This article has a lot of vets incensed right now. Roller coaster death shows risks of veterans' thrill-seeking Combat veterans are known to come home from war hungry for adrenaline, taking up things like motorcycle racing or sky diving to satisfy their cravings. And some who come home without arms or legs are simply determined to do the things they did before war redefined normal... Starts off typical (vets as victims) but then talks about how vets are thrill seeking in order to help them deal with PTS and every day life after spending months and months in a hyper-vigilant state. Well, one reason the vets are pissed off is because the author of the article states: ...James Hackemer's family insists the father of two who lost both his legs to a roadside bomb in Iraq was no thrill-seeker, but his fatal fall from a roller coaster highlights the challenge of balancing the desire for excitement and even normalcy with the reality of new disabilities... Make sure you have that correctly. Hackemer was no thrill seeker. But... ...The problem in Hackemer's case was he chose a roller coaster — the Ride of Steel that had been a favorite before his 2008 injury... So you have a veteran who was trying to return to being a normal guy, going on his favorite roller coaster. It's not about veterans coming home and becoming thrill-seeking adrenaline rushers (victims). Hackemer rode that coaster before - it was his favorite. But now because he's a vet, it's because he wanted a thrill (victim). Althought the article addresses that he might have been seeking "even normalcy", it's not enough. To point out, this is thrill-seeking: Riding a roller coaster is not. No doubt that Hackemer should not have been on or been allowed on that particular roller coaster, but let's not tarnish his memory by saying that he needed the adrenaline (victim). This is tragic. But he's not a "victim" of war. What he needed was to be a normal kid again...and even in death, the media won't let that happen.
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blackfive/~3/3tFz01aibhA/thrill-seeking-or-just-a-return-to-being-a-young-man.html
Posted
Jul 18 2011, 02:44 AM
by
BLACKFIVE