Post-traumatic Stress in War Veterans

Most of the time when soldiers are featured in magazines and newspapers after being wounded, the main form of disability that is featured is physical wounds. Why is it that there is no real spotlight on those that are victims to post-traumatic stress caused by war? While all of those who are injured (whether it be physically or psychologically) are victims to the cruel realities of war, my impression is that the media focuses on the physical aspect.

I’ve been interested in the effects of the war on an individual’s mind since I was younger, when my aunt told me about my biological grandfather. She said that he was a good man, a good husband, and a good father. He left home to fight in the Korea War, and my aunt said that when he came home he was a completely different person than the father she had known before. His whole personality had shaped into that of a stranger, and he allowed his life to be consumed with drugs. The war had messed him up, she told me, and he never returned to his normal self.
Now I know that my grandfather isn’t the only case of this happening. I have heard of several accounts of people transforming into different versions of themselves after involvement in war. It has been noticed that post-traumatic stress disorder is fairly common among those who have been subjected to the atrocities of war. It has been stated that “considerable evidence suggests that some Vietnam veterans have suffered long-term mental health problems as a result of their experiences while in the military.[1]”

More focus needs to be put on this aspect of victimization in war. Rather than focusing solely on physical wounds, attention needs to be paid to the mental wellness of war veterans. When looking back to the Vietnam era, one can find that the suicide rates were higher for those who were eligible for the draft as opposed to those who were not, and it was determined that the actual events of the war were the cause of this as opposed to the eligibility itself (Norman).
The trauma that many of these vets face is a sad fact of war. Many people don’t think of individuals, but rather see war veterans as statistics. They look at the news and are able to see how many are dead or injured. But each veteran who is faced with post-traumatic stress should be given attention as well. They have suffered just as those physically wounded, though in a different form. However, this does not diminish the importance of each veteran’s victimization.

[1] Hearst, Norman, and Thomas B. Newman. ". Proving Cause and Effect in Traumatic Stress: The Draft Lottery as a Natural Experiment ." Journal of Traumatic Stress 1.2 (1988). Psych Info. 3 Dec. 2008.

Should it really be illegal?

I have always wondered why everyone makes such a big deal about marijuana, making sure to focus only on the negative points. Some people that I have met claim that they think that marijuana is a bad thing because alters a person’s state of mind and messes with their sense of judgment. In all reality, this is the same effect that alcohol produces (if not slightly milder), but alcohol is completely legal. In fact, the law judge of the Drug Enforcements Administration claimed in 1988 that “marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.”[1]I’m shocked that the American government still hasn’t decriminalized marijuana, knowing how much revenue the country misses out on by keeping it illegal.

There are around 700,000 arrests a year for marijuana charges in America.[2] When seen from a financial standpoint, it has been estimated that over 10 million dollars goes into just enforcing marijuana laws. With the country in such a financial crisis with the war in Iraq continuing, it seems odd that they wouldn’t take advantage of saving these costs by simply reforming laws against marijuana. Why waste millions of money spent by tax payers only to enforce a law that any disagree with? Instead of cracking down on people with petty amounts of marijuana, why not turn the efforts into making profit off of marijuana by legalizing and taxing it like cigarettes? The economy may be horrible, but if the government would rethink its decision on criminalizing marijuana, we could decrease the national deficit by a significant amount.

[1] Nadelmann, E. “An End to Marijuana Prohibition: The Drive to Legalization Picks Up.” National Review July 12, 2004 pg. 1-7
[2] Federal Bureau of Investigation, Division of Uniform Crime Reports, Crime in the United States: 2002. P.234.

Are we really any different?

During the Holocaust, Nazi soldiers followed Hitler’s orders without question. Whether the order was to send people into gas chambers, or performing torturous experiments, it was followed. In hindsight, we can look back and see that all of these “orders” were actually horrible atrocities, but can we really say that we wouldn’t have followed these same orders? How can we really say that we are so different than the Germans of the time? How can we truly deny the fact that we, too, would have done as we were told, without thinking of the genocide as just a job? We can’t.

In the sociology class that I took last semester, I was assigned a reading that I have yet to put in the back of my mind. When I read the title, I thought it to be a bit ridiculous and far-fetched. The article assigned was titled, “If Hitler Asked You to Electrocute a Stranger, Would You? Probably.” by Philip Meyer. However, upon reading, I discovered that this article was FAR from ridiculous, and instead, made me question if we Americans truly are any different from the Nazis in Germany. The discovery made in the article: We aren’t.

Meyer describes an experiment performed by Stanley Milgram, a social psychologist. Milgram set out to perform an experiment to test the extent of a person’s obedience. Through an ad in the newspaper Milgram drew volunteers to his experiment for monetary compensation. He then placed a volunteer into the position of “teacher.” The “teacher” was told to follow directions by asking question and shocking the person labeled as the “learner” if the “learner” answered a question incorrectly. Unbeknownst to the “teacher,” no shocking was actually done, because the “learner” was part of the team conducting the experiment. The two individuals were separated, so that they were not able to see each other. Milgram expected that in America, people would discontinue the experiment when they heard that the “learner” was in pain. Levels of shock were supposedly increased with each wrong answer. However, during the experiment, Milgram found that sixty-five percent of the “teachers” continued to “shock” the “learner” all the way up to 450 volts, despite the sounds of excruciating pain from the “learner.” He then determined that the level of obedience in America was saddeningly just as high as in Germany.

Milgram had expected that Americans would be different than Germans, only to find out that the level of obedience was almost exactly alike. Personally, I can’t even fathom causing harm to a person just to follow orders. But who’s to say that any one of us would disobey a higher authority if it meant that we weren’t the ones getting hurt? Milgram’s study found that a majority of Americans would have been inclined to continue following orders, as long as they were the individual giving the punishment rather than receiving it.

Works Cited:

Meyer, Philip. “If Hitler Asked You to Electrocute a Stranger, Would You? Probably.” Esquire. 1970

Rape as a Weapon during War

It has been observed that rape is commonly used as a weapon during wartime. Rape, used as a war tactic, is used to bring down morale and to desecrate and abuse another human being. In performing the activity, the rapist is able to have complete control over another individual and to mercilessly inflict pain and harm, without thinking twice about the hardships that the abused individual, and in some cases, her family, will continue to endure long after the abuse. This is similar to the effects that are faced by other individuals who have been subjected to other forms of torture during war. There are many theories as to why women are the subject of rape during war. “In some instances, however, it also can serve a strikingly sex-specific function, when, for example, it is committed with the intent of impregnating its victims”(Thomas, 82). This act of impregnating victims is another example of the humiliation that a rapist can impose upon his victim. Whereas rape is used as a weapon in many wars, I’ve decided to focus this entry primarily on the rapes against women that occurred during the civil war in Somali. After deciding to write my blog on the topic of rape and its use as ammunition against enemies during war, I researched countries that this practice had occurred in. I had heard many stories about rape during wartime in many parts of Africa, and when I found articles about Somalia, I was intrigued. I had never heard about the war that raged in Somalia, and in writing this blog, I wanted to learn something new during the process of writing.
The Somali civil war came to be in 1991 after the fall of its dictator, Siad Barre. Being a predominantly Muslim country; Somalia, pre-civil war, was very strict in its belief that the virginity of a woman was treasured and not to be sullied. Women wore traditional reserved clothing as well as headdresses to cover their heads and shoulders to promote their modesty. Rape was not a common occurrence, out of respect to religious and societal norms. However, during the civil war, many of its Muslim women were subjected to the ruthless forms of torture and abuse.
Many Somalis were killed during this war, and even more were displaced. Many were sent to refugee camps in Africa where women were unable to feel safe. There was minimal security at these camps and therefore many women were left feeling vulnerable. The camps that these refugees stayed at were in very remote areas, which only further increased the chances of being abused or raped. “About two hundred rape cases were reported in 1993. In the next four years, this dropped to between 70 and 105, but increased to 164 in 1998, dropping back to 71 in 1999, 82 in 2000, 72 in 2001, and 18 in 2002 (UNHCR 2003).” Though the occurrences declined in numbers reported over four years, women still had to live in fear. While in the camps, women were unable to defend themselves and as a technique to try protect themselves, would wear trousers under their traditional dress. A 35-year-old recalled the situation that occurred when she was a teen. “If a woman is wearing a dirac, it can just be pulled or torn off in no time; but if she has tight trousers underneath, then help may come in time" (Abdi). This quote, I feel, displays the helplessness of the situation and the desperation of the women to do whatever they could to attempt to protect themselves from the men who preyed on these women during the war.
Rape during wartime is a very real and very serious issue. In regards to the raping of numerous Somali women, Abdi stated that, “Violating their integrity and subjecting them to the extreme violence of rape and torture became a key weapon of the war.” (Abdi).” Some doubt the severity of the situation and have not considered it to be on common ground with other forms of war torture, according to Dorothy Q. Thomas and Regan E. Ralph, who wrote on the role of rape during war. “Rape has been downplayed as an unfortunate but inevitable side effect of sending men to war. It thus is ignored as a human rights abuse. Then when rape is reported and condemned… the abuses are called unprecedented and unique in their scale” (Thomas, 84). As an advocate for human rights, I believe that there should be more focus and more importance placed on the tragedy of rape as a weapon. Rape alone is one of the most demoralizing actions a person can inflict on another, but to downplay the seriousness of rape during war is almost a crime within itself.


Thomas, Dorothy Q. and Regan E. Ralph. “Rape in War: Challenging the Tradition of Impunity.” SAIS Review (Vol) (1994), 82-99.
Abdi , Cawo Mohamed. “Convergence of Civil War and the Religious Right: Reimagining Somali Women.” Journal of Women in Culture and Society . 183-207