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  1. #21
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lower Alabama
    Posts
    1,503

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    Guamsst, please reconsider your position on when someone wants to talk about the "bad stuff". When people are making heros of themselves ,yeh, probably fertilizer. However, when people talk about the "bad stuff" without self aggrandisment they are usually trying to "talk out the hurt". Some of us turned to drugs to cope ,some to the bottle, some to abborant behavior and some of us tried to make a game of it all. You have to protect your psyche to maintain your balance. Just my take, Nick

  2. #22

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    Very well put.

  3. Default

    First let me say thank you for all you GI's sharing your stories. You are one of less than 1% of our country who served. And you bear the scars. Thanks!

    Flashbacks no.

    Diesel. JP4. canned heat. Loud noises. People approaching from behind unexpectedly. Cordite. Semi rigid (huey, cobra) blades smacking the air. I could not gut a deer for a long time. Still bothers me.

    Nightmares did not start till my birthday 2003 when we invaded Iraq. I almost ended it for a very sensitive vet psychologist who pulled me out of it. Its funny how we all react differently to stress.

    Thanks again.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Oregon Coast
    Posts
    476

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    I don't have flashbacks in a negative sense, but there are many days when I do think about the year in VN and the many other years I spent in USAF. Mostly good thoughts, no night terror.

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Beautiful British Columbia
    Posts
    4,093

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    After reading these posts I have to wonder if it was the combat that is the trigger? Back in the seventies I spent over three years oversea, some of it in S/E Asia and I do not have flash backs. Maybe it was the trauma of combat?

    Again thanks to those who have served.

    KTK

  6. Default

    It often seems to me that flashbacks-like PTSD-are something we are "supposed" to get and use as excuses when the need arises. I'm not saying they don't exist-like the sadistic DI or the NCO who's the bully, the officer who makes LT Fuzz come to life, etc. but they are a lot rarer than we think and usually manufactured when the need arises. There were all the stories about the "Crazed Vietnam Vet" in the 1970s, it was found that so many were rear echelon types, drug users and discipline problems, in many cases received an OTH discharge-seen as an "early out" by too many back then, then they found out there is a stigma, so "PTSD" or what ever became the all purpose excuse.
    Often seems to me there is more of a stigma in being a Charlie Askins type, admitting that yes, you have done it, and yes, you DO enjoy it.

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    6,045

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    Loud noises, certain smells and a Huey flying over head reminds me of 'Nam. Years ago my brother-in-law used to come up behind me and yell "bang". Scared the crap outa me. He doesn't do that anymore since I smacked him a good one the last time he did it.

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