Combat Mode In The Odyssey

These Veterans are family members, neighbors, and friends in the community. They fought and served to protect a nation full of people whose freedom is dependent on the men and women who go to war. Veterans from all branches of the military deserve support and they may need more than people think. Veterans are having a difficult time adjusting back to civilian life when returning home from the war because they may remain in combat mode.

In The Odyssey there is a vast number of situations that show men remaining in combat mode. After the Trojan War ended, Odysseus and his men set sail for Ithaca but make many stops along the way. One of these stops is on the island of Ismarus where they cause bloodshed and destruction: “[They] killed the

One of the examples provided is Bear, a Vietnam War veteran. Bear remembers trauma he experienced during the war and this can cause him to lash out, sometimes even violently. “Any incompetence Bear encounters in civilian life arouses the same feelings of fear, rage, and grief. When he yanked his general supervisor at the post office...and screamed at him, he screamed the same words he screamed at his incompetent CO [...incompetent son of a bitch- lucky to alive..].” (Shay, pg. 5) In this situation Bear recalled the death of his comrades when his CO was incompetent, causing mixed feelings and a harsh reaction. When someone is incompetent, it takes him back to what he experienced in war. So if someone expresses incompetance he acts as if he is, once again, in times of war. On another occasion Bear: “confused a Vietnamese co-worker at the post office with the Vietnamese enemy. He grabbed the man and told him he was going to cut his throat just like his comrades.” (Shay pg. 6) When Bear was in combat, his main enemy was the Vietnamese soldiers. A conjecture can be made that he lashed out at his co-worker because he thought he was still in combat and that this man was the enemy, even if he wasn’t. In the video “Wounded Warriors, Healing Hounds.” by altjice, has veterans talk about how they remain in combat mode and how their service dogs help them to overcome

Jesse Tanner, an Army veteran, is one of these first hand sources. Jesse was in Iraq for 15 months and during those months he lost a friend. When he returned home his girlfriend knew something had changed about him. Tanner begins to talk about his experiences overseas and how they affected him post-war. He speaks on how he feels uncomfortable in large exposed areas, specifically malls, and how for the first few months home he rarely left his house (altjice). Tanner’'s hypervigilance and avoidance of exposed areas are behaviors linked back to his times of combat. A second first hand source of this type of behaviour is Sandy Scalzo, an Air Force veteran. Scalzo was a special ops soldier in Japan and her experiences there changed her emotionally and mentally. Once she was home, she started avoiding open spaces and confrontation, staying home the majority of the time. (altjice) An inference can be made that she does this because in times of war if you are out in the open, exposed, you are at the risk of getting mildly, or critically wounded. Scalzo avoids open spaces, or places she feels exposed, because of the idea that she might be killed if she’s not in cover. The behaviors that she displays are similar to the ones that she needed during