A legacy of war - What happened to 2nd Platoon?

[Wicky]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/Iraq_legacy_of_war

In 2007 the BBC’s Mark Urban was “embedded” with a platoon of soldiers in one of Baghdad’s most violent areas.

Ten years later he tracked down four of the men from the unit.

What effect did the war have on them?

[Erwin]

Very interesting article.  Thanks...

I often wonder if the psychological issues are worse today than after (say) WW2 cos that was a "good" war with easy to determine enemies, whereas today, as one of the interviewees briefed his men "they have to be prepared to kill women and children" etc.  Or, whether the psych problems (that seem so prevalent in modern wars) were simply not reported during or after WW2 as there was no language/diagnosis at that time to describe the issue the way there is now.

 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Very good article.....Cheers. 

[Michael Emrys]

5 hours ago, Erwin said:

I often wonder if the psychological issues are worse today than after (say) WW2 cos that was a "good" war with easy to determine enemies, whereas today, as one of the interviewees briefed his men "they have to be prepared to kill women and children" etc.  Or, whether the psych problems (that seem so prevalent in modern wars) were simply not reported during or after WW2 as there was no language/diagnosis at that time to describe the issue the way there is now.

A little of both perhaps. War was certainly not lacking in shocking ugliness 75 years ago. I can recall hearing as a child the adults speak of returning vets suffering from "shell shock" as it was called at the time. There was virtually nothing in the way of formal treatment in those days, sufferers were expected to just "tough it out". Failure to do so was usually characterized as a shameful lack of "moral fiber".

Michael