Sebastian Junger's PTSD piece in Vanity Fair

Sebastian Junger, at right, with camera, in the Korengal Valley

WaPo

"In the new piece on post-traumatic stress, [Sebastian] Junger [author of War and The Perfect Storm] suggests several ways of better reintegrating combat troops into American society, including a practice common among some Native American groups: the retelling of combat experiences by a warrior to his own community.

“We could achieve that on Veterans Day by making every town and city hall in the country available to veterans who want to speak publicly about the war,” he wrote. “The vapid phrase ‘I support the troops’ would then mean actually showing up at your town hall every Veterans Day to hear these people out.”

Veterans would display a variety of emotions, including pride, anger and grief, he predicted.

“It might also begin to re-assemble a society that has been spiritually cannibalizing itself for generations,” he wrote. “We keep wondering how to save the vets, but the real question is how to save ourselves. If we do that, the vets will be fine. If we don’t, it won’t matter anyway.”"