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Apr-16-2013 10:57printcomments

Boston Massacre, Modern Style Artillery Barrages and Instant PTSD

From a Combat survivor, this is it...

Boston Marathon explosion
Boston Marathon explosion

(PORTLAND, OR) - About a million or more military Combat Veterans have PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Whether they were able to watch the carnage of this recent Boston massacre is improbable. For me, it brings back my WWII crossing of the Rhine River when about 150 members of my battalion were ravaged and many killed by artillery and every other kind of weapon the Germans had. Those of us who survived were psychologically numb and when we looked around, it was very sobering to see who was gone and who was left. Stuff like this happens to others but not to us. My battalion had the highest casualty rates of any of the divisions crossing the Rhine.

As I was watching the Boston carnage, weeping, I could see the Rhine River and all of the weaponry all over again. This was another flashback from some 70 years ago.

I know many of the one million PTSD Veterans in US will feel the same way I do --- PTSD is not only real, but persistent. I can feel real sorrow for the some 23,000 runners who mostly "dodged this bullet" but it was the civilian visitors and onlookers who got hit this time.

To perceive and think that this was all on total coverage television is extraordinary. It brought the dreadful carnage of war right into the lap, eyes and ears of those watching. The runners were virtually, physically unscathed, but the visions of their near escape will be with them forever and many will be taking sedatives and sleeping pills for a long time to try to escape the nightmares of this event.

The television stories repeated the events of 9/11, Oklahoma City and many of these recent catastrophes.

Some of the doctors and nurses from the nearby hospitals stated that this trauma was the worst that they have ever seen. For the military MASH doctors working there, this was just another layer of the savagery of war and now these terrorist attacks.

This psychological trauma will be with them and unfortunately their families, from now on. For most of our population, it may still be not enough to convince them of the permanent terror of PTSD.

YES, THIS BOSTON MASSACRE WILL STICK WITH US FOR A LONG TIME

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Jenae Radcliff April 17, 2013 12:44 am (Pacific time)

Thank you both for your honorable service, it is sad that so much violence must exist in this world, this was a touching article Dr. Leveque.


Amandablack April 16, 2013 2:04 pm (Pacific time)

Yes, I am in my eighties, and have been suffering from PTSD since WWII, when the Sirens howled advising that an allied air raid was imminent. Every siren I hear brings back the fear, as does every fireworks reminds me of the destrution of our homes.

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