Timmy Overby Ms. Hollingsworth Comp. I 20 Aug.

2012 The Possible Costs of being a Soldier No matter how much a person wishes for a job without problems, every job would have some sort of problem. Being a soldier in the United States Army makes no exception to this statement. Just because soldiers no longer live a civilian life that does not mean they do not deal with the same economic problems. Every day U.S. soldiers constantly face the rising problem of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the empty feeling of being expendable and having to face their lives knowing they cannot see the ones they love. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has become an increasing problem for U.S. soldiers because many soldiers experience graphic missions or training exercises. PTSD generates from a persons experience to a traumatic event that seems horrible to a person. PTSD patients have built a reputation of being six times more likely to develop mental, physical, work, and relationship problems. Imagine being a soldier stuck in a ditch with no way out because of gunfire from enemy soldiers; experiences like these can cause PTSD in soldiers. PTSD not only causes serious effects on the soldier, but also on the family. Most families try therapy for the soldier in hopes that it will help them cope with their altered emotional status. In most cases this fails and puts more financial costs on the family. Also, PTSD patients commonly suffer from substance abuse of alcohol or drugs. PTSD can cause people to change their lives to avoid another situation or try to find a way to cope with the situation, but this causes agony for the patient and for the friends and family. PTSD can ruin lives and people should thank a soldier for

Overby 2 their sacrifice. Soldiers not only suffer from PTSD, but soldiers may even begin to feel expendable to the military. The government enforces budget cuts to save money and help the economy, but this can influence the military resources and mass. Soldiers get paid for what they do whether for being a medic or for being part of a cleanup group. When the budget decreases, people could lose their job in the military. Recently, forty thousand marines lost their jobs because of cuts. Soldiers also feel expendable about their jobs because of financial downsizing but they may also feel expendable about their lives. Soldiers know that they could die while serving their country. Soldiers can suffer from wounds and possibly death while being deployed in a hostile environment such as Taliban areas. Also, soldiers suffer injuries and can die out of the line of duty during training missions by equipment malfunctions. Soldiers sacrifice their lives to the service of their country while some people demoralize them wrongfully for the missions of peace. Soldiers not only suffer from feeling expendable, but they suffer from the feeling of displacement. Soldiers travel to different areas of the world for deployment or training. Soldiers travel to bases for training their assigned Military Occupational Specialty. Being at such a distance from loved ones makes being a soldier difficult and emotionally stressful. This training could send them away from their family across the country even. During a soldiers deployment, the soldier could be sent to the four corners of the world. Being so far away from home, some soldiers may regret joining the military. A soldier could be in Iraq for his deployment and miss the birth of his child. Soldiers feel they need to complete their mission of being a soldier, but more importantly, their role of a family member. Experiences like these may make the soldier regret joining the military because he or she may miss the opportunities a civilian experiences.

Overby 3 Soldiers make a sacrifice joining the services knowing they could attain PTSD, a feeling of expendability, and the inability to see family and friends like civilians get to. Soldiers can have their job and lives ruined by PTSD. Soldiers may begin to feel that they can be easily replaced when gone. Sacrifices soldiers make include not being able to see the ones they love and care for. Most people misunderstand how much a soldier goes through experiences, and people should be more supportive of the sacrifices the soldiers make that others do not want to, unable to, or even scared to make to protect freedom.

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