Fixed. Sadly, to our eternal and undying shame. Fergodssakes, we’ve known about combat-related mental illness for almost a hundred years, you’d have thought someone might do something by now, given that the official line is that these ‘brave boys’ are protecting us from the Evul Fill-in-the-blank Horde.

Spirula, good one. I always think about this song. It came out in the early 80s, from a fairly popular bush band called Redgum (they did a lot of eco-conscious stuff, politically conscious stuff, and had a very rural Aussie sound). The song was actually at least partially responsible for changing public opinions, and government respose, to Vietnam vets. It’s chilling and heart-breaking, particularly the still photos near the end, the and it still makes me cry.

We had a guy who hung around the uni when I was there. We called him Two Bombs, because he went around grabbing people and shouting “Why two bombs?” He was huge, a shambling bear of a guy, and quite scary, and grabbed a very thin friend of mine one day. David replied “Well, it kept the Russians out of Manchuria” and managed to twist free and run like the clappers before Two Bombs tore him apart, but aside from shaky relief laughter it wasn’t at all funny. I used to have nightmares wondering what could do that to a man. And I was damn sure that, whatever it was, no-one had any right to do that even to the worst human alive.

But then I’ve always been a DFH.

Beyond the why of we in the comments here suffering, why should the troops be punished with a perpetual war for Gary(and his ilk)’s insanity?

Twofer irony. Sweet.

You see, the conservative war shout is something along the lines of:

“Support the troops!*”

*Guarantee void in case of end of service, injury, voting democrat or speaking against the war. Individual results may vary. Support is on-financial,non-binding. spiritual kind.

I guess they also should have something about side effects, but that would not sell well.

I always found US treatment of war vets wierd. The town I lived in had two out of the three high schools named after the local guys who died in Vietnam. The third guy who survived was sitting under a bridge, near shopping area with a sign saying “need money for food.”

Some irony, eh.

Legs blown off? Your fault.
Parents too poor to feed you? Your (and their) fault.

Not that a lack of empathy is a symptom of the more alarming entries in the DSM or nuthin’.

we don’t treat mental health in this country nearly as seriously as we should.

Two words. Christian nation.

(Speaking as a former conservative Christian, most people have no idea how true this is)

Anyway, couldn’t help but think of this song.

Of course, the history of the mental health industry started in part by states incarcerating crazy people to prevent them from bothering other people or property. There wasn’t much thought to helping them get better, just keeping those crazy folks away from us normal folks.

You’d think Gary would at least feel that was worth his hard-earned tax dollars, but apparently not.

Karma for Gary would be suffering all the ills he disapproves of others for suffering. Illness in his family, mental and physical; home foreclosure, unemployment, discrimination in the workplace; having the government take his property and finally, the best for last, Gary could be mis-identified as an enemy combatant and incarcerated without benefit of due process!

Curious, that. I suppose that a feeling of worth coming from fulfilling a job that you’ve trained for and serving your country by achieving a positive goal can go a long way to keep people from wanting to kill themselves. A shame, really, that that doesn’t seem to be what the troops are bringing home from Iraq.

Oh, and yes, Gary, it’s all their fault. Every single person suffering from mental illness got like that on purpose, as a way to steal your tax dollars and live in a mansion. Perhaps, rather than the dribs and drabs holding action we’ve been fighting against mental illness, you could suggest a Final Solution?

Gary, what the hell are we doing putting crazy people in our armed forces? Especially when there are perfectly capable people like you available.

“Troops” only applies to soldiers actively engaged in fighting, provided they don’t complain. Once they stop fighting (for whatever reason) they cease to be worthy of support.

So what’s new?

As I type, the crazy scary homeless guy who sleeps on a blanket under the trees in front of the parking lot where I park at work, is stable, as he usually is in the morning. Later in the afternoon, he gets up and starts ranting and yelling at passersby. When he gets too agitated, he paces back and forth in front of my office window, shouting racial epithets and profanities. We get used to him, but sometimes he crosses the line, alarmingly, and we call the PD’s homeless liaison number, and they come out and calm him down. He always goes away around 7 p.m, because I think he has a shelter bed.

Also as I write this, Ms. Britney Spears is probably buying a Kit-Kat from a vending machine on the UCLA psycho ward, having been delivered there last night by a virtual motorcade of LAPD officers and EMTs. Or maybe she’s finally sleeping, after spending the last 72 hours awake, buying a $55,000 Mercedes and flashing her body in Rite Aid stores and gas stations. The 40 degree cold spell in LA doesn’t seem to bother her anymore than our parking lot friend.

The mental health situation in this country is horrendous, horrible for patients and families alike, and a solution to it shouldn’t be exploited for partisan reasons.