America is a sick society

[TnT]

(01-03-2017, 12:56 PM)David Horn Wrote:

(01-02-2017, 07:54 PM)Warren Dew Wrote:

(01-02-2017, 04:43 PM)TnT Wrote: An observation about something that startled and amazed me over the last ten years that relates to this:

The meme that's out and about tells us that our soldiers all suffered greatly from many deployments into the Middle East.  I know several firefighters and paramedics and EMTs who have been deployed.  Then return and go back to work at either one of the local fire services or EMS providers.

Then, surprisingly, they can't wait to be deployed again!!  Yes!

When I chat with them they tell me how much they enjoy the relative freedom, the cameraderie, the simplicity of life.  The "rules" are straightforward.  You work, you blow stuff up, you shoot stuff, you fly stuff, you eat, you sleep, you drink, you enjoy one-another's company.  And then people call you a "hero."  And you get to be a part of something that seems much larger than yourself. 

Kind of illustrates just how little freedom we have left and how much progressive regulatory regimentation has infiltrated all aspects of everyday life.

Can I assume yo have no military experience?  If you did, you would understand the inherent dichotomy.  Life in a warzone has no relevance to life outside one.

I think I do understand it.  And I hope that my comment did not convince you all that I believe that ALL those deployed have this seemingly anomalous attitude toward deployment.  Clearly there are many who return with terrible disabilities, both physical and mental.

I have had ten years of experience in EMS on the street which perhaps mirrors some of the stresses and challenges of military life, though clearly we are not nearly as much in harm's way as a soldier in a combat zone.  On the other hand, we ARE in harm's way at times, and we have no weapons with which to defend ourselves. I have personally been in many combative situations.  I doubt if a single field employee in our service has not.

Then, there are things seen that no one should have to see.  It's a kind of dark joke amongst us that you can't un-see something that you've seen.

The camaraderie is similar.  When, over our radios, we hear one of ours requesting help in a combative situation, protocols are ignored, our own safety is often ignored.  Multiple (unarmed) nearby ambulance crews rush to the scene. Usually we and the police arrive at about the same time. Which can be a good thing in some cases.

This brings me to another concept that one runs across a lot.  You just challenged me by saying, "I assume you have no military experience."  There is this attitude that if one has not had the EXACT same kind of stressful experience as another, that there is simply no way to understand another person's angst.  

I would submit that a five year old who has had the shit beat out of him for years, has PTSD that's not a whole lot different than that suffered by combat soldiers, or that suffered by my co-workers, or by law enforcement, or by domestic violence victims, etc., etc.

My story was only a piece of the puzzle.  I tell it because the societal level of understanding of combat soldiers is incomplete if we only hear about the burdens, the risks, and the disabilities suffered by those who are deployed.  And it raises the question of who we are as a species.

I think we are hard-wired with a lot of tendencies that are just below the surface, that we often deny and try to push down, often unsuccessfullly.  I think for example that we are all hard-wired with xenophobia.  Men may possibly be hard-wired to be sexual predators. All of us may be hard-wired to be more comfortable in a Tribe or a tribe-like environment.  War, combat, may well be another feature that we all come with.