Towards Accepting a Combat Vet's Way of Being

Towards Accepting a Combat Vet’s Way of Being (Why combat vets are like they are, and how to connect with them)

This work attempts to describe the world as seen thru the eyes of a combat veteran.

It is a world virtually unknown to civilians and unknown even within the Warrior culture because few veterans can talk about it. My purpose in writing the Warrior’s Code is three-fold:

To let my fellow combat veterans know why they feel like they do so they can better understand their PTSD, and that they are not alone in this world because there are many others who feel the same way they do.
To explain to the loved ones of combat vets and civilians, why veterans are like they are.
To show how to connect with a combat veteran.

The first two purposes are hopefully fulfilled by the Code itself. I will attempt to fulfill the third purpose as follows:

People who are trying to make meaningful contact with a combat veteran can do so if they keep one thing in mind – the most important thing in his life is keeping his word of honor, as proven by the fact that he is willing to die to do so. Therefore to connect with him, you must demonstrate and prove to him out in the open,in front of God, and everybody, that you too have a Code of Honor, that is, you also keep your word – no matter what!

Do it and your twin Codes of Honor will twine around each other in double helix and bond you together. Do it not and you will not. This goes for everyone, especially wives and children, repeat: wives. End of story. Case closed. (Wives are invited to read the Writer’s Note: A PTSD Tidal Wave Is Starting To Crash Down Upon America (and what you can do about it, for a full discussion of this topic.)

I offer these poor, inadequate words, bought — not taught, in the hope that they and the Code may shed some small light on why combat veterans are like they are, how they can fix it and earn serenity.

It is my life desire that this tortured work, despite its many defects, may yet still provide some tiny sliver of understanding which may blossom into tolerance, nay, acceptance, of a Warrior’s perhaps unconventional way of being, due to combat-damaged emotions from doing his duty under fire.

Signed,
Paul R. Allen

Life Member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH) member number L63550
Life Member of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) member number 1702312888106