“Now, he will spend a few sick years in Institutes,
And do what things the rules consider wise,
And take whatever pity they may dole.
To-night he noticed how the women’s eyes
Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.
How cold and late it is! Why don’t they come
And put him into bed? Why don’t they come?”
Disabled By: Wilfred Owen
I could have put this whole poem down for my entry, but I didn’t want to fill up with my blog with only that. But, in this poem, if you start from the beginning, describes someone sitting in a wheelchair, waiting for dark to come. This one vivid picture comes to my head. An older man, sitting on a street corner, possibly in one of his army green jackets, his medals and awards arranged on the breast pocket. Scraggly looking, not well taken care of or showered. and without legs. Owen describes, “Legless, sewn short at the elbow.” I also immediately consider this man to be just out of WWI, WWII or Vietnam. To me, Owen is describing a veteran, going through the really crappy part of coming home from war, experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), when we didn’t know too much about it.
PTSD is a scary thing. A lot more veterans are affected by it then we will ever know. I listened to a podcast through my spouseBUZZtalkradio feed and learned a lot about PTSD and what it means for the veterans and their loved ones. One of the huge differences between previous wars and our current, is numerous deployments. Meaning a soldier could come home for the war and could be deployed in a year, then home for another year and gone for two. This can be extremely hard on the soldier and their families.
PTSD is an anxiety disorder and similar to depression, can be treated easier if caught sooner. Soldiers have a hard time reintegrating into life back in the states, not being at their base any more but at home. Some will still check the perimeter of their homes nightly, constantly looking through the house to make sure things are as they should be and most commonly will have awful nightmares about the war. One women said, after her husband was deployed from desert storm and they were staying at Fort Bragg, she woke to him choking her in his sleep. Talk about scary!
My basic point of my entry is that a lot of the poems written by British poets of WWI could easily be connected to PTSD. But at the time, no one knew what that was.
October 19, 2009 at 2:51 am |
Chelsea,
Like you, my blog is also about the families of soldiers and how war effects them. In particular I also wrote an entry about PTSD and its effect of the families of soldiers. I think that this idea is very complicated and you pose some great ideas in your entry. For one, when you give the example about a veteran waking up in the middle of the night strangling his wife, I really stated thinking. As I talked about in my blog entry, so often these young men go away to war and return as a completely different person. The loved ones and family members can no longer predict or understand their soldier. Unable to understand what he/she went through while away, a barrier is put between soldiers and their families. Therefore, I think you nail it when you say that it’s scary. But, I think this goes beyond the actions of the people and more into the cause of these actions. I mean think about it, if these people are acting in this scary way, think about how scary war must have been to do this to them. If the effect is fear then fear and anxiety must have been the cause.
October 23, 2009 at 9:12 pm |
My blog is also about military families. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a major concern with veterans and current soldiers. I have read multiple stories about soldiers killing their loves ones and themselves because of PTSD. It’s so hard to hear these stories because I think we often wonder what could have been done to stop this. I understand some people are scared to open up and admit that they need help but maybe if we had more available resources for them it would be easier. I personally don’t know how someone could leave a war zone and not need some help dealing with everything they saw and went through. I have a couple of family members who have done multiple tours of duties and thankfully they haven’t suffered from PTSD. However, I know that one of them has had night terrors about being back in Iraq. It also has to be really hard for the families as well because war changes people. They leave as one person and can come back as someone completely different. I think it’s important to also educate military families about recognizing signs of PTSD and how do deal with it. I think as a county we need to provide more help for out troops.
October 28, 2009 at 4:57 pm |
[...] Comment Three [...]
October 28, 2009 at 10:14 pm |
I must say that you raise a very interesting point in this post. There was so much that no one knew about the condition of a soldier returning from war after World War One. It makes you think of how something like Post Traumatic Stress Order has plagued soldiers throughout all the centuries that have been witness to warfare. Your post also made me think of how heavy a burden this disorder can be, not only on the soldier, but on their families as well. I can help but ask the question, “why is there not being more done to help soldiers and their families who are subject to this affliction?” However it is good that at least we are aware of the problems and hardships that stem from PTSD. I feel that your post does a good job of illustrating what PTSD can do to a person through your citing of the woman who was choked by her husband. It is the kind of thing that turns all reason on its head and needs to be attended to. And posts like this one can increase awareness which can hopefully lead to change.
November 4, 2009 at 11:29 pm |
[...] Comment 2 [...]