Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness

332 Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness
Agent Orange appear to be the main culprit. Currently, Agent Orange has
been implicated in the diagnosis of certain cancers, heart disease, and diabetes,
as well as having been a precipitator of psychological stress upon
the human body.
The connection between psychological stress, trauma, and the body
is better understood than in previous generations. The Vietnam veteran
has lived between institutional resistance to acknowledge that exposure
to dioxin could be harmful and a lack of understanding of the impact of
psychological stress upon the body. The persistence of Vietnam veterans
in advocating for government accountability for the soldiers it sends to war
has opened the doors of advocacy to veterans of WWII and Korea. Further,
the veterans of more recent wars have benefited from the results
of the Vietnam veterans’ call for accountability and have adopted similar
strategies.
In the chapel on Fort Hamilton Army Base there is a small wooden
plaque on the north wall with the following words carved into it: The soldier
is the first to pray for peace. The truth of this is seen in the eyes, heard
in the voice, and witnessed in the actions of geriatric combat veterans who,
having seen war, desire peace. It is their hope and prayer; it is the source
of internal psychological conflict in the light of terrorist attacks; and it is
central to their feelings of despair.
ENTERING THE WORLD OF THE COMBAT VETERAN
In basic training, the military recruit undergoes, among other things, a narrowing
of perspective. The individual is subordinated first to the country,
then to their particular branch of service, then to the division in which he
or she serves, and finally to their particular company or barracks. The focus
on division and company creates a corporate identity and pride that filter
down to the platoon or squad of which the soldier is a member. Within this
squad, the world grows smaller still—first to my buddy , then to the one who
watches my back, and finally to the one whose back I watch. While the archetypes
of nation, soldier, and warrior are at play in the conscious mind of
the soldier, there is another process occurring: that of attachment. Most
soldiers form a fraternal attachment to one or more men in their unit. Under
the conditions of war, these new attachments are formed because one’s
life depends upon others. Attachment theorists recognize that adversity
and trauma create an environment that shapes and promotes attachment
choices. Theorists also are examining more deeply the adult formation of