Quite frankly, I don't know how it works. Nor do I need to. What I meant was, that if he was susceptible to such hallucinations triggered by this kind of imagery, he should have stayed away. It's common sense. If I had a broken leg, I would get up on it and start hopping around directly on it.

What I said was just an opinion, and opinions are just that. There's no need for snarky comments in retort back. I feel bad for the guy, and his family, I really do. All I'm saying is that it would have been smart for him to just stay away from that kind of stuff if he was bothered by that kind of imagery. Enough said.

 

Well said.

 

Which was my point as well. I have a lot of family and friends who were/still are active in nearly all the branches of the Military. I have one friend who not only was over in the sandbox in 91, but has been over there for nearly all of the last 3 years, with one 3 month break in-between. Certainly I have not personally experienced PTSD, but that doesn't mean I'm totally ignorant either.

 

It amazing how this shit can F you up.

I have a friend whose son was over in Afganistan. The last vehicle in their Convoy hit a mine, the sons. He was blown off the back of the vehicle where he was sitting, the driver was unhurt. The Passenger who was a friend of this guy, was hit by shrapnel and died on the scene, despite the efforts of everyone else in the convoy.

The son ended up getting sent home for 6 months, going through the entire gamut of emotions, depression, survivors guilt everything. My friend had to treat his son very carefully during that time. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't allow his son to play war games that would remind him of his squaddie mates being blown up in front of him.

 

poor guy. my friend plays cod4 in the office, yeah it is pretty damn realistic n totally plausible that it contributed to it.

but I gotta agree with squirrelcar, some of you all, 1st reaction is, its not the games fault! yeesh.

 

Fair enough for the snarky complaint, and I'll openly admit my objectivity is impaired.

But the bolded sections of your post are what I have issue with. The point is that PTSD is a mental illness, and among other symptoms, is associated with deficient judgement and reasoning. It has a high rate of association with Traumatic Brain Injury as well, which can often result in physical changes in the brain.

Yeah, maybe he should have stayed away from a game like CoD 4--but suggesting that it's just common sense or the smart choice that he should have done so is like suggesting a cancer patient should just stop losing weight, or somebody with bronchitis should just stop coughing.

Sure, it'd be good for them to do so, but it's not like it's a conscious choice, and to a great extent, they have no control over it. Not realizing that and still passing judgement is insensitive in the extreme at best. That's why I think it'd be important for people to understand something like PTSD before posting some of the comments in this thread.

 

Oh, you'd be surprised then. If there's anything I learned while serving in the military, it's that paperwork/records/benefits almost NEVER happen fast. Then you also have to consider that the VA is a different entity than the military itself. Think of it as a private contractor. It doesn't surprise me one bit that he had been having problems getting his benefits.

 

Serve your country, pissant...

And my compensation?

.... fuck off...

God I love this country, sometimes...[/sarcasm]