My thoughts exactly. Thank you.

I will answer for my very active 95 year old father who was a medic in WWII, and served in the Battle of the Bulge. Five years ago he was diagnosed with PTSD, which wasn’t known about years ago. But the affects of the war had troubled him for a lifetime. The country rallied around those who served in WWII, and they all became heroes, which became a stronger focal point for them, instead of the emotional damage done. Korea and Vietnam soldiers fought and served valiantly, but we’re scarred emotionally and physically, and I believe were more alone with their experiences. They did not receive the same public support for their efforts, and had to internalize many of their feelings. PTSD is real. And you can’t just ‘get over’ the past. Nightmares and daily living are more difficult, a constant in their lives. That’s why here in The Villages we honor everyone who has served our country in the military. I hope that Veterans feel loved and appreciated here. Those of us who never went to war should always show honor and great appreciation to these men and women. To all of our veterans, we say “Thank you for your sacrifices and service.” Your lives have made a great difference to us! Michele Uss, Virginia Trace

I agree. There is much in today's research that suggests that the physiogony of the brain and behaviors may well be an inherited trait and the ability to withstand stress, as well as greater or less ability in social interchange is genetic. Dr. Ursula Bellugi at the Salk Institute has contributed greatly to this theory.

Having said that, some things happen to people at a vulnerable time in their lives and it changes them and they are unable to live without terrible memories that make them incapable of normal living. I think that humans are compassionate with others to the degree they have insight into this problem. Some people are born with less or more compassion and more or less mental ability that education cannot change, and insight cannot change. That makes crime and punishment a whole new issue. I don't know how future generations will deal with behavior that falls out of the perimeters of acceptable and "normal".

I think most responses address the issue of PTSD ... and I'm left wondering if the question was meant to imply that PTSD is not real.

If that's the implication then I'm hoping that the questioner will find that it is real - that it applies to first responders to terrible accidents as well as soldiers. The 911 Responders suffer as well. So do many cops and firemen.

And it has affected soldiers who never saw battle at all - because the training exercises to "get soldiers ready" for battle exposed them to massive brain trauma.

If anyone believes this is a diagnosis made up by some particular group - think again.

My 28 year old son died of an accidental overdose on Sept 22nd. He was an Iraq veteran diagnosed with PTSD and was on 100% disability. He had been out of the Army for 5 years and those 5 years were a nightmare for him and his family. He completed several programs to try to get better, even going to VA programs out of state because he wanted help. The last 5 years have seen times of hope and times of despair. Times of sobriety and times of relapse. He and we always held hope that things would get better but they would for a while only to return. He could not sleep, could not maintain a relationship with a significant other, and his anxiety in social situations was off the chart. I say this because before I had a family member with this problem I was skeptical of PTSD but never again. I hope the OP wasn’t inferring that, and I assume he wasn’t. I know whatever it’s called , whether battle fatigue, shell shock, etc. the horrors of battle in all wars, whether the Civil War, WW II, etc has left veterans that were never the same.

Although this post was originally about post-war survivors, the concept of resilience is the survivorship of trauma. Some people have it and some don't, but we aren't sure why. My Dad survived the Battle of Okinawa in WWII after his ship USS Hugh W. Hadley (there is a website) was bombed. We were fortunate to attend several of the reunions and hear the stories that these sailors shared. It was in this shared experience that these sailors had bonded as survivors.

Traumatic events affect everyone, but not everyone displays what we call PTSD. (In the future, terms may change as we learn more and better identify signs and symptoms.) Dad had this resilience and went on to live a wonderful and productive life.

We see this in children as well...some survive poverty, trauma, abuse and become productive citizens and some do not. There is work going on to figure out why and how to develop resilience. Think of hammering nails into a 2X4 and then pulling them out. The holes are still there, but some compromise the integrity of the board and some do not. It affects their learning and their development of social relationships. I could go on and on, but simply wanted to respond to the query with children. Finally, treat everyone with respect. We have no idea what they may have survived.

I can try. It's always been an after effect of war, it just didn't have that name before, and we didn't have the Internet so we didn't hear so much about it. After returning home from Vietnam, my then brother in law shot himself in the head, in his parents home on Christmas Eve...... he died Christmas Day. As I said, it's always been an after effect of war, now it has a name.

Resilience, that is exactly the term that was used in the article I read. Thank you for reminding me. I find these studies fascinating.

My heart is breaking over the responses I have received. I thank you all and hopefully I can use this knowledge and help. I would encourage anyone suffering not to be afraid to reach out. Mental health is just as important as physical!

I remember my uncle who was in ww2, they also called it war nerves. I guess for a lack of a better term?

My father-in-law was in Korea. He was in a jeep when they think a bomb went off in the road. His next memory was being in the hospital in Japan. He spent about a year in rehab in Michigan. A metal plate was in his head. He never learned what happened to the other man in the jeep. He went on an honor flight but did not wear the jacket from the trip afterward. He did not want to discuss his experiences. One of the ways he coped was by going to church almost every day. He would go on his lunch hour when he was working. After he retired he went to church almost every day. He was a kind, gentle man, great husband, dad and grandpa. He died last November at age 87. The war was something he kept inside, he did not share his experience with even his wife or kids.