Essay on the Long Walk by Brian Castner: Post-Traumatic Stress Order Among Veterans

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a big problem among army veterans. Post-traumatic stress order among veterans is caused by the fact that they experienced life threatening, traumatic, horrid and dangerous events while serving in the military. Most army veterans have also experienced their colleagues and friends die in combat. Most of these experiences have left them feeling helpless and dejected with life.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Army veterans find it difficult in adjusting to civilians way of life. They are so used to life in the military that readjusting to life outside the military becomes a serious problem.

Families and loved ones of army veterans find them strange. Army veterans seem to be always emotionally disconnected from their families. Army veterans sleeplessness and lack of interest with life is often strange among their family members. Army veterans are also highly susceptibility to anger and irritation; they are also constantly on guard.

Main character

The character is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The character is afraid of disclosing his condition to his mother because he is afraid that his mother may not understand his condition and as result she may develop health complications. The character jogs on a daily basis as a therapy to forget his horrid experiences. However, the character cannot seem to forget horror and death that he witnessed while serving in the military (Castner 4). The character witnessed scattered body parts of Iraqi policemen killed by car bombs.

The character served in the military, but even though he is back at home with his family, images of events during his military service are still rife in his mind. Images of military helicopters, rifles, screaming women and Toyota Hilux pickup trucks cant seem to escape his mind (Castner 5).

When the character was in military service, he and his colleagues longed to go back home to be with their wives and children. The character and his colleagues were always afraid of being shot while serving in the military (Castner 5).

The character is unable to sleep; his mind is full of thoughts about events he experienced while serving in the military. Courtesy of the thoughts the character has on several occasions found himself on the floor with no thoughts as to how he went from the bed to the floor (Castner 6).

The characters heartbeat is strange, his heartbeat is always skipping, loud, sporadic and he often feels crazy. The character does not seem to understand what is happening to him (Castner 6).

The character cannot stop to remember the hostility he and his colleagues faced from locals when serving in the military. There is an instance when he almost lost his life when an Iraqi mob surrounded a vehicle they were driving in at a market place (Castner 7).

The characters post-traumatic disorder after his service in the military did not happen instantly; it developed with time and was fuelled by thoughts of his horrid experiences while serving in the military. The characters crazy feeling also stems from the fact that there is a cultural difference between America and the Arabic countries where he served in the military. Apparently, the character had accustomed himself with the Iraqis way of life and is finding it difficult adapting to American way of life. However, with time, the character easily fell back into his old routine. He started to drink alcohol; he was an alcoholic before he joined the military. Other than drinking alcohol, the character found it difficult to adjust to Americans way of life (Castner 8).

Work Cited

Catner, Brian. The Long Walk: A story of war and the life that follows. New York: Doubleday.