What It’s Like to Go to War |Bill Moyers interviews Marine combat veteran on War and PTSD

Full Show: What It’s Like to Go to War | Moyers & Company | BillMoyers.com.

Karl Marlantes, Yale graduate and Rhodes Scholar, has written two books on his experiences serving in combat in Vietnam. A Marine who was awarded the Navy Cross,  He articulates the causes and consequences of PTSD clearly, drawing on his own battle experiences in a powerful way.  An excellent message for all those who are considering signing up for war or who have no experience of war.

Marlantes describes the essential breaking point of combat experience:

“’Thou shalt not kill’ is a tenet you just do not violate, and so all your young life, that’s drilled into your head. And then suddenly, you’re 18 or 19 and they’re saying, ‘Go get ‘em and kill for your country.’ And then you come back and it’s like, ‘Well, thou shalt not kill’ again. Believe me, that’s a difficult thing to deal with,”