Reply #35: I am concerned about PTSD and reenlistment. [View All]

One of the trends in the armed forces is that reenlistment remains strong even as it becomes harder to find new recruits.

I suspect that PTSD may play a role in those reenlistment numbers, how large a role I don't know (Wikipedia guesses that the number of people already in the initial stages of PTSD from the Iraq war is from 25,000-35-000, so the total number probably isn't much more than that, but I think even a tenth of that is plenty enough.)

I think that people with PTSD are more likely than others to reenlist because they're suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, and as long as they keep themselves in the ultra-real world of combat, the problem stays away.

It makes sense that the armed forces looks the other way when accepting reenlistments from people with PTSD. They need the bodies, and the people with PTSD may be the ones most willing to supply them.

But I don't think it's right or fair to claim that people with PTSD are reenlisting voluntarily. I think they're doing it to alleviate the pain and distress they experience trying to live by the more delicate rules of everyday life. I think they're having trouble with everyday life because they are not being properly diagnosed and treated by the nation which chose to send them to fight and by the armed forces which deploys them.

That is my concern.