Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for March 04, 2011

OK, this part I totally get. After coming back from Iraq, I enrolled in some college courses. I didn’t get assignments done, and instructors bent over backwards to give me a chance to change my incompletes into grades. I never did finish those courses. I remember thinking “nobody’s in danger and nobody’s going to die if I don’t get the assignments done.” Eventually I got out of that way of thinking, but for a while it was how I judged the relative importance of things.

Chronic stress has many side effects. I remember a nursing study that demonstrated that patients undergoing stress reverted to lower levels on Piaget’s learning scale - people become more child-like in their ability to adapt to new situations. There are several rat studies that confirm this:

http://www.physorg.com/news168188476.html

Things never change. I had a similar experience at college in 1971. Having kind professors and a VA ombudsman on campus got me through two degree programs successfully. I actually tried to drop out in the middle of graduate school, but the VA ombudsman talked sense into me.

I appreciate your comments OshkoshJohn and Chrisnp because it lends real-life acknowledgement of what is being shown in this strip. I’m glad you both were able to work through your difficult times. Now, on the other hand with the comic here-May has had to relie on herself all the times that he has been away. So, she might as well continue. I mean, if she hasn’t divorced him yet after all his deployments she must not be all that upset about their “division of labor”.

It’s one thing to take care of everything when your spouse is away. It’s quite another thing to be alone when he’s actually there. Can she deal with the lack of emotional support? That’s a deal breaker for many women.

BTW, depending on the cause, a rattle in the van could become a life or death situation.

I think what Ray has in mind for his share of responsibilities is something on the level of defending the household against home invasion. Everything else is wifey’s responsibility.

Yeah, Ray, that’s going to work out just fine.

Ray… Not getting the cable bill paid IS a life-or-death situation!!!

Interesting that you mention that, Richard Russell. The MBTI was developed by the mother/daugher team of Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers to address the specific needs of women forced out of work when their hubbies came home from WWII. The assessment was created to help these women find suitable jobs that alligned with their work/life preferences.

Not all of them were happy sitting in the passenger seat, and the gradual success of women in the workforce led to the womens’ rights movement in the 60’s.

Chrisnp…I dropped out the first time around after I got out. I started to hang out with regular people, dating regular girls, and found my nich. Now I am working on my MBA. Stay the course and surround yourself with good people and it will come.

When I got out, my first job still entailed a lot of “life and death” stuff. I married, and my wife took care of the “small stuff”. Her patience got me through, school, raising the kids, the career, because she understood and “put up with” the PTSD. After 42 years, I bring in the money and she still pays the bills. Now our son is about to get a disability retirement/discharge, including PTSD, and we’re hoping he can find somebody slightly crazy to handle the “small stuff”. It is a division of labor- and worth the effort.

Woowie, I’d be inclined to hear May’s side of the story before jumping to the conclusion that she’s content with her lot.

She could be hanging by a thread too, parallel to Ray. Just sayin’.

There’s a rich seam here. What if the life-or-death vs. mundanity-of-civvie-life results in beatings? What if, after seeing her dad through one war and Ray through another (as in my mum’s case) she develops PTSD herself & manic depression into the bargain?

I’m excited and impressed with Ray’s latest storyline, both for soldiers AND their families. Here’s hoping GT explores May’s POV. My money’s on the affirmative. :))