It’s OK for troops and veterans to not be OK
'I do think that there are a lot of people that are trying to white-knuckle it right now.'
By Jeff Schogol | Updated Sep 4, 2021 9:29 AM
At the risk of stating the obvious: Things are awful.
The Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan is a true shot to the gut for troops and veterans who have fought there over the past 20 years. The apocalyptic evacuation was especially terrible for the troops in Kabul who spent days with crowds of Afghans trying desperately to get into Hamid Karzai International Airport. In at least one case, an Afghan man handed his baby to a Marine, who lifted the infant over the razor wire to safety.
Add to that the ongoing surge of the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Hospitals around the country are swamped with COVID-19 patients, leading to an acute shortage of intensive care unit beds. At least one veteran died of a preventable disease because his gallstones could not be treated in time.
To pile on, Hurricane Ida has drowned the Gulf Coast and Mid-Atlantic while wildfires continue to roll through the West like the Romans through Carthage. Climate change has perhaps guaranteed that National Guardsmen will be responding to once-in-a-lifetime natural disasters every week.
https://taskandpurpose.com/pentagon-run-down/afghanistan-troops-veterans-mental-health-resources/
