Illegal War?

The second involves an AWOL soldier turning himself in to face the music. In the first part of the article the soldier, Specialist Darrell Anderson, claims that he fled to Canada rather than deploy with his unit because he felt the war was illegal. However, later in the article we found out that Anderson suffers from mental and emotional issues as a result of his first deployment. The article clearly implies that the real reason for Anderson’s desertion had to do with the mental and emotional trauma that has been left untreated.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a significant problem for returning soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. There are indications that suicide among returning military is high. There have been suggestions that the increase in marital issues for returning military members is due, at least in part, to the difficulties in adjusting to the return to civilian society or, in the case of reservists, to civilian life.

I’ve been talking about this with a friend of mine who is a Marriage and Family counselor in the Central Coast area, Clay Watkins. He’s been telling me about a therapy called Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR). Studies have shown that EMDR is effective in the treatment of PTSD. Clay has told me that EMDR is so simple and so effective that Combat Medics, Hospital Corpsmen and other frontline medical personnel could be trained in the administration of EMDR. This would enable battlefield medics to treat traumatized soldiers and even civilians in the field.

Aloha

[posted with ecto]

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