Afghan Father and Son

Four years ago I met Frank whose son was about to go off to join the Army, despite the wishes of his parents. Frank wrote his reflections on his son joining the military in a posting called Father At War. Now his son has left the active military and he has written perhaps his final two reflections about how his son and their relationship have changed. You can find them at Final Exit and written for this Memorial Day weekend Stopping a Round.

Today marks what would have been the 42nd birthday of our son Peter. Peter took his life nearly four years ago after suffering what some would call a ‘mental illness’, I would call a ‘brain illness’ and he felt, although not a veteran, was like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD.

No matter what you call it, it is triggered when he brain is traumatically affected and the symptoms are very similar, fear anxiety, depression, manic behavior and sadly sometimes suicide. The Veterans of Military Affairs that for a number of years 22 veterans a day commit suicide.

The military has extensively studied the brain and knows that killing a person or watching someone killed can trigger PDST. Yet the military continues to teach killing without conscience, reflexive killing which can trigger PTSD. In our fast paced society we know that one of four persons will suffer from a mental illness or brain illness but refuse to treat it as other illnesses like cancer or heart disease.

When will ever learn that putting young men and women in a war situation where they must kill or be killed or the refusal and reluctance to treat mental illness like other illnesses will only result in more suffering and tragedy?

Frank got his son back from war, changed and wounded, but alive. My son will never return to life on earth. We are Fathers at War and the final will never end.

Comments

Please send any comments on this post to . Let us know which day’s post your comments pertain to. If the comments are appropriate we will post them here for you.