Yesterday afternoon, I attended the visitation of a former colleague. Although my boss and colleague didn’t say explicitly, it’s quite apparent to me, that the former colleague took his own life. This is the charity the family suggest donation in lieu of flowers. I googled “PTSD for veterans”, and this resource website by va.gov pops up.
Personally, I talked to another colleague, and he said something related to this topic too: he was a combat medic in Iraq (during the 2nd Iraq war). He said the bad guys used little kids as a cover or distraction, to kill good intentioned US soldiers. He saw this 1st hand. This comes back to the politicians especially George W Bush and the 80 senators who voted for the Iraq war in 2003. A few years ago, I heard the monetary cost for the two wars: Afghanistan and Iraq are $6 trillions. We know in terms of human cost; this is un-proportionally born by those being deployed and their families. Obviously, Iraq side has heavy civilians’ casualty as well. This is the Wikipedia entry for both sides.
In a smaller scale, I know a few capitol polices committed suicide after January 6 capital riot.
PS: the No. 1 job for a US president is to make sure the American people are safe. Along same lines, a president needs to have a very good reason if he/she wants to send troops in harm’s way. Geroge W Bush obviously failed the troops on the Iraq war started in 2003. And it seems Donald Trump will repeat – Trump confirms plan to declare national emergency, use military for mass deportations. If this becomes reality, I expect PTSD on both sides.
Last but not least, I just talked about this in Mandarin (Chinese) in my YT video.