The Shock of War

The Army & VA PTSD/TBI Veteran Victims

Most of the 9.7 million soldiers who perished in WWI were killed by the conflict's unprecedented firepower. Many survivors experienced acute trauma. Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Sep. 16 2010 - Are they properly being cared for?

The Smithsonian Magazine in September 2010 just issued one of the best articles {The Shock of War} on the stress of combat on those who are in the fight of it.

It is based on medical documents from WWI about British Officers suffering from SHELLSHOCK which is most likely severe concussion and/or multiple concussions in which some of the victims end up like PUNCH DRUNK BOXERS and brain injured football players.

Another subject the author Caroline Alexander explores is BATTLE FATIGUE which isn’t fatigue at all. We frontline Infantry were physically exhausted almost all the time. It is really TERROR FATIGUE or BATTLE TERRORS. German Colonel Hans Von Luck, one of their best tank commanders possibly said it best, “anyone who says he was never afraid in combat is a liar.” After the first battle it only gets worse.

A Combat Infantryman KNOWS he cannot survive when all of his close buddies are getting killed off or severely wounded day after day. In Normandy in WWII some Infantry Companies had 200% replacements. In the first 6 weeks we had about 60,000 casualties, one third dead! {read rest}