Cindy Mccain insults veterans with PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder)

Veterans for America won't be taking sides in the presidential election, but as a veteran who has spent much of the past seven years helping and advocating for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with combat stress, I can't let the following exchange between Cindy McCain and a Marie Claire reporter go unchallenged:

Marie Claire: 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.
Marie Claire: 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.
I've read this exchange thirty times on my screen, trying to see if I read it wrong. I've tried give her the benefit of the doubt and come up with some other interpretation, but all I can gather from this is that Cindy McCain thinks that PTSD is a result of either incompetence, poor training, lack of resolve, or some combination of the three. That her husband escaped the wrath of combat stress because his heart was more in it than draftees', that his training left him better equipped than infantrymen to deal with the horrors of war, or that he "knew what he was doing" more than the countless Vietnam veterans Sen. McCain and I both know who still suffer from PTSD.

Cindy McCain should apologize to veterans and PTSD sufferers and go on record saying that her husband's lack of mental combat wounds don't result from his training, valor, or competence. We have soldiers arriving from Iraq and Afghanistan in thousands, facing two ruthlessly difficult tasks: fighting tooth and nail to get the proper treatment and care for their mental wounds, and dealing with the stigma of PTSD. Having any public figure, let alone the potential first lady, insinuate that sufferers have a hand in their condition can make both of these already difficult tasks unbearable. This perspective is both false on its face, and harmful to our troops and veterans.

Mrs. McCain: PTSD is a non-partisan issue. It doesn't discriminate between Democrats, Republicans, or independents, and doesn't discriminate between Fort Bragg and the U.S. Naval Academy either. Please retract your misinformed statements about the nature of the mental wounds of war.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bobby-muller/mrs-mccain-retract-your-s_b_133811...
In the first Presidential debate, Senator John McCain exhibited an emotionally flat "shutdown" response when he did not appear irritable and cross. He refused to make eye contact with Obama, favored grandstanding over dialogue, and stated that he would refuse to come to the table with world leaders who don't agree with him. If in place of the Paris Peace Talks, Henry Kissinger, McCain's hero, had displayed similar attitudes back in the 1970's, we might still be in Vietnam.

All who incur PTSD in the line of duty deserve our respect...soldiers returning from Iraq are encouraged by the U.S. military and the Veterans Administration to receive the new and definitive PTSD treatment methods that were developed following research that emerged after 9/11. Soldiers are helped to heal rather than suffer quote-unquote heroically. As part of that healing, it's vital to identify any signs of PTSD, and distinguish those symptoms from the true skills of leadership...making brash decisions may (or may not) be the sign of a maverick, but it sure is a sign of PTSD.

Over the last weeks, many have noted McCain's tendency to impulse buy mismatched stances and strategies, which when put together look like the ensemble from hell. His selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, like many an overnight infatuation with a stranger, seems different in the morning. The flexibility needed for true leadership would dictate admitting that mistake.

In our complex world we need leaders who tolerate ambiguities without rushing to judgment driven by neurological and brain chemical imbalances etched deeply by traumatic experiences. It's also well established that PTSD sufferers can feel triggered or endangered by slight occurrences which they perceive as a threat. Even when a person with PTSD came by their wounds honestly--as most do, is such a person the steadiest hand on the red button during a nuclear age?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alison-rose-levy/mcwounded-john-mccain-and_b_12...

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Countdown
• with
• Keith
• olbermann
• Cindy
• Mccain
• dishonors
• the
• troops
• john
• soltz
• PTSD
• Health
• care
• Post
• traumatic
• stress
• disorder
• Barack
• Obama
• Joe
• Biden
• Sarah
• Palin
• Iraq
• war
• speech
• interview

[mikejb28]

i was deployed 4 times and im in school now. i got into it with a girl who said that "veterans compensation for ptsd is a waste of taxpayer money" people just dont f##@n get it. if it was up to her we'd all blow our brains out the day we get out so we dont burden thier tax dollars anymore. if it was up to me id have her drafted for a tour, since she says we knew what we were gettin into when we joined and should consider our expreriences as a job hazard, less dangerous than construction workers!

[ffyfan15]

Wow.

How ignorant.

Please send her to Afghanistan before my next tour.

[voiceforveterans]

She's not supposed to insult somebody like that. She should know what the veterans are going through.

[MedicOnDutyVids]

I think Keith may have pumped up the issue a little bit, but Cindy's comment just discusts me. I am not a veteran, I do not plan to enter the military and I don't support the wars, but I will support our troops until the end. It's the least I can do for someone that has risked their life so others can live.

[JesseKing1981]

What an ignorant bitch, this is the problem with america, a handful of people that think they are either too pretty or to rich to care about the people making it all possible for them. I would truly love to see these fucking people dropped off in a hot zone over seas, and see how they fare. Mrs. McCain, please, shut your ignorant manpleaser.

[93CFD]

im sorry cindy that me and about a bunch of other soldiers werent as well trained as your husband...

[sapperzulu]

Mrs. McCain made a gaffe... I'm sure she didn't mean to attack our veterans. Keith, you're a douche.

[BringTheNoise1]

Cindy McCain is the epitome of "dumb" .

She is older than Moses, but still acts like a kid.

This senior citizen who grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth doesn't know a thing about suffering.

[vwmodrock]

I'm a Vietnam Veteran with some compensation for PTSD. My right wing neighbors who are WW2 veterans told me, 'WW2 veterans don't get PTSD, we WON our war!'

'You're just trying to get money from the government because Vietnam vets are a bunch of losers. Yeah, right, another nice welcome home

[TwoPointsUp]

I don't know why people war-ship Mrs.McCain.. I'd rather worship Ronald McDonald! Clearly, they and their ideology fucked up your life..now the taxpayers have to pay for you, cuz you can't do a real job, right?

[usmcgunner58]

@TwoPointsUp when have I even mentioned his name? Thank you for the respect. The only men I ever killed were shooting at me or my friends. No guilt there. Im sorry youre so mentally unstable, perhaps you have schizophrenia rather than PTSD? Thanks for pissing on my friends graves too. Burn in hell