The Indelible Impact of War

Unable to Escape the Darkness of War

When the last U.S. combat brigade traveled across Iraq’s border into Kuwait, symbolizing the end of the U.S. mission in Iraq, Matthew Magdzas, a retired serviceman who once received a medal in the Iraq war, killed his pregnant wife and daughter and then shot himself.

Magdzas’s motive to kill his beloved wife and daughter remains unknown. However, a crazy act from a war veteran who was trying to live a normal life has obviously brought attention to soldiers’ psychological problems. Nevertheless, the military will never disclose whether Magdza was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is an abnormal anxiety disorder caused by serious, horrifying trauma. Its main symptoms include numbness to surroundings and loss of interest in previous hobbies.

According to research, up to 16 percent of Vietnam War veterans returned home with post-traumatic stress disorder, which made them unable to integrate into society, terrible at social interactions with friends and family members and led many to abuse alcohol.

The soldiers involved in the Vietnam War were mostly young people; the average age of soldiers was just 19 years old. Yet it was a war without front lines, where they had to be wary of attack in the jungle all the time. The Vietnam War caused many young men to lose their way.

The Iraq war has lasted nearly seven and a half years and has yet to calm down. Facing two wars, an increasing number of casualties and snowballing military expenses, the United States can no longer bear the burden and is forced to leave Iraq before reaching its political and economic goals.

The United States left behind a problematic Iraq in chaos. For American soldiers who fought in the Iraq war, leaving the country is never a success, but rather an indelible trauma.

A veteran of the Vietnam War once said, “The war is over in history, but to me it is not over.” Today, the American soldiers returning from Iraq are facing the same situation.