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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices
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To: Road Walker who wrote (482006)5/19/2009 2:00:18 PM
From: tejek  Read Replies (2) of 1575554
 
The fallout from the psychic stress of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been vast, but there was no reason for its destructive effects to have surprised anyone. There was plenty of evidence that this would be an enormous problem. Speaking of Iraq back in 2004, Dr. Stephen C. Joseph, who had been an assistant secretary of defense during the Clinton administration, said, “I have a very strong sense that the mental health consequences are going to be the medical story of this war.”

I remember writing a column about Jeffrey Lucey, a 23-year-old Marine who was deeply depressed and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, or P.T.S.D., when he returned from Iraq after serving in the earliest months of the war. He described gruesome events that he had encountered and was harshly critical of himself. He drank to excess, had nightmares, withdrew from friends and wrecked the family car.

The connection they have yet to make is the impact of the heat of the Iraqi desert on these soldiers while carrying 50 lbs of army equipment and wearing heat retaining body armor. I am sure soldiers from the colder climates of the US are feeling the stress effects of this heat. When I am exposed to high heat, I begin to hyperventilate.....breath faster.....many people do. Breathing faster activates the Fight or Flight mechanism in our bodies. When that higher level of hyperventilation becomes a constant, that can lead to a diagnosis of PSTD as it did with me. Its unfortunate that so little is known about the subject in this country.

Good article.......I hope a lot of people read it.
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