Profound Alienation
Dr. Edward Tick began counseling Vietnam veterans, at a time when the nation was trying to put the Vietnam War behind it. Dr. Tick insists that “Veterans are angry or sad because they have been through horrors, which have exacerbated by a profound alienation between our warrior class and our civilian class.
“Soldiers have a responsibility to defend their country and it is our responsibility as citizens to heal those who have put their lives on the line for us, even if they fought a war for the wrong reasons and based on lies.
“Everyone who participates in a war is changed and no one comes through unscathed. When we require that they get on with ‘business as usual’ now that they are home, we put the blame on them for having broken down in the first place, and we pressure them to take sole responsibility for their healing.
“Post-traumatic stress disorder is a moral trauma. There is a stigma attached to having a ‘mental disorder’ rather than physical wounds, but mental disabilities are far more difficult for society to accept. Veterans often feel they should be stronger, or that their loved ones don’t believe they are suffering because there’s no visible wound. The typical treatment of veterans, has been denial of their pain and refusal of support.”
In the summer,1932, a large group of WW I veterans, upset with a crushed economy and their miserable circumstances, were lobbying aggressively to get our government to change the date their bonus certificates could be paid. These certificates had been provided to veterans in 1924 as a bonus for war service, but they weren’t payable until 1945.
Most of the veterans were destitute from the effects of the 1929 market crash and the depression, pleaded with our government to give them the bonus early. A bill to do so was rushed through the House, but blocked in the Senate.
Meanwhile, the Hoover administration was growing annoyed with the so-called “Bonus Army” of protesters which had marched to Washington and set up a large “Hooverville” camp on the Anacostia Flats not far from the Federal District in DC. The Army was ordered to clear out the protesting veterans. Infantry and cavalry troops under the command of Douglas Mac Arthur fixed bayonets and hoisted sabers, and rolled up the Bonus Army encampment using tear gas, fire, and forceful persuasion.
The lesson learned by the Bonus Army that day was that our leaders do not like to be presented with a constant eyesore that advertises their failure. They’ll put up with it for awhile, but inevitably the enforcers will be sent in and the shacks destroyed and heads busted.
“Soldiers have a responsibility to defend their country and it is our responsibility as citizens to heal those who have put their lives on the line for us, even if they fought a war for the wrong reasons and based on lies.
“Everyone who participates in a war is changed and no one comes through unscathed. When we require that they get on with ‘business as usual’ now that they are home, we put the blame on them for having broken down in the first place, and we pressure them to take sole responsibility for their healing.
“Post-traumatic stress disorder is a moral trauma. There is a stigma attached to having a ‘mental disorder’ rather than physical wounds, but mental disabilities are far more difficult for society to accept. Veterans often feel they should be stronger, or that their loved ones don’t believe they are suffering because there’s no visible wound. The typical treatment of veterans, has been denial of their pain and refusal of support.”
In the summer,1932, a large group of WW I veterans, upset with a crushed economy and their miserable circumstances, were lobbying aggressively to get our government to change the date their bonus certificates could be paid. These certificates had been provided to veterans in 1924 as a bonus for war service, but they weren’t payable until 1945.
Most of the veterans were destitute from the effects of the 1929 market crash and the depression, pleaded with our government to give them the bonus early. A bill to do so was rushed through the House, but blocked in the Senate.
Meanwhile, the Hoover administration was growing annoyed with the so-called “Bonus Army” of protesters which had marched to Washington and set up a large “Hooverville” camp on the Anacostia Flats not far from the Federal District in DC. The Army was ordered to clear out the protesting veterans. Infantry and cavalry troops under the command of Douglas Mac Arthur fixed bayonets and hoisted sabers, and rolled up the Bonus Army encampment using tear gas, fire, and forceful persuasion.
The lesson learned by the Bonus Army that day was that our leaders do not like to be presented with a constant eyesore that advertises their failure. They’ll put up with it for awhile, but inevitably the enforcers will be sent in and the shacks destroyed and heads busted.
posted by Jim O'Leary | 12:01 AM
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