From The Iliad through Vietnam to Iraq:Charting Warrior Experience and Crisis

Having read The Iliad and the selections from Shay’s Achilles in Vietnam, it is clear that our understanding of the texts, warrior culture, and the warrior’s experience are being reshaped. We have gained new insights into the trauma’s that may be experienced by a warrior. As we draw connections from that ancient text into the present, we are introduced to the contemporary realities of that experience, especially the mental health profession’s diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

National Public Radio (NPR) investigation that began in late 2006 and carried into the spring of 2007 chronicled the mental health care of soldiers returning to Fort Carson, Colorado. To date there have been ten installments following this evolving story.

Please listen to the following radio reports by Wednesday, October 24:

1. Soldiers Face Obstacles to Mental Health Services
2. Soldiers Say Army Ignores, Punishes Mental Anguish
3. Do Soldiers Receive Adequate Mental Health Care?
4. Gaps in Mental Care Persist for Fort Carson Soldiers
5. Return to Fort Carson Raises More Questions