The Marlboro Marine

I read this article in this month's Rolling Stone. It devastates me that so many of our heroes in Iraq come home like this. Something should be done about it. Below is a link to the artlcle and the picture that made him the Marlboro Marine.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...arlboro_marine

 

PTSD is real. Far too many suffer from it.

 

And according to this artcle, not very many of our soldiers are able to get the help they need.

 

I know. The gov't spends our money on war, but can't spend our money on our soldier's care.

 

I agree. There is plenty of money but a lot of it goes to the wrong places. The soldiers volunteered to serve the COUNTRY and don't get the care they need.

 

I'm a disabled veteran and while I must say our care isn't the greatest in the world, its certainly isn't horrible either. After I got out, I've been asked question after question and screened many times for PTSD. Answer the questions honestly and you'll get care. I know they even offered me counseling and drugs "just in case". I declined, I have no problems coping although what I went through wasn't nearly as bad as he went through. All through my care at VA hospitals around the country I found individuals that truly cared and wanted to help. Unfortunately sometimes they are held up by politics but if they can find a way to help they will. Anything I've needed they've been able to deliver on. I cannot complain about the treatment I've recieved.

 

Thank you for serving! I am very glad you have received good and necessary care. I do think others fall through the cracks though, and that is a crying shame.

 

The cig looks so fake.

 

How? That picture was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

 

I live within walking distance from Ft. Sam Houston, Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetary and Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC); while I know what I see is more physical than psychological (from an outsider's point of view), seeing some of the disabled soldiers around at the nearby shops/stores, it is quite disheartening to say the least. While having views on the war itself is one thing, viewing the aftermath of it on a daily basis at close range....that's a whole 'nother ballgame.

 

Its clean white and he isn't. My opinion, doesn't make it fact.

 

What many do not understand about a mind that has the confusion of shellshock or whatever the new buz word is.
Soldiers that fight for the rights of their neighbor, learn not to trust him.
Other than a pat on the back in which a soldier does not need. He often comes home to find the country he thought he was fighting for completely different than before.
When a soldier fight for convictions and returns home there is much dissapointment in our fellow man.

I don't mean to sound grim, but for most people to exploit and not to appreciate what they have,
{what has been protected for them} is discouraging when you've see the red eyes of anger. They can haunt you forever and you can;t descibe what the others do not know.

Tumba

 

He sounded like a wack job before he even hit 15.

 

My cousin just got back from his 2nd tour on March 29th. He has alot of the same problems as this guy in the article.

This was a picture his buddy took a year ago. I think it speaks volumes. He etched it on the wall outside while he was on shift with his shaving brush in the dirt.

 

This pic has to be more than a year old. The service member picture is wearing DCU's (Desert Combat Uniform) which haven't been worn in quite some time. They were worn during the Gulf War though. Deploying Army personnel are issued ACU's (Army Combat Uniform).

Just wondering about the timing of the pic. But you can't take away the message it sends! It does blow there!