TSU – PSTD – Smoke and Fire

Monsters

 

Not much has been said about our military men and women coming home and becoming police officers or correctional officers and then switching back into an assault role by joining their respective emergency response teams [ERT] causing some concern about those members already filled with PTSD and other traumatizing disorders while on duty and off duty. Soldiers, Marines and other servicemen and women joining law enforcement is no anomaly. It has rather, become the general rule to follow.

Soldiers and Marines, make great cops and are hired for such duty assignments in a plentiful fashion. Having experience with combat, giant black tactical armored vehicles, chest high armor plated, M16 or other high powered weaponry, they are exposed to the blasts of roadside bombs, roof top snipers, and close quarters building to building search and destroy missions and many other skills designed for a warrior.

Today, the idea of becoming a cop or correctional officer doing their jobs of enforcing rules and regulations, armed with lethal or non-lethal weapons attracts warriors of such experience levels and should cause a concern for those employing these warriors. Given the national talent searching and soul-searching task of finding qualified candidates for police work, these warriors are accosted by private and public enforcement entities in large numbers.

Security companies are hiring warriors at a high rate and giving them key roles as first responders and other high profile parts. Enter corrections, the public and private prison exhibition arena and you are instantly taken away with the presence of assault rifles, gas masks, helmets, tactical gear, night-vision devices and countless other references to the war zone. This reflects what is commonly called a 9/11 symbolism where the presence of force and power is appropriate and, of course, this being a gung-ho, ERT /TSU / SWAT-team jamboree, self-awareness was all-pervasive.

Make no mistake, there are problems here as these heroes, warrior or whatever you want to call these PTSD laden men and women, are sophisticated people, individuals coming back from combat who know how to use their weapons and are dealing with PTSD. We have to become more aware and more cautious that there is a definite link between PTSD and violence and that such links could reveal acts that are inappropriately handled for the crime, misconducts dealt with and could create an escalation of a situation that might be viewed as combat and is overblown to the point of distortion.

There you have it in a nutshell, we are turning police / correctional officers back into soldiers to deal with non-combat situations that may be handled as actual combat due to PTSD. The insanity comes a full circle. Those who fight monsters (PTSD) inevitably change. Because of all that they see and do, they lose their innocence, and a piece of their humanity with it. If they want to survive, they begin to adopt some of the same characteristics as the monsters they fight. It is necessary. They become capable of rage, and extreme violence.

Sometimes, this blurs lines as it becomes increasingly difficult to keep the lines clear. They keep those monster tendencies locked away in a cage, deep inside waiting for a trigger to release all that emotional pent-up feelings. That monster is only allowed out to protect others, to accomplish the mission, to get the job done and how it gets done is often left up to these warriors. Not for the perverse pleasure that these warriors possessed by these monsters, feel they want to intentionally harm others. In fact, those monster tendencies cause damage...guilt, isolation, depression, PTSD.

There is a cost for visiting violence on others when you are possessed by a monster. Those who do so know one thing...The cost inflicted upon society as a whole is far greater without those who fight monsters creating a necessity that allows them to exist. That is why they join tactical special units [TSU] as they are willing to make that horrible sacrifice so that others may live peaceably.  Before you judge one of us, remember this before you speak. On the other hand, regardless how the monsters roam inside the head or the heart, it is still up to personal responsibility to accept what it does to others including yourself - PTSD is relentless in finding victims and should be addressed to avoid pitfalls of becoming the monster it is and creates in all reality. Help should be sought and treatment should be provided without labels, stigmas or stereotyping this help or assistance as a weakness, when in fact, it is quite the opposite.