THE WAR WITHIN(Barf Alert)

SF Gate ^ | Sunday, January 29, 2006 | By Mathew Stannard

[zzen01]

Pike County, Ky. -- BATTLE SCARS: The photo of the ‘Marlboro Man’ in Fallujah became a symbol of the Iraq conflict when it ran in newspapers across America in 2004. Now the soldier has returned home to Kentucky,where he battles the demons of post-traumatic stres

[zzen01]

WoW!

[new yorker 77]

Only the MSM would try to turn Marlboro Man into a wuss.

[Peach]

You don't have to leave the country, fight a war, and liberate a nation to suffer PTS. But don't tell the MSM that. LOL

[digger48]

Dan Rather at it again?

[starbase]

Just like with Vietnam, they want to create the myth that everyone was afraid of being in the military so people won't support the military, and if you don't support the military, then you don't support the country, do you? Nice.

Trauma in war is real, but packaged and advertised as the universal experience makes for a nice sociological weapon, doesn't it?

[FlingWingFlyer]

It's good to know that 83% of us DON'T suffer from "PTS disorder." Almost all of Hanoi Boi's "Winter Soldiers" suffered from it even though only one of them went to Vietnam as a rear echelon.... Many of the "Winter Soldiers" developed PTS after listening to "war stories" told by returning Vietnam veterans.

[denydenydeny]

The morning he woke up to discover that a cat had taken up residence in the open chest cavity of an Iraqi body nearby, consuming it from within.

Oh my.

[operation clinton cleanup]

Miller met Brown in infantry school, when the smiling African American introduced himself to the white Kentucky native with a grinning, "What's up, cracker?"

Did he respond, "Whats up, N(word)"?

[Altair333]

I don't get why everyone is criticising this story- it just tells what happened to the guy. He's a flesh and blood human being who went through some very tough combat. War is not fun and games, and telling that truthfully is not anti-war propoganda.

[A.A. Cunningham]

James Miller has become the cause du jour for the leftist media. Hopefully he won't turn into another Jimmy Massey.

'Marlboro Marine': Home Front Woes

Famous face, humble heart

[jazusamo]

The hack that wrote this "implied" that several hundred thousand new veterans have PST, he didn't say they did. Most of these writers suffer from it and have never left the states.

[stormlead]

The reason people are criticizing this article is because it is a typical example of the biased stuff that comes out of the media:

Example:

"Before long, he began working in a body shop, where the owner told him the most extraordinary thing: Miller could get his auto body repair certification for free -- just by joining the military. A Marine recruiter offered more: insurance, housing, college money."

That excerpt- "the most extraordinary thing"- just drips of condescension. According to the author, this young man joined the military because he was an illiterate redneck looking to get an auto body repair certificate. The second part of that excerpt- about the Marine recruiter- implies that the Marines recruit by bribing and tricking innocent (illiterate, redneck) youths into joining up.

That's why people are so up-in-arms about the liberal media. They don't often show their bias outright, preferring to make subtle hints and vague remarks intended to undermine politicians and institutions they don't agree with.

[Mr. Mojo]

"He was raised where that's one of the Ten Commandments, do not kill," she said. "I think it's hard for a soldier to go to war and have that embedded in them.....

Yet another casualty of a Biblical mistranslation. The Commandment is "thou shall not murder." ....quite a distinction.

[billbears]

Yet another casualty of a Biblical mistranslation. The Commandment is "thou shall not murder." ....quite a distinction.

Um, no. The KJV (which would more than likely be the translation used as it is through large parts of the South) says 'thou shalt not kill'.

[Mr. Mojo]

The translation is faulty.

[stormlead]

This is an interesting debate. I found the following on Wikipedia:

The Hebrew word ratsach, used in this commandment, is close to the word murder; kill is a mistranslation, but it does not translate directly to the word murder. While most uses of the word ratsach are in passages describing murder, in Prov 22:13 a lion ratsach a man to death, many argue since a lion cannot murder anyone, murder is a flawed translation as well. Also in Joshua 20:3, ratsach is used to describe death by negligence. A closer translation would be to kill in the manner of a predatory animal. Some Jews take offense at translations which state "Thou shall not kill", which these Jews hold to be a flawed interpretation, for there are circumstances in which one is required to kill, such as if killing is the only way to prevent one person from murdering another. Another case is killing in self-defense.

Just my 2 cents.

[Jaysun]

Some of what he's said (or supposedly said) in other articles smacks of leftist propaganda. He's earned the right to say whatever he wants, it's just disgusting to watch the media try to exploit it. They're never interested in soldiers unless they're dead or disabled.

[RedRover]

There was an outstanding editorial in the New York Times (yes, the New York Times) in March 2004 about media distortion and PTS. The piece noted that during the anti-war movement of the 1970s, psychiatrists claimed that one in every three Vietnam vet suffered from post-traumatic stress. This was utter speculation passed off as fact. Nonetheless, the one-third figure continues to be quoted in the media as GIs return from Iraq.

The editorial was by a psychiatrist, Sally Satel, and it can be found at http://www.sallysatelmd.com/html/a-nytimes8.html.

[billbears]

Ah, I see. So we should just look for the translation that holds to 'our' view of the Ten Commandments? That ought to be fun. And to think for over 400 years the KJV has been the standard.

[AmericanMade1776]

Doesn't look like a Wuss to me, Looks like an American Man who fought for his country, and lives in Kentucky, with his wife and dog, and still is proud of the American Flag..God Bless Blake Miller...We still are proud of you!