Time is the greatest enemy for combat veterans

Time is the greatest enemy for combat veterans

by
Chaplain Kathie
Right after a traumatic event during combat, every part of the survivor is affected. Without realizing how much they are paying attention to, every single image is engrained. Sounds are recorded. Emotions are uploaded. Physical reactions are stored. It all gets linked together, joining forces, ready to be reactivated for a full blown assault. The enemy rests, strengthens and is fed by all other following events. They build up forces as one is promoted in rank of importance. This commanding event gains all control ordering the warrior to destroy itself from within. The enemy is PTSD and the greatest ally is time.

For Vietnam veterans 40 years or more has passed since the time they walked the paths through hell. Most were still teenagers, now in their 50's, 60's and 70's. Now they have children serving and grandchildren growing up approaching the age they were when they ended their life as a civilian becoming a soldier. For them, just as every generation before them and after them, they would never again know what it is like to live as a simple citizen untouched by the price paid by others for their sake.

When they came home, aside from the appalling reception and dismissal of their sacrifices, they were left to suffer in silence alone. No one wanted to hear anything. No one paid attention to this;

The conflict that raged in Southeast Asia produced more than its share of heroes. In all, 239 persons who served in Vietnam received the Medal of Honor, beginning with U.S. Army Captain Roger Hugh C. Donlon for his conspicuous gallantry in defending Camp Nam Dong on July 6, 1964.
Vietnam War Medal Of Honor

or to this

Colonel David Haskell Hackworth, U.S. Army (November 11, 1930 to May 4, 2005), received three Silver Stars for gallantry in action during the Korean War, and then earned seven additional Silver Stars for gallantry in action during the Vietnam War, thus making him the holder of the most Silver Stars by any service member.
Vietnam Silver Star Record Holder

or to things like this

Vietnam War Casualty

CACCF Record Counts by Year of Death or Declaration of Death (as of 12/98) Year of Death or Declaration of Death Number of Records
1956-1960 9
1961 16
1962 52
1963 118
1964 206
1965 1,863
1966 6,143
1967 11,153
1968 16,592
1969 11,616
1970 6,081
1971 2,357
1972 641
1973 168
1974 178
1975 161
1976 77
1977 96
1978 447
1979 148
1980 26
1981-1990 34
1991-1998 11
Total 58,193

They were not heroes in the minds of the American public. They were shadows of "the greatest generation" not welcomed into their groups and no longer welcomed into civilian society. They were "baby killers" and "druggies" on menial jobs trying to fit back in and prove themselves as worthy of inclusion into the role of veteran. The news focused on the image of "crazy Nam vets" even though they returned just as all other generations had, with a yolk around their neck pulling them back into combat readiness and PTSD trying to finish them off. All other generations under different terms/labels were haunted by this but the Vietnam veterans, despite the American public's attempt to ignore them, managed to take on another battle of getting them to help them heal.

All advances in mental health came because they never lost faith in the American people but we still ignore how much they contributed to the rest of us. Whenever we face traumatic events, crisis teams respond because of them but less than half of the Vietnam veterans seek help to heal after their own traumas. Some because they never understood what became of their lives was forever altered by facing death for this nation's sake. Some because they have been taught to suffer in silence because that is their burden to carry alone. For others, as of the last study, 200,000 lost all hope and ended their own lives.

Today, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are able to seek treatment for PTSD, receive support online, hear of news reports covering this wound, yet still, less than half needing help seek it. The VA is overloaded with veterans seeking help to heal from the two new wars and a trickling in of Vietnam veterans finally understanding they can seek help to heal as well.

The number of Vietnam vets receiving PTSD treatment more than doubled between 1997 and 2005, swelling from 91,043 to 189,309, according to the latest figures available from the government.

The "sharp recent growth" in PTSD treatment among Vietnam veterans is "puzzling" to Robert A. Rosenheck and Alan F. Fontana of the VA New England Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center.

"Combat ended in Vietnam 30 years ago, and a growing volume of veterans seeking help for PTSD would not have been expected so long after the traumatic events took place," they said in their article in the journal Health Affairs.


It doesn't puzzle Dave McPeak. A Vietnam veteran himself, McPeak has been counseling vets at the VA Vets Center in Greentree since its opening in 1980.

A licensed psychologist, McPeak attributes the increase to several factors, including retirement. The average Vietnam veteran now is 61.

"They have time on their hands," McPeak said.

Busy raising families and building careers, Vietnam veterans were either too preoccupied to be troubled by wartime memories or, like Merwin, managed to mask them, McPeak said.

"This is pure PTSD," said McPeak, comparing the Vietnam veterans now in counseling with earlier veterans, who frequently were ensnared by either drug or alcohol abuse. Most of those veterans now are dead, many living only to their 30s or 40s, McPeak said.
More Vietnam vets seeking PTSD help

Iraq and Afghanistan veterans face the same enemy of time. As time passes by, PTSD gains more power. This enemy shows no mercy on the veteran or their families. It is a destroyer but it is not unstoppable. The sooner they receive help, the better the outcome, but as time passes without treatment, there are pieces of their lives that cannot be reversed simply because as time passed by other events contributed to what PTSD began. No matter what treatment they seek, time is the determining factor of how well they will heal. This concerns all psychologist. With the backlog of claims, lack of specially trained PTSD experts and therapists able to treat the veterans and their families, time gains more control over them.

For Vietnam veterans, even after all these years, it is not too late for them to heal and defeat the enemy within them, PTSD. They are seeking help in higher numbers simply because they have more understanding that their are not doomed to live with the ghosts. While there is still no cure for PTSD, much of what they suffer from can be healed and for what cannot be healed, it can be subdued with medications, therapy, spiritual healing and counter terrorism tactics over their emotions. They can learn to calm down their physical reactions fully engaged in flashbacks and nightmares, ease hyperirritability and find peace, forgiving themselves as well as the way they were mistreated.

Had most of the Vietnam veterans been helped early on, mild PTSD would have never gained total control over their lives. When they were able to "deal with it" other events followed awakening the enemy with a vengeance because they were pushing it back instead of finding ammunition to fight against it.

Now they grieve for the lost years they suffered in silence, the end of relationships because PTSD had control over them, the friends they lost, the jobs they lost, but above all, the years they lost existing instead of living. They grieve for this generation knowing that today is the day they should all begin to heal so they do not suffer the same condemnation of their souls needlessly.

Service groups, now headed by the same veterans not welcomed after Vietnam, are pushing for greater help for the newer veterans and taking the lead in delivering them even as they struggle to obtain it for themselves.

There are no more excuses for anyone to dismiss or hinder the recovery of our veterans. Long gone are the days when anyone can dismiss the human that existed before combat and the one wounded after it.