Stress; does it ever go away?

What I read this morning over breakfast

One third of Iraqi war vets report distress
Excerpts:

"Iraq veterans are far more likely to have witnessed people getting wounded or
killed, to have experienced combat, and to have had aggressive or suicidal
thoughts, the Army report said. Nearly twice as many of those returning from
Iraq reported having a mental health problem -- or were hospitalized for a
psychiatric disorder -- compared with troops returning from Afghanistan."

My thoughts: It's not that I want to take away from what other troops experience in other parts of the world, but you can't help the comparison. Those who live in Kuwait have a hell of a better life than those in Iraq. As Terry exclaimed when he was on his way home for leave, "They get to have SEX for god's sake!" (I had to laugh at that being the barometer for the difficulty of a tour).

"The war in Iraq has also set off a debate over how to define trauma itself, and whether it is appropriate to distinguish those who see combat firsthand from those who do not. The traditional definition of post-traumatic stress disorder, a diagnosis developed in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, involved directly experiencing or witnessing a horrifying event, but some experts are asking whether the constant fear of being killed in places such as Iraq might create problems both for people restricted to bases as well as for those who head outside."

My thoughts: Duh. There is a difference between a constant fear of death, nearly dying, and dying. Each deserves a diferrent response.

"There is no front line in Iraq," said Col. Charles W. Hoge of the division of psychiatry and neuroscience at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the lead author of the report published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Individuals who are patrolling the streets will be at higher risk of being involved in combat, but folks who are largely located at one base are also targets of mortar and artillery, and everyone in convoys is a target."

"Upwards of 80 to 85 percent of people serving there have witnessed or
been a part of a traumatic event, including engaging the enemy, killing people,
or friends or themselves being involved in IED attacks," he said, referring to
improvised explosive devices. "In Vietnam, there were safe areas where people
could go to rest and recuperate. That doesn't happen in Iraq; every place is a
war zone."

And this guy (Steve Robinson, who heads the National Gulf War Resource Center, a nonprofit organization that advocates for veterans) was talking about the Gulf War.

This is something Terry and I discuss often. He never feels "safe." I suppose he isn't. I can't wait until he comes home, but I wonder if in five, ten, twenty years, the memory of all this will be any less salient than it is now. If it is, will we pay less attention to our troops, or those home still suffering from the stress of that part of their lives?