Posted on May 25, 2016
What Civilians Don’t Want to Hear About Combat and What Veterans Don’t Want to Admit About...
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The importance of training transcends the battlefield. For many combat veterans, training off of the battlefield is just as important.
What Civilians Don’t Want to Hear About Combat and What Veterans Don’t Want to Admit About...
Posted from marchonveteran.com
PTSD
Leadership
Motivation
Transition
Training
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 8
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I don't understand this article a all. I loved combat. There is nothing that makes me angry. I take pride in knowing that a civilian will never know what it is like. There are not words that can describe it. You have to be there in order to understand it. That makes us combat vets special.
This article is one persons opinion. It again plays on the persona that civilians believe, once you are in combat that you become mentally unstable. I am a normal human being. I have killed and people have tried like hell to kill me. It just goes into the life experiences file in my mind. It does not define me. Saying things like, "It makes me angry" leads people to believe all combat vets are angry. This is not the case, why play into the stereotype?
If I met a Formula F-1 driver I would ask him what it is like to race a Formula car because there is no way I will ever get to experience it. He can tell me all about it, but it will never be the same as actually driving a F-1 with the G forces, the smells, or the excitement of actually doing it. Describing combat is not different, yet people will be curious. There is nothing wrong with that.
This article is one persons opinion. It again plays on the persona that civilians believe, once you are in combat that you become mentally unstable. I am a normal human being. I have killed and people have tried like hell to kill me. It just goes into the life experiences file in my mind. It does not define me. Saying things like, "It makes me angry" leads people to believe all combat vets are angry. This is not the case, why play into the stereotype?
If I met a Formula F-1 driver I would ask him what it is like to race a Formula car because there is no way I will ever get to experience it. He can tell me all about it, but it will never be the same as actually driving a F-1 with the G forces, the smells, or the excitement of actually doing it. Describing combat is not different, yet people will be curious. There is nothing wrong with that.
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SGT Jeff Decker
Thanks for your comment. I'm with you SGT Howell. I loved combat too.
My intention of writing the article was to demonstrate the irony of feeling at home in war and an outsider at home; to convey some of the difficulties that go along with fitting back in. Although I did mention being angry, the anger I spoke of was about not being able to hit the ground running in the civilian environment and for not being able to adequately articulate my thoughts, not necessarily because of any mental instability. Sure my experience relates closely with other people's experiences, but I don't think that I'm playing to any stereotypes in a negative manner. If anything, I'm trying to bust the stereotype that veterans are damaged by discussing how training can help them overcome challenges in the civilian arena as well as the military.
My intention of writing the article was to demonstrate the irony of feeling at home in war and an outsider at home; to convey some of the difficulties that go along with fitting back in. Although I did mention being angry, the anger I spoke of was about not being able to hit the ground running in the civilian environment and for not being able to adequately articulate my thoughts, not necessarily because of any mental instability. Sure my experience relates closely with other people's experiences, but I don't think that I'm playing to any stereotypes in a negative manner. If anything, I'm trying to bust the stereotype that veterans are damaged by discussing how training can help them overcome challenges in the civilian arena as well as the military.
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SPC Andrew Quinn
I agree, I was told that it was not possible for me to like or love it. It was not normal. But it is what I spent my career training for. It is a rush I guess you can say. It don't make me unstable, I still know the difference in wright and wrong. I think Sgt. Howell hit it direct.
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Civilians don't want to hear the truth about what went on, their sheep, they only believe what the news tell them.
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