By James Dao / The New York Times The act of killing is as fundamental to war as oxygen is to fire. Yet it is also the one thing many combat veterans avoid discussing when they return home, whether out of shame, guilt or a deep fear of being misunderstood. But a new study of […]

It’s been a year since Paul came home from Afghanistan. Last year, on the week before Christmas, Kelly & I were busy making preparations to pick Paul & Mark up from the airport together. We bought new clothes; we made hotel and restaurant reservations for the homecoming weekend; we counted the hours, minutes and seconds […]

  This post was written by Eddie Black, a former Marine and current National Guardsman. It was written to explain the military culture to new military spouses. Indoctrination We are a nation of many colors, religions, and ethnicities. Joining the military means giving up much of this and assuming a new identity. It takes a lot […]

I received an email today from an Army Commander who had just learned that Paul and I divorced. He told me that he was planning a relationship workshop for his troops, who are currently deployed. I wrote back, telling him that I thought it was a wonderful – and much needed – idea. Then, as I mulled over […]

Military Experiment Seeks to Predict PTSD By Alicia Chang / Associated Press Two days before shipping off to war, Marine Pfc. Jesse Sheets sat inside a trailer in the Mojave Desert, his gaze fixed on a computer that flashed a rhythmic pulse of contrasting images. Smiling kids embracing a soldier. A dog sniffing blood oozing […]

The Sensitive Soldier: Can US troops be rewired to be impervious to trauma? In the wake of Fort Hood, Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum launched a groundbreaking program to eliminate PTSD. By Gail Sheehy / The Daily Beast “How am I going to get people to focus not on tragedy, but on resilience?” Brigadier General Rhonda […]

Today is Veteran’s Day. And your 33rd birthday. I guess there was no way to avoid thinking about you today. But the truth is, I think about you a lot. I think about you every time I update this blog. Every time there’s a story in the news about a soldier that was killed; or […]

Here’s some powerful testimony from SSG Eddie Black, a veteran of the Marine Corps (Desert Storm) and the Oregon National Guard (OIF2) about his return from combat. Eddie now gives free talks for veterans on PTSD. You can email him here.     “When I got back from Iraq, all I wanted to do was go […]

Here is a fascinating interview that aired on public radio in San Diego, CA. It discusses the effects of repeated deployments on service members and their families. MAUREEN CAVANAUGH (Host): I’m Maureen Cavanaugh. You’re listening to These Days on KPBS. Being sent overseas to a war zone as part of America’s volunteer military is a […]

By Craig Cole & Lynn Salsi In a May 2008 “Washington Post” article, “Official Urged Fewer Diagnoses of PTSD,” staff writer, Christopher Lee reports on the Veteran’s Administrations attempts to give less Post Traumatic Stress Disorder diagnoses to veterans in order to save money. (C. Lee, Washington Post) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, is is […]