Your Duty Is To Read This Article.

The many tragedies of war are difficult to discuss and so often do not meet the criteria for agenda setting news networks, yet it remains our duty as citizens of this country to understand a soldier's experience before advocating our troops be sent overseas to war.

Researchers of the mental health field made great strides since the Vietnam War to understand and advocate for veterans suffering from combat related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

However now in the aftermath of both the Iraq War and the neverending War in Afghanistan, veterans again are coming home to teach us about the traumatic effects of war, and its debilitating effects on their lives at home.

Recently David Wood (a military journalist of 35 years) came together with a well-rounded and dynamic group of psychotherapist, psychiatrist and psychologist to write an investigative piece for Huff Post that explained the profound implications of a new component to PTSD called Moral Injury.

Put simply Moral Injury is a "akin to (deep) grief or sorrow" that is cultivated by the repeated need to override a person's moral and ethical upbringing and lessons learned over a lifetime, about one's self and their understanding between 'right and wrong.' 

“When they come in for treatment, the first thing out of their mouth is not, ‘I did something unforgivable and I want to tell you about it.’ Because they are working as hard as they can not to think about it,” Nash said. “They don’t know that you are not going to judge them. They may be on their last little thread of self-acceptance and they don’t want you to cut the thread.”

As a consequence soldiers are traumatized psychologically, which makes it both painful and difficult to reintegrate into society and back into family life after war.

Therefore, the definition for PTSD must also expand to capture the complex moral dilemmas faced by soldiers during their time at war.

After roadside bomb

After Firefight

SOAP BOX

This new insight concerning PTSD calls for a need to raise public awareness around the REALITY of sending humans to war, and a subsequent demand from society that the US Defense Department better protect and train OUR men and women of service in efforts to better prepare them
BEFORE and AFTER they engage in combat.

DEFINED

"Social imperative refers to an interaction that is vital or an action that is characterized by an obligatory command. In order for these commands to be followed, a social force is needed."

CONCLUSION

The traumatizing effects of war are very similar between soldiers and civilians alike.

The pictures below speak to this effect.

Soldier with Afghani baby after firefight

Father and Son

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Bianca Grace
Please See Full Article Below
http://projects.huffingtonpost.com/moral-injury/the-grunts
http://www.ask.com/question/define-social-imperative