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Blogs > gymrat1974 > ManwranglerJen

PTSD is not a diagnosis of the weak.  

gymrat1974 49F  
1056 posts
10/4/2016 7:26 am
PTSD is not a diagnosis of the weak.

I hadn't read what Trump said yesterday about veterans and mental health when all the accusations started flying, so at first I couldn't comment on whether or not it was taken out of context. I could only say that it makes no sense that any soldier, active or veteran, votes republican. If our soldiers are coming home and committing suicide, it is because they are not receiving the support they need. Programs are cut, funding is reduced, and we have a lousy congress to thank. Republicans love to go to war, and they love the proceeds from the war. Unfortunately, our soldiers pay the price, either in bloodshed or emotional trauma. Some things just cannot be unseen. It doesn't make them weak. It does make them have needs that aren't being met. And I can say that Trump absolutely said something negative about veteran affairs in the recent past, and his party is indeed to blame for that. So no matter what he happened to say in this latest speech, he's a hypocrite and an unworthy of the support of our military. You can't support taking away the funding then attack the program and still come out with clean hands. If you want the program fixed, Herr Trump, then insist money be allocated for it. Don't attack it.
However, after discovering what he did say, I believe people are suitably angry. I know I'm angry. This sounds like an underhanded attack to me. To suggest some people are stronger than others like it's a good or bad thing? Like it's a judgment for anyone to make? What makes someone tougher? What's the deciding factor on when it's acceptable that you come home with PTSD? If you lose one friend and someone else loses three, is it more acceptable for the guy with three losses to suffer than the guy with one loss? Or maybe it's a proximity thing. Maybe the guy whose buddy died in his arms is more entitled to PTSD than the guy whose buddy died three feet away. No one is entitled to make these judgments. No one with any decency would. No one knows why some people cope with things differently than others. It isn't right or fair to point out that some people come home with greater or more lasting effects than someone else. And truly, how do you measure the effects? Guilt, shame, depression, anger, and regret are things our soldiers return home with. Anger might make you punch a wall, and depression might make you put a gun to your head, but neither the cause nor the effect is measured differently. Some people just live to tell the tale. And I will add that everyone is affected in some way. Sometimes it takes years to manifest, and sometimes it manifests in ways you wouldn't recognize as PTSD or military related at all. Therefore, to all the people thinking his words were taken out of context, they weren't. As a mental health worker, I know good and damn well that there is a stigma attached to mental illness, and Trump's words played right into it. No matter how you slice it, Trump doesn't deserve your vote; he doesn't deserve my vote; and he sure as hell doesn't deserve the support of our military.

I have one final thought on the matter, if you can believe I am capable of a final thought on any matter. Whether it's been stated or merely implied, I know that what Trump is doing when he picks on the mental health of our veterans and soldiers is actually taking a swing at President Obama. If he's talking about the weakness of our military in any form or fashion, it's a statement against democrats in office, specifically our current administration. As if President Obama had any physical involvement with the training of our soldiers. As if the training of our soldiers could in any way speak to their mental health once they return home. This, in and of itself, is an underhanded attack against President Obama and military officers, and it's a warning of sorts not to elect Hillary because she would provide more of same. However, PTSD is nothing new. The name is relatively new, but it's no different from shell shock or battle fatigue. Were the veterans who came home with those afflictions weak, too? Were those afflictions the fault of a president, too?

mc_justmc 63M

10/4/2016 3:55 pm

 Sometimes I think this is all a ruse, nobody can possibly be that ignorant.


gymrat1974 replies on 10/4/2016 5:00 pm:
My aunt is convinced that Trump is nothing more than a mole designed to get Hillary elected. She has believed since he decided to run that the entire thing is a sham, and she believes it more and more with each ignorant ugly thing that he says. I know a lot of people believed from the beginning that his running was some sick and twisted joke, but there really isn't much logic to saying he's a mole. If that were the case, where's the party's true nominee? Why would the republican party simply give us this election? Why are so many of the party itself supporting him still? I could see him being a democrat mole, but why would the republican party participate in such a mess? Why would they destroy themselves so readily/handily? How did they convince millions of people to vote for him in the primaries over the dozen or so worthy (snort) candidates who were running against him in the primaries? And even if he were just a mole saying such things for giggles, what does it say about the republicans who continue to say they will vote for him, regardless of his ignorance? No, he's not a mole. And he certainly wasn't orchestrated by our party, so why on earth would the Republican Party allow itself to completely implode just to get Hillary Clinton, their dreaded adversary, elected? I'm well aware that many people want to call Hillary a republican lite. But if that were the case, then republicans everywhere would be the ones flocking to her, including my aunt, the republican, who absolutely hates her.

Beyond all that, Trump wants his name appreciated and recognized everywhere. He sure puts it on everything he touches. Why on earth would he destroy his good (snort again) with such disgraceful behavior?

None of it makes any sense.

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