Combat Related Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder
When in my training
did they say “your head will be totally screwed”
At which point did
someone say “your faith in God will never be renewed”
Where was I when I
was told “your life will be torn from your hands”
Was there even a
mention of “roll the dice and just see where it lands”
“Give up any thought
of a night of restful sleep, your past must haunt you now”
“Be prepared to scare
your loved ones, scream in terror, sweat soaks your brow”
“You won’t be leaving
this terrible place, see your friends die again and again”
“Prepare to live your
life in awful fear, a life full of misery and mental pain”
“Wait till the
backfire from the car going by, diving for cover to everyone’s glee”
“While others laugh
at your strange response, you look for an enemy only you can see”
“Your shouts of
warning bring sharp looks of fear, now you scare those that you love”
“As the flashback
subsides you feel the pain, no life is this should you join those above”
When you know the
cost that battle can take, yet help or treatment can be given
No young soldier
needs to leave this way; all of these things have already arisen
Surely the cost
compared to the pain, moral destruction against the soldier’s need
So little to ask that
you care for these men, is the money the cause as these men don’t bleed
Whether physical harm
or mental trauma, fight for these men for they fought for you
History will look
back on decisions you take, history will reflect on what you choose to do
So small the compassion
needed for these, great the change that is brought to their lives
To live as others
with no fear of past, to bring up their children and to keep their wives
