veterans, Vietnam veterans, Gulf War veterans and veterans of Bosnia, Somalia are no different than the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans making the news today. The difference is, the media has finally discovered they are worthy of telling their stories covering what happens when they come home.

VA therapy gives elderly vets chance to talk

By Dan Olson - Minnesota Public Radio News
Posted : Tuesday Jan 13, 2009 10:24:17 EST

RICHFIELD, Minn. — Eighty-six-year-old Don Frederick sits in the Ranger room in his Richfield home. It’s where he keeps his World War II mementos — maps, flags, photos, emblems, diaries, medals, books and more.

His war stories run the gamut. They include warm memories of welcome wartime respites in scenic Italian seaside towns to recollections of brutal training, bad food, terrible weather and the horrors of combat.

Frederick was a Ranger in the Army’s 4th Ranger Battalion. He recalls an assignment in a raid on a German base in North Africa to capture 10 prisoners for interrogation. Not many of the enemy soldiers surrendered willingly.

“A lot of them were shot, a lot of them were bayoneted, a lot of them were grenaded with hand grenades,” he said. “If they didn’t give up right away, why, they were put aside.”

“Put aside” means killed.

Several years ago, the Veterans Administration realized some older veterans are troubled by the memories of war like these, even more than 60 years later. The VA estimates that one in 20 older veterans have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from traumatic war-time experiences. click link for more