Sorry Vet, but my infantry father of WWII told me of many guys losing their minds or just shutting down or shooting themselves to get out of it, or they turned into savages and shot anything in sight.
PTDS is a real mental problem, although some do use it as an excuse. There were many cases of soldiers losing it even in Korea and Viet Nam. Not every survivor of intense combat comes home mentally intact. Not sure what this guy is about, but combat has a way of disturbing the most macho gung ho. It's a fact.
I had a friend who came back from Nam and was a total mess. Not because of killing people and the patrols, but because he was always moments away from being blown apart in rice paddies and it wore on him. He was a good soldier and did his duty, but his tour broke him down. He committed suicide back in the States, as have many Veterans.
Please don't minimize the horror of war and what it does to a person's psyche. And yes, I was lucky to not be there on the ground but know enough to understand that some can handle it and others can't.
excellant post...you cover the issue very thoroughly and with understanding of the many facets of PTSD.
Something else that causes problems with some vets is an irrational sense of guilt that they made it through without any physical damage. These were the guys who were in theater but never went on patrols, repulsed an assault, took incoming mortars/rockets. They don’t have the war stories to tell about being the sole survivor in a squad, seeing their best friend blown up, seeing children caught in the line of fire. They feel they walked out on the backs of their fellow soldiers, or never had a chance to prove themselves worthy.
This can show up as self-destructive behavior like heavy drug and alcohol use, becoming a “dare devil”, or suicide. It can also show up as aggressive behavior directed at others, sometimes dangerous life-or-death confrontation.
All wounds are not visible and sometimes there is no way to tell what’s going to happen until it happens.