Combat Stress.

Earlier posts on this Forum have prompted me to write this for the benefit of some of our younger posters.
My neighbour, a young man in his late twenties was honourably discharged from the British Army five years ago after service in Northern Ireland and the first Gulf war.
Over the past two years his mental health and drink problems have increased, also ascending violence towards his wife and children.
Normaly a nicer chap you would not meet but a few months ago he really flipped, fortunately S.S.A.F.A (Soldiers,Sailors and Airmen's Family Association) stepped in and he has been diagnosed with 'Combat Fatigue' and will receive hospital therapeutic tratment.

Case No.2. My late friend Albert landed on D Day with the Royal Scots Fusiliers, in the mid 1980's he had a mental breakdown, 'Battle Stress' kicked in after fourty years, he received treatment every year until his death just after the 60th. anniversary of D.Day when he insisted on returning to Normandy.

Case .No.3. My special friend and old comrade Walter joined the 1st. KDG in 1938. Served in North Africa, drove Marmon Harrington armoured cars, survived the siege of Tobruk, was wounded on the last day of the N.Africa campaigne. Landed in the invasion of Italy, finished the war there and was the posted to Greece to help sort out their problems. Finished his service in Palestine.
Guess what? broke down fourty years later, diagnosed with Battle Stress, which resulted in treatment until his death.
I visited him weekly and he told me things he did not tell the doctors, one event I believe was the main cause of his problem.
He told me of the time he was leading a car patrol in an Italian town, his sergeant said " Pull over to the station wall Walter, I'll take lead".
Twenty yards down the road the lead car hit a mine, the sergeant died and the driver lost both legs!
Walter felt guilty for this until his death, he felt it should have been him.
Sorry, rant over, but please, if anyone tells you that war is a game, don't believe them!
I visited him regulary until his death a few years ago.

KDG Marmon Harrington armoured cars breaking out from the Siege of Tobruk.

 

those "armoured" cars don't look so armoured!

Combat stress has to be a nightmare for all concerned, just look how many ongoing problems the US has from Vietnam, Korea and the 1st gulf war as well.

The one thing that surprises people when I mention my interest in war and material is that I have absolutly no intention of ever volunteering to join the armed services.

I have to explain th them that the more you read of peoples personal accounts the more you realise that war is horrible and not a game.

On the plus side you do appreciate how there is a bit of hero in a lot of oridinary Joe's who serve and how war whilst bringing out the worst in people also brings out the best.

I do think that our government is storing up a lot of problems in the future as our troops are as busy now as they were in WW2 and the threats are more insidious as there is just no enemy to fight.

FNG

 

One look at my grandfather's eyes, after he told me how they ran out of ideas on how to silence a screaming and begging Russian prisoner in Finnish winter war after they had breached the lines, captured the prisoner and were on their way back to their own side fifty years ago, told me that the things he saw and did in the war would live with him forever.

 

stress

Most unusual Hubsu, most people do not say anything.
50 years ago? 1957? :-?

 

In the war, my grandfather was tanker, and from what my mom has told me, the only thing that ever frightnened him to some degree was getting stuck inside a burning tank. There might have been more, but he if he didi he took them to the grave.

 

stress

CSP. it's not really to do with being brave or frightened, it's what kicks in years later.

 

just saying he didnt talk about anything after, only the one think that supposedly scared rather than anything else.

 

My Father, a Tank Company Commander in the 1st Cavalry Division, before, during, and shortly after the Gulf War, was stationed IN the Wadi Al Batin. The Wadi makes up the border between Iraq and Kuwait, it starts up in Saudi Arabia. Anyways, for a year after he got back he had flashbacks and dreams of when he was Over There. My mom on several occasions found him on top of the dryer, sleepwalking and shouting commands at his gunner and driver, like "Gunner, lase to target!" or "Driver, forward at 35kph!" My father still has flashbacks on occasion. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service.

 

I am not becoming a soldier.

 

Re: stress

My bad if I wasn't clear enough in my post. He told me about the moment what happened to him 50 years ago, to me 15 years ago. And I know that he hadn't told about what happened to him 1940 to anyone before that, until his 15 year old grand son asked him about "Please grandpa, tell me something about the war".

You have no idea about how that affected to me.

 

my dad ...though not a combat soldier for many years after vietnam the sound of helocopter rotors overhead would cause him to be slightly nauseus and break a sweat ...

 

My history teacher said that during ww2 that her uncle was a gunner in the merchant marine and on one convoy run nature called and he asked this family man to take his place for a few minutes.Well, while he was gone a U-Boat torpedoed or gunned(probably gunned, cause the ship was still around after) the boat and blew the temperary replacement to pieces.Afterwards, he naturally felt terrible and it didnt go away when the chaplain told him it was his fault. Well, anyways he was sent home.After the war the guilt he experienced prompted his family to send him to get electro shock treatment, which pretty much destroyed his rational mind. For example, back in the 60's he was tricked by someone into selling his television for $10. If I remember correctly he forgot most or all of the war because of the elctro shock treatments.

 

That's interesting,
In my trainning as a combat medic,i was only taught how to handle a combat stress casualty in the midst of battle...i didn't really know it'll kick in years later.

 

An old friend of mine, Who worked for my Dad for sometime, served in North Africa during the war and on various other fronts, but I never heard of him having combat stress, he might not have shown the effects of it to us, but he didn't talk about the war at all until the last 2 years of his life, when he told us a couple of stories.

 

i know a guy who drove truck in vietnam ..he saw some lil action ..other trucks hit mines sometimes ..he was a heavy drinker then and now too...he told me his freinds in the va told him his heavy drinkin was the result of pts ..he gets $2200 per month now ..he told me ...dang i didnt even know i had post traumatic stress ,but if they say so ....i notice in the luftwaffe fighter command in ww2 ..guys would be wounded or crippled up bad in crashes ,burns ,bullet holes ,broken backs ...but apparently pst was not allowed as these buggars went back into combat even when their ground crew guys had to lift them in and out of the cockpit .a thousand combat missions ...or more ..3 months 6 months 9months or more in hospital ,serious back injurys , full traction ,for MONTHS limbs shot away ..ENDLESS CRUSHING PAIN.... but alas ...NO PST ...strange huh? ..is there no such thing as pst ..of course not ..is there TONS OF BULLSHIT if theres a nice pension ...you know it !!!...ww2 combat vets often had night sweats ,dreams ..survivor guilt ..sleepless wives ..did it stop them from getting on with working and raising the baby boom (us ) ..of course not ..a fact of life press on shut it away ..try this think of all the dead guys and legless guys ..guys still moldering in the jungles or supine under 6000 feet of inky icy seawater forever ...see ,feel better now ..? thata boy! go GET EM TIGER!!!

 

stress

woody... Bull****

 

theres lots of people that went to war and came home just fine. and theres lots of people that went to war and came back "messed up"



just saying....not everyone who goes gets stress, it differs on the individual.

 

I've never had any contact with someone suffering from PTSS, but we see many cases of "burnout" at work. I must admit that I've always had trouble sympathizing ("I/others have gotten through this, why are you so weak"), as the burnout cases usually seem to have less stressfull jobs than many others. Yet the statistics put the fakers at around 10%, even allowing for a "bleeding heart" factor of 100%, that still means that 4 out of 5 are really suffering from burnout. One of the factors seems to be the amount of percieved control you have over events. The more control you have, the lower the risk. Combat must certainly be a low control situation.
As with most things, there must be a spectrum of results and individuals that more prone.

 

merlin ..you think the drunkin truck driver is due his two thousand a month then ,cause hi buddies at the va told him to applie....tell em you drink cause you have bad dreams about driveing drunk in the nam ,man...i confess i was sceptical of an army nurses claim of pts while she served a year in the khe shan area...i red her excellent book "home by morning " and ...i was very wrong ...you guys ever have to do the same repetative task so many times ..that when you close your eyes at night ...you still see the task?...i her case she would see bloody body parts ...12 , 17 ,25 hours nonstop drenched in blood ,the endless stream of medivac choppers with mangled young men ..truely horrific ..i gained new respect for army mash people....docs ,nurses ,corpsmen

 

As a baby-boomer, all of our fathers were WW2 or Korean-War vets.
We grew-up around these people... and knew them all of our lives.
I can't remember any of these people talking about the war, or sharing any stories with us kids. Most of them went-on to raise families, and prosper in life without us ever the wiser about their roles in the war.
Most suffered quietly.
One old fellow was in submarines in the Pacific. He was an auto-painter and repainting my Toyota some years ago. He told me he was under depth-charge attack once for 17 hrs. Most terrifying experience of his life.
I went to school with the daughter of our towns' only MOH winner. He was wounded repeatedly in tackling german machine-gun nests in Italy. I never knew him except as a town merchant--a furrier--in spite of the fact the local airport was named "Kisters Field" in his honor. It wasn't until years later that I realized who he was.
Sometimes it takes years for these compartmentalized issues to work their way back to the surface. One way or another, you have to deal with these memories. Some adjusted better than others to peacetime.
I've built a few models for WW2 pilots or ground-crew that prompted the sharing of stories. They are a national treasure of experiences... but not always pleasant ones. Sometimes it helps to talk about them, but generally they don't share these stories... except with their peers.
I once followed a trio of older gentlemen--obviously WW2 USAAF aircrew-- around a B-24J Liberator that came to town and was on display at the local airport. They talked in hushed tones, gesturing with their hands... and I expect shared stories they hadn't told a soul since the war ended.
I was respectful and kept my distance, taking pictures of them framed by the massive bomber in the background. The looks in their eyes told me they were back over Schweinfurt... the flak was very heavy, and the Focke-Wulfs were coming back for another pass.

Tim