Susan:
>I hope there are no combat Vietnam Vets on this list, because they would be
>insulted by the above untrue statements.
>PTSD is a NORMAL reaction to abnormal stimuli. In other words the veteran
>saw TOO MUCH (horror overload) and reacts accordingly.

I'm not quite getting you here. Wasn't Peter's point that TOO MUCH is
something of a cumulative thing which includes a person's whole history,
especially early traumas as we are then the most defenseless. I don't see
how anything he mentioned was in any way insulting.

>Because the Veterans
>organizations have been infaltrated by Vietnam Vet wannabees the true
>picture of PTSD has been clouded by misinformation. Many of the REMFs or
>rear echelon mutha fuckas who saw no action also cloud the issue with
>statements like ''Vietnam didn't affect me" so everyone else must have had
>crummy childhoods.

One would think that how much "action" one has seen is clear factor in
PTSD, but why wouldn't one's childhood be a factor as well? It sure seems
to be in nearly every other arena of life.

Cheers,
Kirt