Quoted Text
The sniviling SOB probably deserved it.
Hmmm...
Same as it was ok to shoot guys for cowardice when suffering from combat exhaustion?
The term 'shellshock' is not the correct word. The actual syndrome is known as Combat Exhaustion, During WW2 the US Army had one of the most advance treatment systems for sufferers. The condition was not limited to 'sniviling SOB's'. Many veterans eventually succumbed to combat exhaustion and the US Army recognised that it was virtually impossible for a human to with stand more than 200 days combat without breaking down.
To dismiss these men as 'sniviling SOB's'. is, in my view, rather offensive and shows a lack of understanding of the actual condition. I would suggest that to gain a true idea of the syndrome you look at 'A War of Nerves' by Ben Shepard or 'Closing with the Enemy' by Micheal Doubler. Another good work on this is 'Hero or Coward' by Emil Dinter.
The syndrome can come on in many ways. The PTSD of Vietnam veterans is a relation to combat exhaustion. Are they 'sniviling SOB's'.???
My own Grandfather suffered from cobat exhaustion after Dunkirk. He fought with the BEF till evacuation from the Dunkirk beachead. The 'trigger' for the onset of CE was that he pulled his friends head off while trying to drag him to safety after a near miss from a Stuka. He returned home holding his friends severed head and spent sometime in a military hospital. He was released and continued to serve until severely wounded in Italy.
The attitude that CE sufferers are snivelling cowards is an outdated attitude that dates back to WW1.
As for Patton, I think he deserves to be tarnished by the awful incident in the hospital, as he does for his desire to declare war on the Soviets and his handling of Bavaria. As I stated on the other topic, a good divisional commander but overated as an army commander.
Consigliere
