Troops in Iraq?

Question

I have a lot of friends and a lot of ex bf who have recently been to Iraq and are back but have a lot of mental issues such as depression and psychotics episodes all of them cant even sleep at full nights sleep. They all share a drinming problem which they have all aquired since being there are these troops suffering from what they have seen?

Answer 1

Yes they are suffering. Imagine YOU spending a year of your life having a VERY real possibility of being shot or blown up EVERY day. They have been through some serious stuff. Going back to the 'real' world is not an easy transition. Support them, and encourage them to get help in adjusting. Sorry for notr reading the other responses before I answered. I believe there is also something like a cumulative stress disorder. Not everyone was under fire all the time, or at risk of and IED all the time. I spent 4 years in on active duty Army fighting the cold war. I had a combat life expectancy of 3 minutes or less because I was stationed in Germany. I was in the Persian gulf for 4 months before we finally attacked Saddam and liberated Kuwait. Military life is full of stress. And I think they need to realize that it all affects us in different ways. I still feel bad bad about the Iraqui's I blew up with artillery fire in 1991.

Answer 2

I have been to Iraq and have been back for over a year now and still can't sleep. I have major anger issues and am all screwed up. I think it may be from what I've seen but also from the mental state you're in while you are there. Like always cautious and paranoid trying to stay alive it really wears you down. Doing that for a year can cause psychological damage.

Answer 3

Many of them are probably suffering from post tramatic stress disorder, a common thing for people in war situations to develop. The fact that they are in a hostile place, indefinitely with no clear ultimate objectives. The fact that people are constantly being killed all around them by people who they are supposed to protect. The fact that they're strangers in a strange land. The atrocities they must see all the time. All this stuff probably feeds into it.

What you described is very much what happened among the soliders in Vietnam. Heavy drinking, drug use, depression, all of that.

Answer 4

When put under extreme stress this can happen and yes what they saw over their probably did affect them, take a young man from our country and send then to a country where beheading is allowed for showing your ankle in public, and seeing things like that happen will do it every time. Most react differently but the amount of stress being in a combat situation is enough to un nerve anybody, if every corner you went around you know you could die in any second would do it to almost any human.

Answer 5

Yes it is called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and it happens to a lot of the troops because of what they have seen out there.

Answer 6

I don't think the government is taking care of our troops. They have to go through hell, and are expected to be fine afterward. I think that's unreasonable. The government needs to have more mental health support for the troops.

Answer 7

Yes, definitely. The government should get them free counseling when they get home (or even before they get home) to help them deal with things they've seen & had to do. Not just a little talk with someone, but some serious counseling!

Answer 8

Hell yeah, it just goes to show what these guys go through for us. I hope that made u, and everyone who knows them more appreciative of what our boys over there go through.

Answer 9

yes, they have post traumatic stress disorder.and they need some sort of counseling.