Journal 8 From Paul Winters

The Marlboro marine was a neat but sad segment. We have read and heard about the effects of PTSD in Beah’s case. It was interesting to hear about someone in closer to our time in our country and what they are going through. Most of the time I don’t think about the all the things they have to go through when they come back. They are in need of help and many times they fall into isolation. One of the parts I took note of is the survivor's guilt. “What made me so special to be here when they are not.” This is also a parallel from Beah’s story he had the same sense of guilt line ruminating around in his head of why he made it.

I think it would be great to have a program of rehabilitation into society and make it so everyone coming back must go to it. It should not be a thing where a bad connotation by saying they are all messed up and need help. The program would be to have a time for them to debrief and be with other soldiers who understand them and in this time evaluate them and see who is alright to be let go, and who needs to stay and receive help. One part that is huge when going into PTSD is going into isolation, so it would be good to be there in that stage and not let them sink into isolation by going back their homes right away. Maybe even a 5 year program where their families get to come live in a military community and they are taken care of. Even if they are just fine, they get to live with the people they have a close bond with and it will help them in other ways of support.

Something that struck me in Holding on active reading was “I’m a class a little higher than that. Have you got any work I can do?”(Pg.20) I thought that was interesting because I truly didn’t know what a hobo was and just thought it was a term for a homeless person. This was neat because it highlights the willingness of a hobo, they want to work. While a bum is someone who wants something for nothing and we can all respect a hobo a lot more than a bum. We want to help people that want to help themselves.

That is a tough question because extreme situations cause for extreme measures. I would go to the suburbs, where there is a lot of wealth and see if there are things to be done or opportunities to be a cleaner or landscaper for them. At the same time I would go to a business and tell them I will work for free if they teach me the ways they do business and be mentored on how to start and run something. I would do that because it would help me get knowledge and experience and if I was in that situation, I would want to know how to get out not prolong it.