Ishmael Beah Child Soldiers Poem

Hundreds of thousands of United States veterans are not able to leave the horrors of war on the battlefield (“Forever at War: Veterans Everyday Battles with PTSD” 1). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the reason why these courageous military service members cannot live a normal life when they are discharged. One out of every five military service members on combat tours—about 300,000 so far—return home with symptoms of PTSD or major depression. According to the Rand Study, almost half of these cases go untreated because of the disgrace that the military and civil society attach to mental disorders (McGirk 1). The general population of the world has to admit that they have had a nightmare before. Imagine not being able to sleep one

Over the last decade, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have drastically increased the need for effective mental health services and treatment for U.S. veterans and service members, especially those suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Nearly 1.5 million American service members have been deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) since the attack on the Twin Towers in September 2001 (Price, Gros, Strachan, Ruggiero, & Acierno, 2013). Approximately 25% of soldiers and wounded warriors returning home from OEF/OIF present with mental illness due to combat-related violence and other trauma exposure (Steinberg & Eisner, 2015). According to Price and colleagues (2013), OEF/OIF soldiers and veterans are at greater risk for developing mental illness compared to others who served in past military operations.

The second part of the book takes an uncompromising look at the difficulties this entailed for the boy soldier and his peers, who for a long time resist the most determined efforts to restore their humanity, their anger at having been taken from their family. Children are meant to be protected from violence and war. They are extremely vulnerable both physically and psychologically, to abuse and misguidance. They are easily influenced by those around them because they are young and incapable of forming independent opinions. Adult soldiers at Ishmael’s base were snorting brown brown and smoking marijuana, Ishmael, as naive as any child would be, was influenced by these people and looked up to the adults as role model and leader and so he began to do it as well. “I took turns at the guarding posts around the village, smoking marijuana and sniffing brown brown” The job of a soldier is to fight wars, to take lives, to kill if not be killed. If these children are taught hatred

War is a traumatizing experience for anyone, but especially for children. A Long Way Gone demonstrates how a child’s innocence can be taken away

Ishmael wants American readers to know that war is brutal. Americans tend to romanticize war. They believe war involves people committing great acts of heroism and bravery while fighting to protect the love of their life. Ishmael knows that is not what war is like. There is no romance; and there is no heroism involved in war. It is terrible people doing terrible things. War takes humanity away from people. They turn into animals who just kill and torture people. Everyone else is running away from the war just to have the war catch up to them. Americans do not see the honest truth of war, and Ishmael wanted to change that by telling his story of war.

During the war, a significant amount of things happen to different groups of families in their homeland. There are soldiers that are fighting for the protection of their families and there are many families that are doing anything in their power to stay safe through the chaos. Yet a number of the individuals involved in the conflict have a tendency to try and escape the madness. In spite of the madness, some children have the advantage to escape yet they are equally impacted with long term trauma by the war as those who did not have the opportunity to depart.

Being in war is definitely one of the most life changing events a person will ever have whether it be for the better or for the worst. Soldiers will witness events that are impossible to forget or see back at home in the states. Some soldiers may have even seen one of their best friends that they’ve known for forever get blown up into pieces right next to them, or they might even get one of their own limbs blown off of their own bodies, becoming handicapped for life. As a result of seeing something so intense like that, most soldiers are usually traumatized. In matter of fact, a great amount of soldiers are traumatized from the very beginning of being in war. It’s without a doubt difficult to deal with this but there are some ways where

Introduction: In  order  to  stop  the  spread  of  communism,  America  joined  the  vietnam  war. Many  young  men  were  drafted  into  this  war,  with  no  other  options  but  to  go  or  to  be  arrested.  Many  were  terrified  to  go  into  the  war,  and  tried  to  flee  the  United  States.  The  main  problem  was  not  even  just  during  the  vietnam  war,  it  was  after  the  war  was  over  and  troops  were  sent  home.  This  problem was  known  as  shell  shock,  or  what  we  now  call  Post  Traumatic  Stress  Disorder  (PTSD).  Throughout  the  turmoil  and  pain  of  the  Vietnam  war,  many young  soldiers  were  emotionally  distraught  and  treated  poorly  in  their  return home,  each  with  their  own  load  to  bear.

Children exposed to violence within their communities are left with emotions of hopelessness, insecurity, and doubt. Historical events such as the war on terrorism, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the tragic events of September 11th have had a detrimental effect on the entire nation, including the children. Although every child is not directly affected by the aspects of war, it somehow has an emotional effect on all. The involvement of a nation with war affects every individual differently, whether it is out of fear, anger, doubt, hope, or love. In the short novel A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, he narrates the story by telling his own involvement in the Civil War in Sierra Leone as young boy and the many issues he faces while living in

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (commonly known as PTSD) is an important issue associated with military soldiers. The primary focus of this paper will be on the causes of PTSD and the effects it has on returning soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I will attempt to elaborate on the soldiers' experiences through my own experiences in combat both in Iraq and Afghanistan. I will explain what PTSD is, look at the history of PTSD, how people get it, and differences of PTSD between men and women, and treatment options.

Men are always last, women and children always go first. But in a war so brutal even the youngest of boys are treated as adults and feared like criminals. The Bite of the Mango and A Long Way Gone show exactly how men and women endure a distinct type of pain throughout this war. Being a boy means a lot to the rebels. They can use you to fight their war, ignite fear into people’s life and destroy as they

Even though soldiers are able to distract themselves from the horrors that they witness on the front, war psychologically damages them and creates the “lost generation”. The young men find it increasingly difficult to think and act with the mindset of a civilian. In war, the men only experience despair, death, and fear, so their mind is enveloped by negative thoughts that

Military Pathway (2013) concluded “Military life, especially the stress of deployments or mobilizations, can present challenges to service members and their families that are both unique and difficult”. Hence, it is not surprising that soldiers returning from a stressful war environment often suffer from a psychological condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This paper provides a historical perspective of PTSD affecting soldiers, and how this illness has often been ignored. In addition, the this paper examines the cause and diagnosis of the illness, the changes of functional strengths and limitations, the overall effects this disease may have on soldiers and their families, with a conclusion of

When soldiers get deployed the main goal is for them to complete their duties and make it back to home just like they left. Getting back home in one piece includes what is inside as well, the brain. The complex system that runs everything from your emotions, anxiety, optimism, pain management and impulse control is shaken up by extreme experiences like exposure to death or dreadful experiences. War veterans may experience flashbacks, nightmares, intense anxiety, panic attacks, depression and self-destructive thoughts or actions long after the trauma has occurred. The cause of this is because the neural pathways in the brain have actually been damaged and transformed by that experience, this is called Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.

“When I was in serious danger I was almost completely paralysed by fear, I remember sitting with a coffin (a fellow soldier) on the fire-step of a trench during an intense bombardment, when it seemed certain that we must be killed”(The Psychological Effects Of The Vietnam War). Our soldiers that we send to war to protect us against the countries trying to harm us are put into dangerous situations that affect them physically and mentally and leave them with permanent damage to their minds and bodies. The server damage that our military soldiers faced when returning from war is PTSD which stands for post traumatic stress disorder and is the most common disorder that returning soldiers are diagnosed with , but a more tragic diagnosis from war