1) I daydream often, but retain full situational awareness
2) There's a 90% chance that I can kill you from 500 yards.
3) I have very little patience for stupid people on the road.
4) I have what are probably the world's flattest feet.
5) I can make farting noises with my neck/shoulder.
6) I can puff my neck out like a bull frog.
7) I can grab my uvula and pull it to the front of my mouth. It grosses people out.
When car alarms go off, I often fantasize about taking my rifle and shooting them.
9) PTSD is a bitch.
10) I'm only 23 and have owned four vehicles.
11) Two of them were/is a Volvo.
12) Children annoy me.
13) Except for my nieces and nephews.
14) I hate big cities.
15) I graduated in the bottom 12 percent of my High School class.
16) I was #9 in my MOS school in the Marine Corps. (Suck on that, Blankfist )
17) I love video games.
18) I'm a huge fan of Star Trek TNG and Voyager.
19) The first internet connection I had in my house as a kid was through freei.net, and I had to hide it from my parents and drag a phone line across the house to use it.
20) I'm a firm believer that all people who regularly buy bottles of water need to be punched in the face.
21) Won 2nd place in a NASA/Nat'l Science teacher's assc. "Design a spacecraft" contest when I was in grade school.
22) Got pissed that I didn't win first to get that trip to space camp.
23) People thought I was going to shoot up the school in High School. It worked to my advantage because the assholes that congregated in the middle of the hallway would part like the Red Sea when I walked down the hall.
24) I often get irritated at people and proclaim that I should be Supreme Chancellor of the World so that I could outlaw fat girls in belly shirts, guys in skin-tight pants with white plastic sunglasses, Emo, cheap beer, bottled water, cigarettes, slow drivers, people that don't pay attention to cyclists and anyone/thing else I am currently pissed at.
25) I didn't know I could count this high.

>> ^Trancecoach:
^As a psychotherapist, I'm in communication with individuals who are using the Virtual Iraq software to treat Iraq veterans who are returning home with symptoms of PTSD. Soldiers' clinical exposure to the program has been limited, but so far, the results have been promising. In the future, I think it will be even better to have soldiers make use of the VR software BEFORE entering an actual battlefield, because so much of the disorder seems to emerge as a result of the shock that the novelty of such experiences bring about. And who knows, perhaps such exposure to a more realistic battlefield will deter potential soldiers from ever joining up in the first place.
But I know that this marketing tactic--which essentially fictionalizes and romanticizes the military--is BAD NEWS and can only hinder potential soldiers' free choice in the matter.

Well isn't that nice, doing our best to preemptively treat victims of PTSD rather than eliminating the events that cause it in the first place.

^As a psychotherapist, I'm in communication with individuals who are using the Virtual Iraq software to treat Iraq veterans who are returning home with symptoms of PTSD. Soldiers' clinical exposure to the program has been limited, but so far, the results have been promising. In the future, I think it will be even better to have soldiers make use of the VR software BEFORE entering an actual battlefield, because so much of the disorder seems to emerge as a result of the shock that the novelty of such experiences bring about. And who knows, perhaps such exposure to a more realistic battlefield will deter potential soldiers from ever joining up in the first place.

But I know that this marketing tactic--which essentially fictionalizes and romanticizes the military--is BAD NEWS and can only hinder potential soldiers' free choice in the matter.

3+ years after his deployment, and I'm still getting punched in the jaw or kicked in the back at night because of nightmares. It may be treatable during the daytime, but nightmares don't go away. Sleep aids reduce dreaming significantly, but they can't completely shut it off.

Also, don't think for a second that half the guys over there that aren't medicated are fine, either - particularly if it's not their first deployment. One of the symptoms of PTSD is survivor guilt - for many, that means volunteering to go back.

If that doesn't work, here are a few other ideas I could think of off the top of my head (not being a pro by any means):

-Meditate. Focusing on nothing or on something distant can drive out fear. Breath well.

-Get out your iPod and blast the music. Not hearing the engines might help.

-Or take two Dramamine and there's no chance you won't sleep. That stuff knocks you out better than horse tranquilizers.

-You doctor might be able to help with anti-anxiety medications. They're pretty safe when only used in rare situations and I'm told they work quite well, but honestly, Dramamine FTW.

-You can also look at statistics on flying if you think you can rationalize your fear away. Flying is safer than driving by a landslide, a HUGE landslide.

-Don't panic when things shake. Planes always shake. They are built for it. The wings shake to keep them safe. Don't panic when the pressure changes. Just yawn a couple times. That should balance things.

-Occasionally get up and take a walk. You can just walk to the bathroom and back if want, as to not look odd. Being on your feet can help make you feel grounded, pun intended.

-Bring a drink and a snack in your carry-on. Wait... scratch the drink, they won't allow it, just a snack of some sort. Some people are reminded they're flying by peanuts from a cart.

-Some people are also unconsciously disturbed by the smell of planes if they fear flying. Wearing some perfume or something like it might help. Smell is the sense that is most linked to memory. Wear a comforting scent or munch a comforting snack. I recommend chocolate.

-Some time, try to figure out why you fear flying. Did anyone ever tell you it's not safe? Is it just what you've heard in the news? Phobias ALL have an origin.


---===My best advice though? Two words. AUDIO BOOK.===---


Personally I LOVE flying. Seeing new perspectives of earth is a passion, so soaring above it is a delight to me. I've flown many times and I am comforted in knowing that my car is $17,000 and I've never been hurt in it, and here I am in a plane that costs MILLIONS, much spent on safety measures. I also have an irrational love of heights, odd.

Though I can't relate to fear of flying directly, I am a VERY vivid dreamer (often lucid) while I sleep. I've actually never spoken to anyone about it who can relate. Odd, I know, I'm sure there are many, but none that I've talked to. This means that nightmares are absolutely heart-stopping, so I know how to deal with irrational fear. I focus on reality. I focus on breathing and tasting the air, seeing the room, smelling the scents, and denying the fear. Actually vocalizing that the fear is irrational and chemical ONLY helps a great deal. I also confront the fear by treating it with disdain. For example, if a nightmare triggers a serious fear that makes me want to keep my eyes open and turn the lights on, I will close my eyes and force proof that it is a bogus fear. That tends to convince my mind that the fear is BS and I should stop being scared. Remember that it is CHEMICALS that cause fear in your brain. Prayer can help as well not only because I actually believe in God, but also because it focuses the mind on defeating the fear.

I do however understand real irrational terror, the PTSD kind. After a car-crash I was in (no one's fault, bad weather), I experienced it for the first and hopefully last time while riding with someone else. For that sort of fear, I have no tips. I was frozen despite my will and my heart felt like it had stopped. OK, I guess in hind sight that's not the only time. The other was 2 days before my comprehensive exam in grad school. God, that was shear panic defined.

Um.. CP, nice thought, but they've already thought of that. For one thing massive amounts of PTSD and city fighting being told someone could IED them has desensitized soldiers. All they have to be given is some threat of domestic insurgents.

In fact, all enemies foreign and domestic now applies to most citizens. For instance the comment by Kevlar above could put this site and any participants on the list of "domestic terrsts" by a simple decree from a secret court (?) or FBI carnavoer program. It may sound tinfoily, but it is possible under this perversion of the executive branch, DoJ, and DHS.

What has been done to Iraq and its civilians is a clear and defined story. What is not defined is what this meaningless war has done to the best volunteer army in the world, it has shatter the lives of thousands of people who gave their hearts, sweat and blood to make something out of the cluster fuck they were assigned, if not killed, they are horribly injured, if not injured they have PTSD and have to deal with the VA whose funding is not sufficent and the general bureaucracy of the military.

They have done incredible things, from pacification of Fallujah, Sadr Army, Fedayukin, all while riding around from the threat of unseen enemy fighting on tactics designed for confrontation of a uniformed army.

Now they are there trying to make something out of the sacrifice of lives already lost. I feel sorry for what the US Army and Marine Corp and all other uniformed forces had to bear because their leadership and command structure was too weak to argue against a ridiculous assignment by a joke of a president and secretary of defence and national security.

I don't know.... I myself suffer from (undiagnosed) PTSD. I would want to kill the mother fucker that did this to me.

But I've seen this video clip years ago with no mention of him being a vet...

I'll stay my vote.

Common misconception about combat loss statistics is that coalition deaths are more frequent then injured or wounded. The reality is modern technology like the flak jacket and CAS has allowed the military forces to sustain far fewer deaths but result in higher numbers of injured and wounded.

While the flak jacket provides good protection of the core of the body it does nothing for the extremities, so wounded who would have died in Vietnam now return with horrible disfigurement or loss of limbs. This is counted as injured or wounded but gives no indication of the extent of the problem.

Combat loss statistics also do not account for long term psychological damage incurred by those who return with PTSD, those who are diagnosed with PTSD and are treated internally now withing the military while on deployment.

All this information can be heard first hand from individuals who were deployed from http://www.videosift.com/video/The-Ground-Truth

Coalition deaths are down, but only because the military has now itself restructured it's approach towards dealing with the enemy via the hearts and mind program that was not in place as a directive from the beginning of the war. Several missteps by the CPA has actually meant the military had to deal with far more resistance then before. Let us also remember that combat loss statistics don't give us any bearing on the resistance or firefights faced by the military forces.

Am not surprised that civilian deaths are not counted, there is no system in place to do so, up until the Haditha incident US forces counted civilian causalities as collateral damage without thinking how its approach would lead to such deaths in the first place. Its only now that non-ROE engagement of civilians results in a full investigation, while this blankets anyone who engaged civilians with limited intelligence under a engage all ROE standing.

Limited deaths ultimately are not a victory. People still are dying.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'elliott, war, iraq, post traumatic stress, soldier' to 'elliott, war, iraq, post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, Marine' - edited by MarineGunrock

^ That's true.. they probably played the clip just before. I added a link to the source quote, http://www.videosift.com/video/McCain-Bringing-Troops-Home-from-Iraq-Not-Too-Important

In harms way - does suicide, extended deployments and PTSD count as harm? Apparently not to McCain.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'ww1, shell shock, trenches, veterans' to 'ww1, shell shock, trenches, veterans, ptsd' - edited by calvados

Totally PTSD! Did they really say, "The man got shooted!" or was that my imagination?

Tags for this video have been changed from 'bill moyers, soldiers, memorial day, ptsd, war' to 'bill moyers, soldiers, memorial day, ptsd, war, suicide, VA, iraq, soldier' - edited by winkler1

TAGS: "bill moyers, soldiers, memorial day, ptsd, war"

These are the original tags?

Bill Moyers: Honoring Veterans

This is the original title?

Choggie, I understand that you think that this is about the pointlessness of the '08 elections, but it's not. This post couldn't be more objective if it was posted as I see it now. And it's Memorial Day, for gods sake.