He was dressed like Hunter S. Thompson… even had the silly cigarette holder (unlighted ciggie, of course, he was on a public bus, remember)
Usually the Iraq vets I meet on the bus and can immediately tell are vets are the ones with the Walter Reed hardware attached to what’s left of their limbs.
This guy didn’t have pieces missing, not that immediately showed.
He was just short of cryin’ drunk, or phasing from fightin’ drunk to “cryin’ about yer daddy drunk”. Mentioned that he had just got back, two tours of duty there but he survived, dammit, he’s still alive…
said he hates the country but still fought for it.
Offered me a cigarette… on the bus offered me a cigarette…
Said he managed to get out with a Dishonorable Discharge for drug use. That DD part is important, but let me get through the rambling part of the story first, m’kay?
Another Iraq vet called him “Hunter” and he said “Yeah, I know, he was one of my favorites too” and mentioned a couple of movies of Thompson’s work… and that he was “over there” when Gonzo blew his brains out.
Kind of a time warp thingie, that both of them had, they identified the time of his suicide as “last year”. It’s Important, so pay attention…
After the Hunter guy gets off the bus, the other made some teasing remark… I said, yeah, it’s a clear case of PTSD (it was, too…)
He said, “yeah, you’re right, that’s what the VA is treating me for” important …
I mentioned my brother-in-law Al, who came back from the Nam with both PTSD and Malaria..
He softly whistles and says “damn, that’s a helluva combination” and I was getting off the bus right then.
Here’s where all the things stack together, the stuff I tagged as Important.
Drug use is a major symptom of PTSD. So is legalized drug use like alcohol. So is a time warp of three years.
I wasn’t goint to mention the Hunter S. deal to him, when somebody’s at that stage of drunk any suggestion of suicide is dangerous.
But they gave him a Dishonorable after two tours of duty in Iraq.
For exhibiting a symptom of PTSD.
The guy who mentioned that he was being treated by the VA, I didn’t have the time to remind him, the Hunter S. guy, said he had a Dishonorable.
NO medical treatment even for something that’s service related or, in this case, actually CAUSED by his service.
There’s a deal the VVAW and IVAW people have mentioned, that the Pentagoons are deliberately culling people with PTSD as “Disciplinary” or “behavioral” problems, even Dishonorable Discharges, precisely for that reason.
They broke them, but they don’t want to pay to fix them.
But that’s just a “Lefty Conspiracy theory”, right?