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Location: Ewa Beach, HI, United States

I got out of the Army in October 2007, and went back to being a Paramedic. I am now working as an RN in Case Management.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Don't Beat Your Wife, Don't Yell At Your Kids Don't Kick The Dog

Mandatory Class, 1330 Hours! Army Community Services will be lecturing you on the evils of domestic violence and child abuse. To begin with, the post I am assigned to has 13.4 domestic violence incidents per 1,000 service members. The rest of the Army bases in the US have 5.3 per 1,000. These numbers include the single soldiers. Quite high. I am very attuned to the seriousness of this abberration of human interaction, however, today's class was much like the rest of whatr the Army does...a CYA thing. To begin with, there were over 300 soldiers in a room designed to accept 100 tops. Secondly, the person giving the class was obviously very uneducated; she used the word regressed three times in lieu of the correct word, repressed. A small example. Finally, she showed pictures of beaten, murdered, and mutilated children to a group of men who have just returned from a combat zone. Granted, shock value pictures have a big impact on normal, everyday people. I believe that they did nothing to educate the soldiers today, as:
1: They have seen it quite a bit this year, and
2: They don't want to see it any more.
At least I didn't. Luckily, I was sitting on the extreme side/rear of the room, so I couldn't see the screen unless I leaned way out to look at it. So, I only looked at a couple of photos. I suppose the whole point I am trying to make is that the folks doing our debriefings (i before e except after c) don't have any idea of what we do, and don't know how to psychically connect with us.
They say soldiers are normally much more aggressive returning from deployment that hey were before. I find that is indeed true. However, I recognize it in myself, and deal with it accordingly. THere's alot I am unhappy with, but you know what? Americans live a charmed life. We should live like we were floating on clouds in heaven, playing harps all the time. I have never been more grateful to be born in this country than I am right now. If you find yourself hating America...join an orginization that will take you to the badlands. Don't fall prey to the politics, see for yourself what is going on in our world. Then, I bet you a month's salary, you'll be grateful, and proud (for the most part) of what our country does.

1 Comments:

Blogger Audrey said...

I am so glad you are still writing, Chad.
Sounds like you are readjusting well, your family is still my my thoughts and prayers.

If you're ever on this side of the country, I still owe you a beer. :-)

5:39 PM  

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