Seems we have another kind of trouble brewing in Iraq other than just figuring out who the enemy is. According to the November 2, 2006 issue of the USA Today there are "troubled troops in no-win plight." This is partly a story about Chris Packley, a top marksman on a Marine sniper team that returned from Fallujah in 2004 who "wanted out." He eventually got his wish and was "expelled" from the Corps and now claims that PTSD was the cause of the unlawful behavior that got him into trouble. As a consequence of his "less-than -honorable" discharge he lost access to the free counseling and medication he needed to "treat the mental wounds left from combat." He now basically is accusing the Marine Corps of "punishing" him for the behavior that led to his discharge. Can anyone say LAME? According to one Lt. Colonel Colby Vokey who supervises the legal defense of Marines in the western USA, he blames the Corps for these men not being eligible to get treatment from the VA because they did not receive the proper treatment and counseling at the time they needed it. Had the Marine Corps provided this assistance the man would have remained as virtuous as he was when he first set foot on the yellow footprints! Yeah, right! "The Marine Corps has created these mental health issues in combat veterans and then we just kind of kick them out into the streets" Vokey goes on to say. Who is this guy?
WHO'S SIDE IS HE ON? The Marine Corps contends that stress disorder isn't a legal defense for misconduct and I would have to agree. What I don't understand is if they feel this way why is a Marine Col. defending a position against it. If the Marine Corps takes a position on something isn't a Marine colonel supposed to go along with it? Yet, he tosses out these catchy comparisons to "Catch-22" and talks like a civilian tort lawyer. There is a dis-connect here and I haven't figured it out yet. However, you can't blame the Colonel for those in the Corps who don't have the guts to take responsibility for their actions. (and I am not suggesting that Packley is one of them.) NOTHING is anyone's fault any more. If you murder 30 people in an Amish schoolhouse, why, that was because your mother drank crack-laced coffee for breakfast. It surely can't be your fault.
But if you are a combat soldier you have to act like one of the other 98% who do. You can't fake it in combat. That's why our government spent all that money to train you and get you ready to face our enemies - not to fall apart at the first sign of blood. Soldiers, especially Marines have to gird their loins for battle. If you are going to talk the talk you better walk the walk. Somewhere I read that some of us Americans have been accused of becoming a want-it-now kind of society but this goes too far, INSTANT PTSD?! It used to take years for those feelings to eat away at you until something snapped and if you were smart, sought help from the VA. Now, it seems you don't have to wait at all, you can get it while you are in combat. (more…)
I really hate to see things like this. It makes me feel like nothing has changed. This little ditty was purportedly written on a Marine barracks door near Iraq but it could have been discovered, inscribed with a bayonet on a bullet-scarred wall in Vietnam some 40 years ago. It is a not-so-subtle message that speaks to the gut of the frustration that troops on the line feel when they are away from home and under the stress of combat. (I know, I felt plenty of it myself) It's only natural for troops in that situation to want the world to stop and pay attention because "I could lose my life here sports fans, and many of us already have." So how can the folks back in the "world" carry on like there is nothing to worry about? It may seem that way sometimes but I don't think it's as bad as that statement suggests. Let me try to explain: (more…)
