Combat veterans return to their home. The memories of those who did not come back, and guilt for their deaths haunt them.
They call it post-traumatic stress disorder nowadays. When people use the phrase, I always think about George Carlin's routine about how what was called 'shell shock' during the First World War evolved into the current phrase, equating it with all sorts of unpleasant experiences softening its meaning and making it useless mush. Yes, there is a continuum of experience, and yes, the feeling of relief I experienced two days after getting my first shot of Covid-19 vaccine, when I was able to say "I'm not terrified that someone at the other end of the block will sneeze and I'll die" is real, and yes, I think they should be targeting people who have to be out on the street, dealing with he world, rather than old duffers like me. Yet there's an immense gap between some of the experiences I have heard described as trigger PTSD and "My buddy died, and I should have done something to prevent it." As the death toll from this plague passes half a million in this country, more than American combat deaths in the Second World War, people having public meltdowns over having to wear masks to go into Walmart excites only contempt in me.
That's as close as I can come to experiencing Shell Shock, Combat Fatigue, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: poorly. Yet watching these performers, including Miles Teller and Amy Schumer perform stoically outside their usual screen performers outside their usual roles is a telling experience.
They call it post-traumatic stress disorder nowadays. When people use the phrase, I always think about George Carlin's routine about how what was called 'shell shock' during the First World War evolved into the current phrase, equating it with all sorts of unpleasant experiences softening its meaning and making it useless mush. Yes, there is a continuum of experience, and yes, the feeling of relief I experienced two days after getting my first shot of Covid-19 vaccine, when I was able to say "I'm not terrified that someone at the other end of the block will sneeze and I'll die" is real, and yes, I think they should be targeting people who have to be out on the street, dealing with he world, rather than old duffers like me. Yet there's an immense gap between some of the experiences I have heard described as trigger PTSD and "My buddy died, and I should have done something to prevent it." As the death toll from this plague passes half a million in this country, more than American combat deaths in the Second World War, people having public meltdowns over having to wear masks to go into Walmart excites only contempt in me.
That's as close as I can come to experiencing Shell Shock, Combat Fatigue, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: poorly. Yet watching these performers, including Miles Teller and Amy Schumer perform stoically outside their usual screen performers outside their usual roles is a telling experience.