PTSD In The Marines

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James was a Marine right out of his second tour of Iraq, during which he faced a bloody battle with the Mahdi Militia in Najaf (TruthOut). Because one in every two cases goes undiagnosed or is misdiagnosed, military personal need to be monitored more closely for signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There has been a lot of cases of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) in the Marines over the last decade (TruthOut). PTSD is basically a mental health condition triggered by witnessing a horrible event and for people who are diagnosed with it, they struggle with depression, suicide, and having to relive that traumatic moment every day of their life. PTSD cannot be cured, but many people cope with it by going to a Psychiatric doctor and …show more content…

While the sheriff was banging on his door, James was talking to his mother and told her he couldn’t go back and ruin everything he ever worked for. He told his mom that he killed 213 people and that he couldn’t live like that, reliving every single memory every single night, wanting to kill himself and not wanting to disappoint his family. After that James picked up a gun and shot himself right in the head. After the suicide the Marines tried to deny all of his benefits for the family because they said he died a deserter. In the end after several court hearings, they finally gave the benefits to family because they ruled he had PTSD and that the Marines never diagnosed him with it and that they didn’t even try to help him. Marine boot camp is a factor in PTSD among Marines. During phase one or “The first phase”, the recruits start to transition from civilians into Marines (Marine Corps). The recruits undergo physical and mental training. The recruits also get to learn martial arts and take classes on Marine Corps History, and First Aid. Phase two is where the recruits go to Edson Range to master close-quarter combat and Marksmanship Training. Phase three or the Final phase is …show more content…

Field Training is where it starts to introduce the recruits to living conditions on the field and then try to get you used to them since your going to be doing this a lot (Marine Corps). They teach the recruits how to set up a tent, to sanitation and camouflage. The recruits also get the chance to go through the Gas Chamber which is basically where recruits go into a gas chamber and they drop non-lethal gas into the chamber then they are instructed to take their gas mask off and stay in the chamber for 3-5 minutes after that they are able to leave the gas room. Some of the ways “PT” contributes to developing PTSD in boot camp is because when your doing the exercises the Drill Instructors are screaming at you the entire time and the stress they have to endure is too much for some people. . “PT” or Physical Training is basically where the recruit training program uses progressive physical exercises and drills to build the recruits up to Marine standards (Marine Corps). Recruits will also experience something called Table PT, this is basically where a Drill Instructor leads several platoons through a series of demanding exercises while he demonstrates it on a

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