All the work we've done to mainstream PTSD as a combat injury . . . to educate people . . . to normalize it. And Cindy McCain goes and pisses it away in nine sentences:
Q: You met your husband after his POW days. To what extent is that still with you - or is it a part of history?
CINDY McCAIN: My husband will be the first one to tell you that that's in the past. Certainly it's a part of who he is, but he doesn't dwell on it. It's not part of a daily experience that we experience or anything like that. But it has shaped him. It has made him the leader that he is.
Q: But no cold sweats in the middle of the night?
CINDY McCAIN: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. My husband, he'd be the first one to tell you that he was trained to do what he was doing. The guys who had the trouble were the 18-year-olds who were drafted. He was trained, he went to the Naval Academy, he was a trained United States naval officer, and so he knew what he was doing.
First off, she's in absolute denial. She's talking about the guy who referred to "my fellow Americans" on Wednesday as "my fellow prisoners." So don't give us the bullshit about how "he doesn't dwell on it." John McCain doesn't dwell on being a POW like 19-year-old guys don't dwell on sex. If you need a refresher, here's the video:
Second, what's with the royalty crap about the Naval Academy? What an obnoxious, elitist remark. Are naval aviators supposed to be immune from combat trauma? Seeing as how those in the Navy have always received less substantive combat training than soldiers and marines, I'm not sure I follow the reasoning here.
Third, let's again cut through the bullshit about his "elite" level of training. You'd think if being "a trained United States naval officer" was such a big deal, that "Crash" wouldn't have flown three of his planes into the ground--before he ever got to Vietnam. I've worked closely with dozens of young, high school-educated infantrymen who could maintain their equipment and do their jobs far more proficiently. And none of them went to the Academy.
Finally, I'm not even sure where to begin with the idea that only young draftees get hit with PTSD. That statement is so Palin-esque in its breadth of ignorance that if you said it in a room full of soldiers, you'd be able to hear a pin drop at the end of, "so he knew what he was doing." In two sentences, Cindy McCain manages to insult not only every combat veteran in history who didn't attend the Naval Academy, but also the thousands of veterans who quietly live their lives, tolerating PTSD each and every day. I really should expand on this as the centerpiece of my post, but it makes my head hurt to really think about the implications of the comment. So I'll leave it to readers to fill that idea out.
Perhaps we at least know now why John McCain votes against veterans: Like his wife, maybe he's completely separated himself from the experience. If true, that would be terribly sad in more ways than one.
Anyway, Jon Soltz went on Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night to discuss Cindy McCain's remarks. He articulated it much better than I would have. I'll leave you all with that:
"The welcome mat for memoirs by veterans of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom might never wear out so long as they write with the savvy of Brandon Friedman . . . Friedman's take is vivid, frank, precise and dramatic."--Military Times
"Add Brandon Friedman's The War I Always Wanted to the ranks of outstanding non-fiction produced by officers from elite combat units in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Always truthful, often excruciatingly so, The War I Always Wanted rises at numerous points to the level of literature."--Steven Pressfield, author of Gates of Fire
"A Time To Lead confirms the rewarding benefits of military service at a time when such service is experiencing considerable strain. It also includes a comprehensive description of America's current national imperatives, which deserve serious consideration."--General Alexander M. Haig, Jr., former Secretary of State
"This is a primer on leadership forged in battle and by decades of experience. . .This isn't just a book; it's a manual for leading people and living a good life."--Barry McCaffrey, General, USA (ret.)
"Whip smart, sassy, with a mouth as foul as a sailor's, 28-year-old Sergeant Kayla Williams. . .tells what it's like to be a female soldier in Iraq."--Booklist
". . .echoes military memoirists from Julius Caesar to Ernie Pyle."--Publishers Weekly
". . .a shocking, on-the-ground view of one military woman's experience in Iraq."--Bookmarks Magazine
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