Analytical Writing Essay

PTSD

On a quiet Sunday night of March 11th, 2012, Sergeant Bales of the U.S. Army came in with full tactical gear and massacred sixteen Afghan villagers, nine of them children and seven adults. The alleged U.S. soldier walked approximately one mile away from his base and killed the villagers. Was it intentional for Sergeant Bales to kill the villagers? Robert Bales was stationed at Fort McChord before getting sent back overseas for another tour of Afghanistan.  According to New York Times post, "More Scrutiny of Lewis-McChord" about Fort McChord, this joint-base has a history of not adequately treating servicemen who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (Yardley).

               In the movie “Saving Private Ryan” (Spielberg) James Ryan revisits the graves of the men who saved his life. His tears shed down his cheek, understanding that the men he looks before his feet are the same men who saved his life. I believe in this scene, Private James Ryan suffered PTSD, seeing that he regret the decision he made, staying back. If he would have never stayed and left when Captain H. Miller asked him too, their men would have survived. Following Private Ryan, a flashback is started and goes back to when Captain Miller is on a boat, ready for the invasion of Normandy.

I suggest that the government needs to give more open therapy sessions towards the veterans. First of all, it would give more jobs to citizens as well as helping the veterans. We need to let these soldiers know that we are here for them, for which they have someone to talk to about their problems.  Not only do the soldiers who come back need help, but also the families who deal with the problem held within their soldier. Service members who come back are trying their very best to learn how to adapt to their new environment of peace and quiet, not warfare. The government needs to provide a service of teaching family members  the skills necessary to help military service members live the life back at home in the United States, not in Afghanistan nor Iraq. 
             Doctor Harry Croft of "Healthlyplace" stated that PTSD is a psychological and emotional disorder to the brain and sometimes follows a traumatic event that has occurred in that individual’s life. This particular event usually involves the death of someone close, close to dying themselves, or even serious bodily injuries that creates feelings of fear or helplessness. Some symptoms of PTSD include re-experiencing events of the trauma through upsetting images or memories and in most cases flashbacks. (Croft)

The article “MaketheConnection” (Escovito) explains one soldiers experience with PTSD. Former Marine Corps Sergeant Bryan Escovito quoted “There was a time when there was just no laughing.” On October 11th, 2011, Bryan joined the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and talks about how PTSD can affect anyone and what you can do to resolve it. PTSD gives you the feeling of being emotionless or “numb” (Escovito).  The disorder is most likely to develop among people who suffer from traumatic events, have less support, or fail to express their feelings to those who are comfortable talking about their problems.

          In the states, about 30% of men and woman who have spent time in warzones suffer from PTSD. An additional 20-25% has had partial PTSD in their lives (Wheeler). PTSD is a common issue due to the fact that many veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are coming back. PTSD is a disorder that we have to start paying full attention to. If not, problems such as the massacre of the sixteen villagers may occur again but this time in the states. Who knows what will happen when they are back in the country.  The government needs more programs and services to help the veterans live and adapt to their life coming back to the U.S. Professional psychiatrists believe that PTSD can be lowered or prevented by early encouragement of sharing an emotional experience, however scientific research has shown that sharing these problems have little effect to the disorder. Once the individual suffers from reoccurring events and trauma, the most effective solution is antidepressant medications. Although this idea is great, we cannot rely on this medication to simply ignore the problem. We need more accurate and effective programs to guarantee the provided positive service to the soldiers.

             We are the most powerful military in the history of man. Today’s war; the Common Era in which we are learning to use modern tools of warfare is treacherous. Every fight is our fight and we are the ones who pay the price. Warfare means the brink of man, to our bodies and our brains and to this, PTSD becomes the enemy.

             Saving Private Ryan. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Tom Hanks and Tom Sizemore. DreamWorks, 1998. DVD.

United States. Make the Connection. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. There Was Just a Time When There Was No Laughing. Bryan Escovito. Web

What Is PTSD? Perf. Doctor Harry Croft. Healthyplace, Janurary 4th, 2009. Clip.

             Wheeler, Elizabeth. "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder." Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs, 2007. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.ptsd.ne.gov/what-is-ptsd.html>.

              Yardley, William. "Home Base of Accused Soldier Has Faced Scrutiny." New York Times. New York Times Company, 13 Mar. 2012. Web. 1 May 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/us/more-scrutiny-of-lewis-mcchord-home-base-of-accused-soldier.html>.