Soft Spots : A Marine's Memoir Of Combat And Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

War has always existed. Although the purpose of war varies, the outcome is the same; many lives are changed and ruined. War is often used to gain power, resources, and land, but it disregards the lives of those fighting the fight. Martin Luther King stated, “The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.” In three selections, “Medevac Missions,” “A Journey Taken with my Son,” and “At Lowe’s Home Improvement Center,” readers come to understand the truths of wars’ impact on the lives of those surrounding the soldier. Their friends change, their physical and psychological states change, but the hardest truth is adjusting to life back at home. Soldiers experience many life changes during active

Each year, thousands of soldiers travel miles away from home, risking their lives to defend their country with a mentality of being the predator and not the prey-”kill or be killed.” These soldiers respected by most citizens for their actions- ending the lives of others. While people focus on these dauntless actions, nobody seems to question how the war emotionally and mentally affects these soldiers. Soldier's Home, by Ernest Hemingway, and Speaking of Courage, by Tim O'Brien, are both stories that explore and describes a veteran’s post-war return and adjustment to home. Hemingway writes a story about a soldier's detachment to his loved ones and unwillingness to readjust to the life he had departed from.

The rambunctious behavior of the soldier’s triumphant victory is a strong message visually for the viewer. These soldiers struggle to find their identity and once the war ends, the identity they’ve build at war vanishes, (McCutcheon, 2007). As a result, they essentially lose a part of them selves, (McCutcheon, 2007). When they return home, many soldiers struggle with psychological issues that prevent them from resuming their once regular lives, (McCutcheon, 2007). The images of soldiers celebrating at the end of war give the viewer a taste of this problem. This also allows the viewer insight to the deeper issues surrounding an American soldier’s mental stability and mentality. Through this image, along with many others throughout the film, the viewer is able to dig deeper and truly analyze what they are seeing.

The psychological effects, the mentality of fighting and killing another human, and the sheer decimation of human values is what makes war atrocious. War is not only fought on the battlefield though. This book also describes the feelings of a soldier fighting his own demons that war has brought on. The battle that the soldier has with himself, is almost if not more damaging than the physical battle of war. He will never forget his experience with battle, no matter how hard he tries the memories of artillery, blood, and death cannot be erased. “I prayed like you to survive, but look at me now. It is over for us who are dead, but you must struggle, and will carry the memories all your life. People back home will wonder why you can't forget.” (Sledge). This struggle still happens to soldiers today. Sledge’s words of the struggles still captures the effects of warfare that lingers today. The other effects that war has on the men is the instability that surrounds them at every hour of the day. They are either engaged in battle having bullets and artillery fired at them, or waiting for battle just so they can be deposited back in the pressure cooker of survival. “Lying in a foxhole sweating out an enemy artillery or mortar barrage or waiting to dash across open ground under machine-gun or artillery fire defied any concept of time.”

In this particular article, five authors collaborated and discussed the recent innovations in the PTSD treatment field such as new technologies and family/spouse therapy, where veterans who are diagnosed go through therapy sessions with a family member or spouse instead of alone. This article is extremely credible because it has five authors that are all in the medical field.

In the article Atonement, author Dexter Filkins tells the story of an incident involving a United States marine, Lu Lobello, and the Fox Company battalion. The Fox Company was a U.S. marine unit deployed in the 2003 Iraq war and Lu Lobello was one of the marines in the unit. Atonement captures the painful reconciliation between the military unit and the Kachadoorian family while at the same time informing the American people of the suffering that occurs beyond the battle field. Dexter Filkins utilizes this piece to emphasize the inadequate treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and to highlight the consequences of the ill-defined rules of engagement and their effects upon veterans return to civilian life.

Beginning my love of reading an early age, I was never the type of child who was drawn to fictional stories. As an 8 year-old child in West Virginia, I was recognized by the local library for my love of biographies, autobiographies and recollections of world events. This love has continued throughout my adult life, desiring to read novels such as “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young” by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore rather than watch the major motion picture “We Were Soldiers” starring Mel Gibson. Even though the motion picture received multiple awards, when reading the recollection of Mr. Moore’s accounts, the feeling of loss, distress, anxiety and fear can be felt in each word that he has written while reliving this horrendous war.

War can destroy a man both in body and mind for the rest of his life. In “The Sniper,” Liam O’Flaherty suggests the horror of war not only by presenting its physical dangers, but also by showing its psychological effects. We are left to wonder which has the longer lasting effect—the visible physical scars or the ones on the inside?

Throughout many wars that the United States of America had endured within the 238 years, recently America have another war to handle which is Military Sexual Trauma. Only recently the social media decided to take part of acknowledging that many veterans have mental health issues. However, they are mainly focusing on one problem which is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The society needs to learn that PTSD isn 't the main source of conflict for active service members and veterans. There is a secondary leading mental illness that these soldiers are experiencing and that is call Military Sexual Trauma (MST). Although the public has not mentioned or announced the existence of MST. As a member of the community, we need to teach the world as well as one another the meaning of Military Sexual Trauma, the effects of it that cause individual to have certain symptoms when dealing with MST and lastly the different kind of treatments that are offer by the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to assist many family members, friends and spouses who have MST because it is the secondary leading mental health problem for veterans right next to suicide.

For the seventeen Soldiers portrayed in “The Things We Carried” by Tim O’Brien, the physical pain was very minimal weight to carry compared to the emotional scars that they will carry throughout their entire life. This story does an amazing job portraying full human emotion that anyone put into a situation would feel, such as heavy guilt, sadness, anger, lack of motivation, perseverance, horror, and false security. All of these are notorious feelings that every soldier back in history, and now still feel when they are on a mission. “The Things They carried” shows a deep vulnerability of everyday human’s thought process during times of great stress, that before, wasn’t considered by the general public and media when speaking about what it

During the time of World War II, America fought to end the tyranny of Nazi Germany by using its most valuable tool, the Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne. The author Stephen Ambrose catches a glimpse of what these heroic soldiers accomplished in his book Band of Brothers, by providing readers with interviews of first hand encounters on the battlefields of Europe, from former paratroopers that served in the 506th Regiment. Ambrose’s book depicts how the spectacles of war create everlasting scars on soldiers mentally and physically, that never fully heal.

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

he let his friend go, but it always stayed with him and eventually led him to take his own life. The effects of war on soldiers often involve emotional issues, not only physical.. Many soldiers suffer from a condition known as posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. PTSD is the result of severe trauma. Soldiers who have this condition often have flashbacks in which they relive memories they have from war.

I joined the Marine Corps looking for a challenge. I wanted to open doors for a new career and longed to have a positive impact on the world around me. Looking back five years later, I realize I found all that I originally sought, but I’ve also found something profoundly satisfying and meaningful that I never knew I was missing.

I am currently in a situation where I need someone with whom I can share all the traumatic experiences I have been through while fighting as a soldier. I suffered every day I fought at the war front, and the mere thought of you gave me the power to keep going. With each wound on my body, it was with your name on my lips that I was able to endure the pain.