Re: How about the mission to win the war?


marcia wrote:
johngohde@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
It is an ALL volunteer military the last time I checked. Therefore,
the recruiters are supposed to be very selective. I don't see why they
would admit let alone keep mentally ill individuals during basic
training. These people should have all been weeded out during basic
training. Good enough to follow orders and survive basic training
training, then you are good enough to fight.

Ir is very well publicized that being in the National Guard, let alone
the Army, is tantamount to committing suicide since our soldiers in
Iraq are being used for target practice, random mines on roads, etc.,
etc. etc. And, that the leadership of the war has absolutely no
intention of doing anything other than waste time, money, and human
life. I have seen nothing to suggest on the media that they have a
clue about how to get the job done.

You would have to be crazy to enlist to begin with to ever want to go
to Iraq, when what happens in Iraq has nothing to do with anything
anyhow. We got all this debt. And, no gasoline over a totally
meaningless issue.

None the less, it always up to the individual to exercise their options
even if they are mentally ill.

John, they are sending people back into battle that military doctors
have diagnosed with PTSD. PTSD, you may know, is Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder. It's an *acquired* mental illness people get when exposed to
extreme stress and horror. *Anyone* can be susceptible to it. These are
people who were very likely fit to serve when they enlisted but who,
due to the horror of combat, developed PTSD. PTSD is a *serious* mental
illness, and should result in being sent back to the states and
receiving medical treatment and counseling.

If someone joins the military, goes to war, and THEN develops mental
illness (e.g., PTSD), they *have* no options. The military *does not*
allow people to exercise any options other than following orders or
facing court martial.

Other people may have been stably mentally ill at the time they
enlisted, then experienced an exacerbation of their illness due to
extreme stress. If someone is schizophrenic or bipolar or seriously
depressed and perhaps actively psychotic, they have severly dimished
capacity to make sound judgments, or to act in their best interest or
that of their fellow soldiers. They become a danger to themselves and
*others*, and I'm not talking about the Iraqis.

Would you like to serve beside someone who might kill you, thinking
you're the enemy? Or who might kill themselves in front of you (and
others) because they can no longer handle the stress?

Do you think it's ethical to force someone with severe and active
mental illness to fight a war, exposing them to stressors that will
only make their condition worse, and denying proper treatment for their
illness?

You do know that those who survive will eventually reenter society. If
they're not removed from the military now, and continue to be exposed
to war rather than receive appropriate treatment, what will happen when
they join your community?

So, what are you going to do about it?

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: How about the mission to win the war?
    ... would admit let alone keep mentally ill individuals during basic ... PTSD, you may know, is Post Traumatic Stress ... It's an *acquired* mental illness people get when exposed to ... extreme stress and horror. ...
    (sci.med)
  • Schizophrenics mainly hurt themselves and their families
    ... The real risks of mental illness ... The true dangers posed by the seriously mentally ill are still poorly ... People with schizophrenia are much more likely ...
    (uk.philosophy.humanism)
  • Re: Fort Hood shooter
    ... life, etc., it is more an illness, as per the NIMH. ... Making a diagnosis of "This person has PTSD." ... the police responsible for clearing the bodies out of "Piper Alpha". ...
    (sci.military.naval)
  • Re: Fort Hood shooter
    ... life, etc., it is more an illness, as per the NIMH. ... The diagnosis is within the umbrella of "This person has PTSD." ... after the war. ...
    (sci.military.naval)