Jeff Danziger for February 07, 2013

If he thinks of what he does as other than a video game, he may very well suffer PTSD.

This is why we shouldn’t be sending drones after American citizens.

Yes, I enjoy Orson Scott Card’s style. Ironically, I came back here to post that, in regards to my previous post, I keep getting a popup on this site for a “Call of Duty” game.

Not only cowardly, but totally unconstitutional. google “Bill of Attainder” and see why our constitution specifically forbids it (Article I section 9)

This. Shell shock/battle fatigue/operational exhaustion/PTSD is from seeing the horror and feeling guilt associated with fighting a war. It’s never been treated enough. Not after WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, or any of the conflicts in the Middle East.

In fact, even the Nazi Death Squads suffered from nervous breakdowns and had to be rotated. Sort of reassuring, actually — even those driven by categorically evil principles and convinced they are doing the “right thing” killing innocent people still get hurt by watching others get hurt and die.

Plus one to that. Taking a life, even under the most justifiable circumstances, tends to mess a person up, unless they are sociopaths.

Since you seem to be mining the depths of psychology, maybe you could enlighten us as to what encourages such behavior? I believe if you could get to the root cause of the problem it might be more constructive socially. After all, people aren’t born “chickenhawk gun nuts.”

I’m afraid I’d have to see evidence of your premise for the statement “guilt at having taken so many other lives.”

My own personal experience, many, many others that I have known and cared for, whether serving in harms way or not suffer from PTSD. Women and children victims of domestic, sexual and physical abuse are not initiators of violence. Auto accident victims didn’t initiate the violence against them. Policemen, firemen and paramedics function in a completely opposite role than the initiator yet often suffer from PTSD. I included a link that is not a “scholarly” article, but one that I think illuminates the circumstances around PTSD.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Cause-and-Effects-of-Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder&id=514048

Another American gets to go home. What’s the problem?

It’s only a matter of time before others use drones against the US. Will we like it just as much then? So much for “fighting over there so we won’t have to fight them over here”……

“Who said anyone is convinced they could kill someone and not experience emotional consequences??”There have been some very glib comments here about shooting the bad guys.Whining about “offensive attacks” & turning around & doing the same doesn’t enhance your credibility.

“Ender’s Game”, great book and series.

Only having 46 years of experience with PTSD, my own, there are many I’ve known over the years who share the condition who did not have “face to face” confrontations. One friend was a medic, first in Japan, then at Letterman, he had one of the worst cases of PTSD I know of, and never set foot in ’Nam. HIs was the result of caring for the very most damaged coming back from that war, day, after day, for three years.

For those “civilians” passing judgement, or just spouting off, I can say only one simple fact. Relative to “normal” people in the civilian population, NOBODY who’s been in actual combat is “normal”, ever again. Now adapted, and “adjusted”, yep, most do handle it, MOST of the time. Those who claim “hero” status, who claim it didn’t affect them at all, were obviously REMFs, who one usually finds, never even set foot in the combat zone.

I CAN see how, with the cameras these pilots have, and the “after action reports” they have to file, could well lead to PTSD, especially when it comes to that little thing called “collateral damage”, which still happens quite often, and is far harder to accept, than taking out an obvious combatant. Of course when “face to face”, it IS easier to accept the taking of that obvious combatants life, but you aren’t the same afterwards, even if it’s only once. As the numbers rise, so does the difficulty in coping.

Some very good thoughts posted under this cartoon. I’ll repeat the opinion of an A10 pilot who worked on the drone program after the first gulf war. He thought it was a form of terrorism and dishonorable. He felt the same way about cruise missiles. He showed me pics of holes in his plane.I fear remote weapon platforms could be turned on their users but generally approve of being able to kill legitimate targets without endangering our sons and daughters.I am glad to see more people willing to recognize the dangers of PTSD and providing treatment instead of scorn for our soldiers. I am also grateful for the commentators who noted PTSD is suffered by many who have been part of truly horrific and/or helpless situations. As we recognize the symptoms, we are better able to seek a cure.My thanks for the many well thought remarks above.RespectfullyC.

You can laugh all you want about drones, but many other countries are perfecting them also. Payback is a b#%*? isn’t it?

No security clearance with a drinking problem.The man in the cartoon would not have the assignment.

I think this raises an interesting question. Previously, war was a collective experience shared with your comrades in an environment at times extremely hostile & stressful with frequent long periods of inactivity (stressful in the field and often boring back in camp). But always consistent in its separation from normalcy and family, and its confinement to the field. PTSD is psychological affliction caused by what has been seen, experienced and carried out, which often begins to manifest itself on the return to normalcy and family. However, how much of this stress is mitigated by the shared experience in a communal environment, how much is dealt with amongst friends and comrades and how much can the subconscious come to terms with its experience before returning to normalcy?

What kind of stresses are these guys under, performing acts of extreme violence remotely, from an environment safe from physical attack, going from that to the family dinner table to get up the next morning kiss their kids goodbye, maybe drop them at school before going back to war? I think a lot remains to seen how they and their families are affected by this.

One thing I am sure of is that war of any description leaves no-one involved unaffected.

exactly. being sold the drone program. so economical…..bargain….no boots on the ground, just anguish all around & immoral barbarism. et tu Obama?

drones don’t kill people. people pressing the buttons to send drones to destroy people kill people. & they’re “just following orders” doncha know.

now we can shoot fish in a barrel. and we too are the fish.

idealistic morons who live in glass houses don’t throw stones at name-calling simplistic thinkers who live in glass houses

" I swear to defend against all enemys, foriegn AND DOMESTIC