The things they carried was a book about all sorts of things. It ranges from war, death, guns, food, love, and emotional distress. I’m here to talk with the people who don’t generally understand or grasp the concept of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the book the men in the squad go through hell they see and hear things that no human being should see or experience in his life. The team went through so much that they were all rather scarred for life or dead. Emotionally the things they carried were heavy and weighed them down.
In one section of this book a man gets his girlfriend at the time shipped over to the Song Tra Bong medical camp where he was stationed. In short time the war had already taken its toll on the young lady. Mentally it had damaged her and changed her. “Her body seemed foreign somehow – too stiff in places, too firm where the softness used to be. The bubbliness was gone.”-the Sweet Heart of the Song Tra Bong. The men who survived the war were not better off than the men who died. The living had to witness the horrifying deaths of their platoon members with every detail of it. In the end the men who survived had wished they didn’t the emotional scars that they have are far worse than the battle wounds they had. Battle wounds healed but the emotional toll they took went deeper than a bullet ever could.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a reasonably large issue with me when I was of the age 12 my cousin (whom I adored) had returned from the war. Before the war he had been bright and shiny. He was kind and was always really outgoing. No one ever asked him if anything was wrong because it never was he was always so vibrant with everyone. When he went off to war at first he sent my family a letter every week. About 3 or 4 months in he was stopping, he didn’t seem to take the time to really write to us anymore, even when he did send us letters they weren’t meaningful. Finally, on October 17, 2012 he finally returned but he wasn’t the same. He had a new found stiffness and when he was around it felt like all the happiness was sucked out of him he never seemed happy anymore. Honestly as blunt as I could put it he was dead inside. That’s when he started acting up and showing symptoms of PTSD.
To the families of war and people who don’t quite fully understand the issue of PTSD. This is a serious issue not everyone is willing to help or at least support the people who suffer from Post-traumatic stress disorder. Around 7-8% of the population suffer from PTSD at some point in their lives. About 8 million adults have PTSD during a given year. This is only a small portion of those who have gone through trauma. About 10 of every 100 women (or 10%) develop PTSD sometime in their lives compared with about 4 of every 100 men (or 4%) http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/PTSD-overview/basics/how-common-is-ptsd.asp
To help the person you love that has PTSD you can do simple things to help them including not pressuring them into talking about it because it makes them very uncomfortable, Doing normal things with them, let them take the lead, manage you own stress, and be patient. https://www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/ptsd-in-the-family.htm
I really want things to change when we receive word that someone has PTSD. Its not easy to understand and comprehend the things that they do and y they do them. I want all of you reading this to understand that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a serious emotional disorder. People with PTSD want to be treated as equals but with all the ignorant people out there no one is willing to take a stand or change the world just by understanding so help me make the world a better place spread the word on PTSD help other people become more of this serious issue. Thank you.
