We have forgotten important lessons. During WW-2 we did not let our troops go directly home after the war. They went to rest camps all over the world. They were evaluated by medical staff and many went to Psych. Hospitals. This was very necessary because the Marines and Army soldiers, on those islands and Europe, were under such tremendous combat stress. These forces in the Pacific were sent to rest camps to unwind. But because of aircraft transportation, during Korea, Vietnam and now the Middle East, troops can have been in Indian Country for months and within hours they are back in the world. This has got to be a shock to the system. But it has been overlooked. At the very least they should come home on a ship with an on-board medical staff. I look at the Vietnam vets and how the country rejected them. How they had real difficulty readjusting and some never did, readjust to American life.. .We see now the men coming home questioning, why they were spared and a friend wasn’t? They have not been told, this is how it is after combat. Even the film, Saving Private Ryan, dealt with some of this type of thinking. Remember at the end he asks his wife to tell him he was a good man. She just didnt get it, but she said the words because she loved him and he asked her too. Its time to remember lessons lost.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 18:10:25 +0000