If you look back in history you will see that things are no different than they have always been it is just magnified and intensified now by publicity. There was moral corruption dating back to the beginning of time that is well recorded in history, mass murders and depravity are nothing new.

Agree. The only thing different is the immediate availability of news through advancements in technology.

In this day and age I don't think Hitler would have been able to use his ultimate solution. News would have somehow leaked out through technology on what was happening. Although, we knew what was happening in Bosnia and we had the technology and the world did little to stop that, so who knows!!!!

In the UK what we now accept as PTSD. was often put down as LMF. (Lack of Moral Fibre, ie, cowardice) on soldiers records during WW1.
Later during that war it became known as Shell Shock, and began to be accepted as a medical condition. But still the attitude of many was "Pull yourself together, and get on with it"
In later life I realised why my own father, when he came home from WW2 was a bit 'different' to other dads.
His Infantry regiment fought across N.Africa, and up through Italy, so he probably had PTSD. God knows what he saw and had to do, because he never ever said a word about it to anyone. He found his peace in Spiritulism. I wish he had lived longer, so I could have spoken to him about it when I was older, or even just got to know him better, but he died five years after he came home, a stranger to me really.
All them years ago, and I still feel so sad when I think about it.

My father in law was a purple heart veteran and he never spoke about it to anyone, even his wife and sons even though he lived into his eighties. I don't know how he dealt with it but he somehow did.

First of all..............Thank you all for your service to our country. I think this is one thing everyone on ToTV can agree upon (there ain't many blanket agreements).

Second, thank you for the information on this thread.

My father served in WWII & Korean War. He is still alive, but he too has always been very quite about his service to our country. Proud, just very quite. He has mentioned friends who have had many difficulties in the immediate return years.

My uncle Bill lost a leg, arm and part of his skull as well as 6 of the other members of his 8 man squad when a Panzer tree burst hit above them when they were landing on Anzio.

I took care of him for three months before he went into a nursing home in Itasca, IL and he would sometimes have daytime terrors where he would be reliving some event from the war especially that landing on Anzio. Other times he would ask a family member if she too saw the naked Indian in the room. Not sure if he was pulling our collective legs or not.

He was quite the Itasca hometown hero and treated extremely well but just about everyone. Quite a nice man as well as a WWII hero.

Did have some mental problems from the war injury especially as his age brought on dementia and other problems. I was in Itasca in the Fall of 1994.

I helped other vets when I volunteered at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hospital in Reno, Nevada in 1977-1978 for a year of Saturday afternoons. These were from the Spanish American War through Vietnam.

The Vietnam vet had fallen out of a helicopter and then later played a game with a pool cue up his nose and got bumped by a "friend" and it went up into his brain. He did have various cognitive problems because of this injury.

None of these vets in the long term care section of the hospital seemed to want to talk about their war experiences that I can recall.

A number of them passed during that year of Saturdays unfortunately but these were for the most part those who were pretty much confined to their rooms because of their medical conditions.

Absolutely not. I just wanted to educate myself about the very real, serious, health issue. I only mentioned the previous generation as a comparison to try and understand if, due to the stigma, they just buried their pain and did not get the help that anyone should be entitled to. That includes everyone, including first responders and all those affected by any trama.

I apologize as I am very new to TOTV and in no way was I questioning this vet real, serious health issue.

I made this comparison as an example only as I was wondering why, the past generation was so silent when many of them went through extreme trama. I think I have gotten a good response and going forward will have a better understanding. I would never doubt this diagnosis.

Thank You for following up Clydles1, You are well within the boundaries of asking a GREAT question to get knowledge and speak about a very important subject. I'm thrilled to see that your inquiry was asked to learn and not in a negative fashion. You might be new but I feel like I can speak for several people by saying welcome to you Thank You for educating me by starting this thread.

A person in my life took his Silver Star license plates off his vehicle after his last tour. He closes the blinds, is fanatical about home security, worse than others I know. He had been Clean and Sober for over 20 years before his last tour. He is not anymore. He wants to talk about it but can't. One of the people who had his life together the most out of many that I know and now he has seized up. So sad to see this GREAT person hurt so bad.

One other person I know has suffered since 9/11 and it is not good. Some things can't be unseen.

My uncle was on a destroyer in the Pacific Fleet during WWII and saw many of his comrades die. He suffered from depression for years afterwards, but came around with lots of support from his local VA Hospital.

Clyde. You do not have to apologise on here. The majority understood your OP and answered accordingly.

You are very right in saying that PTSD is not limited to the military. I think the study of brain related matters is just beginning to be understood and therefore we are seeing more diagnosis's like this for things that were just previously chalked up as mental illness, alcohol or substance abuse.

True true. My husband got a bronze star in Vietnam. Absolutely will not discuss Vietnam except on an extremely superficial level, and is the kindest, best father and husband. Some can handle it better than others. We will never know what he went through, and we respect his wish to not discuss.

The only thing he ever said... when he got back from Vietnam and returned to his parents' home, his mother used to rattle the screen door handle vigorously to call the cat in at night. It would make him sit stark upright in bed, thinking it was gunfire. She quit doing that.

I read an article one time about a study they did on children who had been through severe circumstances, poverty, abuse, homelessness etc. Some never lost hope and made it through to a better life and some just gave up. They said they felt that some of these children possessed "survivor genes" which I found to be very interesting since I think genetics affects so much in our lives.

After having reread the initial inquiry, and Nucky's response to it, I don't see anything there that would warrant such a talking down "mansplain". The inquiry posed a legitimate question. Things and times do change, so what was once known as "shell shock" is now PTSD, and treated differently than it was in the 40's and 50's. Just as the term "consumption" was later changed to tuberculosis.