SBAND Seminar Materials 2013 Free Ethics: Echoes of War The Combat Veteran | Page 6

Many
 veterans
 have
 taken
 issue
 with
 the
 term,
 Post-­?Traumatic
 Stress
 Disorder.

 One
  modern
 veteran
 is
 quoted
 as
 saying
 “PTSD
 is
 a
 name
 drained
 of
 both
 poetry
 and
 blame.”9

  That
 veteran
 prefers
 “soldier’s
 heart,”
 because
 it
 is
 “a
 disorder
 of
 warriors,
 not
 men
 and
  women
 who
 were
 weak
 or
 cowardly
 but
 .
 .
 .
 who
 followed
 orders
 and
 who,
 at
 a
 young
 age,
  put
 their
 feelings
 aside
 and
 performed
 unimaginable
 tasks.”10

C. Psychiatric
 Casualties
 in
 20th
 Century
 Wars

According
 to
 Lieutenant
 Colonel
 David
 Grossman,
 a
 West
 Point
 professor
 and

recognized
 expert
 on
 the
 psychological
 effects
 of
 combat,
 “[c]ombat,
 and
 the
 killing
 that
 lies
  at
 the
 heart
 of
 combat,
 is
 an
 extraordinarily
 traumatic
 and
 psychologically
 costly
 endeavor
  that
 profoundly
 impacts
 all
 who
 participate
 in
 it.
 .
 .
 .
 Psychiatric
 breakdown
 remains
 one
 of
  the
 most
 costly
 items
 of
 war
 when
 expressed
 in
 human
 terms.11

 Indeed,
 for
 the
 combatants
  in
 every
 major
 war
 fought
 in
 this
 century,
 there
 has
 been
 a
 greater
 probability
 of
 becoming
  a
 psychiatric
 casualty
 than
 of
 being
 killed
 by
 enemy
 fire.12
  World
 War
 I
 was
 a
 watershed
 period
 when
 the
 effects
 of
 “combat
 stresses”
 began
 to
  be
 recognized.13

 It
 was
 only
 in
 World
 War
 I
 that
 armies
 began
 to
 experience
 months
 of
 24-­? hour
 combat,
 leading
 to
 vast
 numbers
 of
 psychiatric
 casualties.14
  During
 World
 War
 II,
 504,000
 men
 were
 lost
 from
 America’s
 combat
 forces
 due
 to
  psychiatric
 collapse—enough
 to
 man
 50
 divisions.15

 At
 one
 point
 in
 World
 War
 II,
  psychiatric
 casualties
 were
 being
 discharged
 from
 the
 U.S.
 Army
 faster
 than
 new
 recruits
  were
 being
 drafted
 in.16

 A
 World
 War
 II
 study
 of
 U.S.
 Army
 combatants
 on
 the
 beaches
 of
  Normandy
 found
 that
 after
 60
 days
 of
 continuous
 combat,
 98%
 of
 the
 surviving
 soldiers
  had
 become
 psychiatric
 casualties.17
  The
 Vietnam
 War,
 with
 its
 unpredictable
 “guerrilla”
 nature
 and
 lack
 of
 public
  support
 is
 believed
 to
 have
 generated
 even
 higher
 rates
 of
 psychological
 injuries.

 Though

9

 TICK,
 supra
 note
 6,
 at
 99
 (quoting
 George
 Hill,
 a
 disabled
 Marine).

 Id.
  11
 DAVE
 GROSSMAN
 &
 BRUCE
 K.
 SIDDLE,
 PSYCHOLOGICAL
 EFFECTS
 OF
 COMBAT
 (2000).
  12
 Id.
  13
 DAVID
 H.
 MARLOWE,
 RAND
 CORP.,
 PSYCHOLOGICAL
 AND
 PSYCHOSOCIAL
 CONSEQUENCES
 OF
 COMBAT
 AND
 DEPLOYMENT
 32
 (2001).

  14
 GROSSMAN
 &
 SIDDLE,
 supra
 note
 11.
  15
 Id.

  16
 Id.
  17
 Id.

10

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