Logan Blain
How does
war effect a soldier's life?
War
effects a soldier's life in many different ways, some are more
obvious than others. Of these ways
that a soldier is effected I will
be exploring in depth a select few of them. Probably the first thing
that comes to mind when you think about how war effects a soldier is
something along the lines of PTSD. Although
PTSD greatly effects
soldiers, there are many more outcomes of war that people tend to
over-look. When a soldier leaves for war, not only does he
struggle with leaving his home but his family deals with this issue
too. Probably the most obvious effect on a soldier among all is the
physical impairments that result from combat. These negative effects
caused by war are relational, mental, and physical struggles.
The next burden that a soldier carries after a war is the mental torture that he/she undergoes. This aspect will come from my own account with a family member of mine who served in Vietnam. My Uncle served in combative Vietnam, when he returned home loud noises that resembled gunfire or bombs frightened him. Since my Uncle experienced first-hand combat, fireworks on holidays made him involuntarily recall upon war memories and he could not bear the sound. Something as simple as fireworks can trigger a memory in the brain that becomes so vivid that he almost felt as if he was experiencing it again, which put him in a state of panic and terror. This example is PTSD in essence and is the most common way that a soldier is effected mentally by a war.
The
most obvious way that a soldier is negatively altered by war is
through physical change. According to Vietnam War
Statistics (http://www.mrfa.org/vnstats.htm
) there was nearly a total of
60,000 deaths, 60,000 MIA's, and 75,000 physically disabled. This
statistic proves that the Vietnam war, along with many other wars,
had a huge physical impact on soldiers' lives who served. Being
physically disabled is most commonly in the form amputations, from my
personal experiences I have encountered numerous Veterans who are
amputees. When a soldier is physically disabled the result is not
only a physical struggle but it's a family struggle too. A
physically disabled soldier effects the family because in many cases
the family has to take care of the soldier and the soldier now has a
dependency on family and friends.
All
of the ways that soldiers are effected, whether it be directly or indirectly, are a burden to the soldier and in many cases their loved ones too. In most situations, family is almost always effected whether it be through mental or physical means. Most of the time soldiers are effected mentally in some way or another, PTSD being the worst scenario but there are milder forms of it that many soldiers will experience due to the terrors of war. And finally, a large portion of troops that served in Vietnam ended up physically disabled. Despite their differences, all forms of terrors that a soldier endures as an outcome of war are a burden and take part in all soldiers' lives.
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