The best soldiers are those who are able to deal with large amounts of pain and keep moving forward. Anyone with a tab or a trident will tell you that your mind will give up long before your body will. You can handle the pain, you just need to know that you can handle it.
I’ve seen a man shot in the face and keep fighting, I’ve seen amputees finishing marathons, and I’ve seen countless men finish 20 mile ruck marches in bloody boots. It’s the mental drive, the decision that quitting is not an option, that allows you to push your body to the extreme and accomplish great feats.
What we often forget is that when the mission is over, you go get fixed. The mission called for it and you heroically ignored your own wounds to expose yourself again and again to enemy fire, sustaining multiple wounds, but now the mission is over, and you need to get those wounds addressed. That’s easy to figure out when you have a bullet hole in your face.
But what do we do when those wounds are emotional? Too many of us keep pretending that the mission is ongoing. It’s important in battle to be stoic, to be able to see horrific things and move along to accomplish the mission, but if you keep that up forever, you’re never going to heal. I’m not saying you’re broken or that you need to go see some shrink because your feelings hurt, but you need to expose those demons to the light.
Here’s what I want you to do: In the next 48 hours from when you read this, go find a buddy that has been in combat as well. Find someone that you really trust (we all have at least one guy), maybe he was there with you, maybe not, but get in touch. Have a beer and tell some war stories, but not just the fun ones, but the tough ones as well.
Just talk.
Some of you might actually need some real therapy, so this is not a substitute for that. For the rest of us who are generally functioning members of society but sometimes want to smack stupid motherfuckers in the face in the office, this is for us.
It may be exactly what your buddy needs too.
-LJF