“People come back from war and combat and they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over,” Trump said in
an address to the Retired American Warriors in Herndon, Virginia. “And
you’re strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can’t handle
it.”
…
So…I think trump doesn’t understand what combat does to people. My father was mentally tough and a physical specimen. But he came back from fighting the Japanese with a raging case of PTSD. In the 1950’s and 60’s we didn’t know the term. But I saw the symptoms and I know what he did in the Pacific Theater at Kwajelein, Tarawa, Saipan and other places. Trump is a (-------, uncaring, ass----) coward who never has faced his own mortality and come back damaged. I myself have seen carnage. It changes you… in not very pleasant ways.
Once again trump opens his yap and insults another group who don’t need more insults.
I wonder what Sarah Palin thinks ? Her son came back ‘changed’ from Afghanistan, she claims…
castor_troy
As a middle-class white American male, I’m not sure if I’ve been specifically insulted. Starting to feel left out.
Just Wait
We still have a month to go
I spent two years hauling the wounded and dying young men out of battles and the jungles of South Viet Nam. I never had to endure what firewing2 had to endure, and yet, I have a fairly severe case of PTSD. Guess the daily dose of blood, young soldiers screaming for their mothers, and all of the young men missing limbs was just too much for my weak little ass!
The Creamsicle’s view of the army:
Trump probably picked this up from “his” generals. Because it is not an unheard of attitude among soldiers. I.e. the stigma for seeking mental health care is real. Trump’s military supporters are likely to be complicit in this delusion.
All this from Donald “Pustule” Trump!
here’s the new mistress…
PTSD and Suicide are wounds, as sure as from a bullet or from shrapnel.
I realize you very likely don’t want your personal situation and wartime experiences to be turned into campaign fodder, but your statement—F-bomb included—is the most perfectly appropriate political response I can imagine to Trump.
Trump has the ability to make even a reasonable suggestion into something spiteful and awful.
Sounds like a perfect quality in a President.
I call it the “Buttermilk Conundrum”.
It used to be that people would vote republican against their own direct self interest.
Today the candidate of their party will insult them to their faces repeatedly …with emphasis. And they clearly are enthralled that he does so.
I can only come to the conclusion, as I did beginning about December last year, that trump has dragged us into an alternate universe.
last year in Iowa at a rally he called the voters there “stupid”. They loved it.
The result of 40 years of Hillary and Democrat bashing . Not Hillary Not Obama Not a Democrat.
That’s all they need
I call it the “Buttermilk Conundrum”.
Hey now, leave buttermilk out of this. A glass of cold, tangy buttermilk on a hot summer evening is awesome stuff, especially with those little orange fat globules in it.
It depends on what you went through. Combat related mental health problems are in part a product of the mental stamina of the soldier but in larger part a product of that soldiers experiences. First you kill people “for your country” or to “defend the Constitution” and the nobility of it shields you from the reality people are dead because you pulled a trigger. I was in Vietnam killing dinks, gooks or slopes. Not human and OK to kill. After a while I called them Charlie and after a longer while Sir Charles. As my respect for the Viet Cong ( who were fighting for their country ) grew it became more and more traumatic for me to harm them. Charles was one tough mofo and I respected him. Then I a shot a young VC in the neck and as I walked up to him he laid his AK down and raised his hands. He pointed to his pants and I thought he wanted to surrender a sidearm. But he wanted to take his wallet out and look at pictures of his wife and kid before he died. I gave him a canteen of water to rinse his blood off the pictures. He died. A pretty girl and a beautiful kid in his hands.
Now I know Donnie could handle that like nobody’s business. But not me so much. It was a very long time ago and I still want to know who that brave young man was and how are those people in the photos. I ache over that experience. I guess I just am not strong enough.
First, thank you for your service. I cannot begin to imagine how it must feel to have to justify your feelings of rage, turmoil. depression, and horror given the trauma of war. You deserve better, and I hope you continue to get the help you need.
PTSD is not a weakness, it means you are human; you have a soul. Let it heal.
Well, a fair number of his supporters are from rural areas, where the economy never actually recovered–I think I read that it’s actually down 2%, as opposed to urban areas where it’s back up between 3-5%.
So, if he starts insulting rednecks for being poor, that might do it. Especially if Clinton focuses some attention on telling those people what she’s going to do for them.
Meanwhile… Breaking News that guarantees the bad week extends.
Richard ; Thank you for sharing that. I can not begin to imagine It must take a piece of your life every day to reconcile going to war and having to kill. You are stronger than you know