LMF - Interesting details from book

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halifax1
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Re: LMF - Interesting details from book

Post by halifax1 »

Your Father is a few years my senior and I have to say I share his views more closely than I do those of the next generations with whom I become increasingly out of touch. I cannot perceive for example why we now seemingly have to apologise for some acts of the past - e.g. the Mau Mau having talked to people who were there! Yes living through a war does bring home some of the horrors but most I felt just coped. But look at today - we have almost sanitised such horrors as almost every news programme shows dead and injured people with severe mutilations, whereas even 30 years ago such horrors were not shown.
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ME453
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Re: LMF - Interesting details from book

Post by ME453 »

I must admit David that I found some of the younger members of our recent African trip very difficult to understand and at times tolerate. They were so immature and often opinionated, I found myself inevitably making comparisons with the deeds and attitudes of their forefathers during WW2. Sadly everything seems to be handed to them on a plate these days so they value nothing.
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halifax1
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Re: LMF - Interesting details from book

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i think compared with myself (and I have had more practice I admit) your tolerance levels are rather higher than mine - I know what you mean; but every now and again one comes across a younger person who is refreshingly different from the norm. That is a joy, frankly!

I do feel though Max that many adults of the generation after ours do not help.But as I have said so often I am very glad I am the age I am. I am too old also to be a baby boomer, but you Max are not, so according to the Bishop of London and others it is all your fault.
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Re: LMF - Interesting details from book

Post by Bob Wilton »

We must remember that we are all human and some of us have a fear of dying one day. Its not cowardice to have nerves
and some of us can control them better than others and do not show our fear openly but, keep it welled up inside. Even
the tougher ones of us some times crack up as they cannot stand the constant fear of being killed, Many of these brave
volunteers had been on quite a few operations before their nerves took over and found they could not face the prospect
of going on another operation .These men were not cowards but only human beings who like us all sometimes in our lives
are faced with horrendous circumstances which cannot be controlled. Anyone will tell you who has come under enemy
fire, that once the incident is over and the adrenalin looses its impact you start to shake a little, and this is only human
and commonly known as shock. The person who labelled these brave men with 'Moral Fibre' should have been made to
take their place on operations to see if they could take the constant nerve wracking experience of aerial combat.

Today we call it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and its what some suffered in combat in WWI and WWII.

Bob
Dicam ex animo. Sed nostri evocatis, ut debemus eis libertatem.
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halifax1
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Re: LMF - Interesting details from book

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Can't disagree with any of that.

I have just remembered a medic - I am sure he was a shrink (RAF) who was obsessed (can't think of a other word) with PTSD and was very disappointed if chaps did not show any when he met them after Gulf One. I wonder if sometimes he did not help on occasions. Inevitably though he did become the victim of some unkind winding up by some of his patients.

But of course PTSD is not confined to the military. It can affect anyone who has had what they regard as a traumatic experience. It could be witnessing an accident, being assaulted or even hearing of a disaster on the other side of the world. All a question of ones individual sensitivity I suppose. Trouble is though there will always be folk who jump on the bandwagon and claim they are suffering from depression etc. to have an easy ride. That is where the "experts" must be zealous in their diagnosis.

Looking back I wonder how much one's up bringing has an influence. One thing I am grateful to my Mother for is her robust attitude to my whinging. In the winter of '47 I was sent of each day to school (a mile walk) in short trousers and no wellies! If I complained of feeling to unwell to go to school I was simply told I would feel better when I got there (often the case). And later the school master at the grammar school (ex LRDG, MC etc.) who made us run around the playing field in the snow for a gym lesson only in shorts and bare feet! Turned out to be good fun actually. When I fell through the ice on a pond (no notices up you see) I carried on playing until my clothes were dry because I was fearful of what my Mother would say. But that was all quite normal then. I am not aware that any of it had an adverse effect on me but it did prepare me for some things I encountered in later life - perhaps? Never been brave however, that I know of.
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