Purple Hearts for psychological wounds

[Dilloduck]

Popping a pill is in no way the same as regrowing your arm back.

and being psychotic is no more fun a piece of shrapnel in your ass.

[Abbey Marie]

Perhaps they could make everyone happy by making up a new award for mental problems/PTSD: The Purple Brain.

[Dilloduck]

Perhaps they could make everyone happy by making up a new award for mental problems/PTSD: The Purple Brain.

Naaaaa---lets continue to pretend there is no such thing as psychiatric trauma caused by combat situations.You can't see it so it must not exist.

[glockmail]

Maybe they should issue the medals right out of boot camp like they do the beret. That way everyone in the Army can look good and be a hero from day 1. They could set up a serving line, like at the chow hall, and let the guys come through and pick the medals they want.

I like it. Let's call it the "John Kerry Medal Line".

[glockmail]

Perhaps they could make everyone happy by making up a new award for mental problems/PTSD: The Purple Brain.

Good one.

[Dilloduck]

Anyone who can't take the stress of battle is a pussy anyway---Slap em around like MacArthur did.

[glockmail]

Anyone who can't take the stress of battle is a pussy anyway---Slap em around like MacArthur did.

Wasn't that Patton?

[Gaffer]

Anyone who can't take the stress of battle is a pussy anyway---Slap em around like MacArthur did.

That was Patton. And a lot of guys don't carry around the stress of battle as much as the stress of the guilt trip placed on them by the liberals after they got back.

There is PTSD, it's just not as extensive as it's made out to be.

[Abbey Marie]

Naaaaa---lets continue to pretend there is no such thing as psychiatric trauma caused by combat situations.You can't see it so it must not exist.

I don't think anyone here is saying that these psychological effects are imaginary, though you seem to be saying we are. I am certainly not.

But you really don't see a difference in terms of medal recognition, between a severe wound/amputation caused directly by the enemy you are fighting, and a psychological problem caused by your reaction to the situation?

[Roomy]

Grow up you thick cowardly bastards.It is very real and very serious.Taking cheap shots like you've been doing pisses me off.

[Dilloduck]

That was Patton. And a lot of guys don't carry around the stress of battle as much as the stress of the guilt trip placed on them by the liberals after they got back.

There is PTSD, it's just not as extensive as it's made out to be.

Indeed there is PSTD. Maybe not as extensive yet far more debilitating than most realize. Far more debilitating than MANY physical wounds. I see no reason at all to not honor those who have it instead of telling them to just buck up and be a man.

[Gaffer]

Indeed there is PSTD. Maybe not as extensive yet far more debilitating than most realize. Far more debilitating than MANY physical wounds. I see no reason at all to not honor those who have it instead of telling them to just buck up and be a man.

I have never said they should not be honored. As I said before it is real, there is just a lot more people claiming to have it than really do. Any extreme conditions can cause PTSD, not just combat. But I don't think a medal for the condition is right, because it can't be proven. And a medal isn't going to make them better.

[Yurt]

I have never said they should not be honored. As I said before it is real, there is just a lot more people claiming to have it than really do. Any extreme conditions can cause PTSD, not just combat. But I don't think a medal for the condition is right, because it can't be proven. And a medal isn't going to make them better.

interesting. it is true that a medal will not make them better, then again, neither will it change a physical wound. if PTSD cannot be proven, how do we know it exists? and why is the military considering it?