Mentally tough and wounded heart

by
Chaplain Kathie
Mentally tough and wounded heart? Can the two exist together? Absolutely and they prove it everyday. Their buddies come before they do. The mission comes before they do. It all comes before the pain they have inside.

Stop and think about something. War is about killing the enemy they are sent to fight when they cannot get them to simply surrender and they are trying to kill the other side just as much. With death all a part of war, what would stop them from just walking past the wounded if it was all just a matter of fact in war? What would stop them from just leaving the dead where they fall and walking away? What stops them is their heart. These are their brothers and sisters. They've been adopted into a military family when they come into their unit and they know they can trust their buddies with their lives, trust the fact they will make sure they get home again, one way or another. They also know that they may have to do it for one of them.

They have courage enough to train to use the weapons used in war all the while knowing the other side is also preparing. They have the determination inside of them to withstand endless hours of pushing their bodies to the limits of endurance. They come to terms with the fact they will have to leave their parents, spouses, kids and friends for a year or more, existing on emails and care packages to stay connected to them. Physically trained and mentally prepared to do what their country asks them to do, they go. There is no weak mind in them. They have a committed mind and that requires strength to do it and the courage to face the chance of not making it home alive.

When their "family" is wounded, they risk their own lives to help them, rescue them or collect their bodies. No matter how much they grieve, they push on and keep going for the sake of the others. Mentally tough? You bet they are. I don't know about you, but honestly, I'd be the first to ask to go home. It took me years to understand what is in them that enables them to do what they do.

We know they are bright because they learn how to fight and brave at the same time because they are willing to risk their lives to fight. We know they have courage because they are able to risk their lives to save the lives of their friends and for the sake of whatever the leaders of this nation ask of them. So how can it be that anyone associated Post Traumatic Stress with being mentally weak? What is all this nonsense about? Where does it come from?

The vast majority of the men and women serving, just as those serving in past conflicts, finished what was asked of them, setting aside the pain that was already inside of them. Maybe I should stress the word "pain" because pain does not live in the part of the brain that runs intellect, courage or determination. It lives in the part of the brain that controls emotions and there emotional pain beats. Call it that heart or call it the soul, call it whatever you want, but each and everyone of us have different levels of emotions. Different levels of caring, sympathy and empathy just as each of us have limits on what we are able to do. For them, they have all the above but what they are able to do even with the pain inside, is remarkable.

They don't stop the battle so they can go talk to their boss and ask to go home sick. They finish what they are doing because lives depend on them. Is that weak minded?

No matter how drained they are, they push on. No matter how much nightmares rob them of rest, they get up and do what is asked of them. Is any of that from the weak minded?

They go without sleep, without regular meals, endure heat and other hard weather conditions, without any of the creature comforts the rest of us take for granted. There were no umbrellas in Vietnam with monsoon rains and no air conditioners in the jungle. There were no rubber pants to walk around rivers, streams and rice fields. No air mattresses to lay down on instead of the earth. Just as there are harsh living conditions in Afghanistan and Iraq today, they still go on. Is any of that possible with a weak mind?

I just did a post on military police called the Spartans. Spartans Living the Soldier Creed It's about what is posted right here and what is inside of these men and women. If you can't understand the difference between what comes from being strong of mind and wounded in "heart" then I think you have the problem you want to turn around on them. Apparently your mind is just not strong enough to learn and see this wound for what it is.

There was a time when they were the ones to feel ashamed but that was in a time and place when we just didn't know any better. Yet when you look at history, you see that even without knowing what caused this, there was compassion for the wounded. Yes there were some blaming the wounded but even with them pointing fingers, there were those who had the an understanding that it very well could have been them stuck by it. We ran out of excuses a long time ago just as information removed any thoughts of the world being flat, information has left behind the uninformed being as ignorant as the flat earthers thinking they're going to fall off the planet. Now we know that anyone attacking those wounded by the trauma they live thru are the weak minded ones and unable to learn or feel anything for the wounded. Must really suck to be them! I'd rather spend time with PTSD veterans than waste a second on people just too dumb or lazy to learn anything about them. They used to call PTSD Soldier's Heart. I guess you have to know a soldier's heart by using your own one first.