Monday, 7 December 2009
Thursday, 3 December 2009
It's more convenient for soldiers to die.
A few weeks ago, I was out with my dogs in the early evening when some fireworks began to go off.
My youngest Collie Alf, is terrified of them & duly did a runner for the nearest gate. By the time I'd got the other two on their leads, Alf was long gone. However, much to my relief, a cyclist had stopped Alf from running out into the road & was waiting with him.
I explained how sometimes I had to resort to Valium for the dogs due their fear of noise. It turned out the cyclist was a Psychiatric nurse, working with the soldiers returning from the war.
He spoke of the many returning from duty in Afghanistan with terrible psychological difficulties, including an unreasonable fear of loud noises. They are given Valium and many other drugs in order to help them.
There are some still struggling to cope with the aftermath of the Iraq war. To quote him, those who the powers that be, prefer to forget. In other words, it was more convenient for them to die outright, than come home so deeply scarred. His way of coping with the stress, was to cycle round Richmond Park in the evening when it's closed to traffic.
It was a brief yet sobering encounter. Had those fireworks not gone off & Alf been so scared, I'd never have met this chap. We never even exchanged names. As we parted I had tears rolling down my face.
My youngest Collie Alf, is terrified of them & duly did a runner for the nearest gate. By the time I'd got the other two on their leads, Alf was long gone. However, much to my relief, a cyclist had stopped Alf from running out into the road & was waiting with him.
I explained how sometimes I had to resort to Valium for the dogs due their fear of noise. It turned out the cyclist was a Psychiatric nurse, working with the soldiers returning from the war.
He spoke of the many returning from duty in Afghanistan with terrible psychological difficulties, including an unreasonable fear of loud noises. They are given Valium and many other drugs in order to help them.
There are some still struggling to cope with the aftermath of the Iraq war. To quote him, those who the powers that be, prefer to forget. In other words, it was more convenient for them to die outright, than come home so deeply scarred. His way of coping with the stress, was to cycle round Richmond Park in the evening when it's closed to traffic.
It was a brief yet sobering encounter. Had those fireworks not gone off & Alf been so scared, I'd never have met this chap. We never even exchanged names. As we parted I had tears rolling down my face.
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