Column: Be courteous to the combat vet this Fourth of July
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Sat, 07/04/2020 - 1:53pm
I recently watched the critically acclaimed and award-winning 1998 film "Saving Private Ryan" on television the other evening.
I'm not a combat veteran, or a military veteran of any stripe for that matter, and that movie still gives me chills each time I see it.
I believed it when some veterans reported experiencing emotional flashbacks while viewing "Saving Private Ryan" on the big screen. The film's combat scenes were so disturbing that they triggered post-traumatic stress reactions from those who had lived through the real thing.
I know that "Saving Private Ryan" is just a movie. It's not real.
But for a military combat veteran suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, their sense of reality can be very different from that of the average civilian like me.
I can sit through a shoot 'em up war movie, walk out of the theater afterward and be fine. But a combat veteran suffering from PTSD might take several days to calm down.
A single sensory trigger is all it takes to send a combat vet with PTSD right back to the battlefield where he or she experienced profound trauma.
They can't just put the event behind them or turn it off. Something happened that deeply wounded them.
It's there. Always.
A trigger could be something as innocent as a child screaming, a car suddenly backfiring, or a firework being set off unexpectedly.
Common everyday noises that don't seem to bother civilians can have damaging effects on the shell-shocked combat veteran haunted repeatedly by the trauma he or she lived through.
That's one reason why lighting fireworks in your neighborhood is unwise.
Beyond the fact that fireworks are illegal and a major fire hazard in Carson City, as well as pretty much everywhere else in Nevada, setting them off could be potentially life-threatening to a combat vet living nearby with PTSD.
According to the United States Marine Corps' Marine Corps Community Services, many service personnel with PTSD are able to mentally prepare themselves for planned events, like annual hometown fireworks shows put on for the public.
Those aren't a problem for most vets. It's the unexpected pops and cracks sounding like gunfire, or the booms like shells exploding overhead that can trigger a startle response, followed by a full-blown PTSD event.
"Although the loud noise of the fireworks can itself be triggering of traumatic memories, typically it is the unpredictability of the explosion that activates the arousal system or sympathetic nervous system," said Todd K. Favorite, PhD, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and director of the University of Michigan Psychological Clinic on uofmhealth.org and medicine.umich.edu.
Most public Fourth of July fireworks displays have been canceled this year because of concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
The loss of our annual Independence Day fireworks show over Mills Park in Carson City may tempt more residents than usual to set off their own fireworks.
Please don't do that. Be considerate of your neighbors.
For one thing, lighting fireworks is illegal here, and I'd rather our first responders not have to work extra hard on a holiday they'd prefer to be sharing with everyone else.
Trying to keep a brush fire from tearing through a neighborhood and evacuating people from their homes is not my idea of celebrating the Independence Day.
Either is seeing law enforcement and paramedics show up at the residence of a combat veteran, who is experiencing a severe PTSD episode because someone decided to set off firecrackers or launch a rocket.
Please help keep our community and our neighbors safe this Fourth of July. Respect the law and honor one another.
Happy Independence Day. End of Sermon.
Brett Fisher is a former journalist residing in Carson City.
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