February 11, 2009 2:44 PM
- Text
Eye Witness To The Horrors Of War
(CBS)
CBS News has reported extensively on the mental and physical health of American service members fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and the many veterans who have returned home. We have chronicled the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, an increase in veteran suicides and a VA system grappling to deal with the big issues. We recently had the opportunity to hear first hand from a colleague who is looking to answer one fundamental question about war: what does it actually take to trigger PTSD?
Kelly Kennedy is a health reporter for Army Times. A former soldier who served in the first Gulf War and Mogadishu, Somalia, she embedded last summer as a journalist with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry in Adhamiyah, Iraq - a neighborhood in Baghdad. Even though Kennedy says she doesn't have post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from her trip, she says she understands how the emotional repercussions of war could develop into a full-blown disorder.
Kennedy is the author of a four-part series called Blood Brothers, a you-are-there account of the daily struggle to hunt insurgents, dodge roadside bombs-- often hitting them-and treat the physical and emotional wounds of the soldiers in the hardest hit unit since Vietnam.
"I was numb," is how Kennedy describes readjusting to life after Iraq. "I remember talking to the guys about how you have to feel things or else things are going to get worse. If you can tell the stories enough times, then the details won't have as much an effect on you as they would the first time you tell the story."
She says in the weeks following her return she was distracted, not paying attention and driving through stop signs and red lights. She says she knows from experience how easy it is for servicemen to return home and "shut down" because communicating those experiences can be too difficult and stressful.
For every five soldiers, who leave Iraq with no PTSD symptoms, one is currently suffering from PTSD or major depression - according to a study from the Rand Corporation.
Kennedy spoke with CBS News investigative producer Michael Rey and Kim Lengle, who produced the video.
By Michael Rey
Kelly Kennedy is a health reporter for Army Times. A former soldier who served in the first Gulf War and Mogadishu, Somalia, she embedded last summer as a journalist with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry in Adhamiyah, Iraq - a neighborhood in Baghdad. Even though Kennedy says she doesn't have post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from her trip, she says she understands how the emotional repercussions of war could develop into a full-blown disorder.
Kennedy is the author of a four-part series called Blood Brothers, a you-are-there account of the daily struggle to hunt insurgents, dodge roadside bombs-- often hitting them-and treat the physical and emotional wounds of the soldiers in the hardest hit unit since Vietnam.
"I was numb," is how Kennedy describes readjusting to life after Iraq. "I remember talking to the guys about how you have to feel things or else things are going to get worse. If you can tell the stories enough times, then the details won't have as much an effect on you as they would the first time you tell the story."
She says in the weeks following her return she was distracted, not paying attention and driving through stop signs and red lights. She says she knows from experience how easy it is for servicemen to return home and "shut down" because communicating those experiences can be too difficult and stressful.
For every five soldiers, who leave Iraq with no PTSD symptoms, one is currently suffering from PTSD or major depression - according to a study from the Rand Corporation.
Kennedy spoke with CBS News investigative producer Michael Rey and Kim Lengle, who produced the video.
By Michael Rey
Popular Now in CBSNews.com
- Undercover Look Inside The Russian Mob
- Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans
- Gardasil Researcher Speaks Out
- Exclusive: Rape in America: Justice Denied
- What's A Pill Mill?
- Hard Questions For "Prosperity Gospel"
- Could Hepatitis B Vaccine Be Harmful?
- Alleged Murder-For-Hire Rattles Small Town
- Is The Lottery Shortchanging Schools?
- Child: U.S. Adoption Agency Bought Me
- Gardasil HPV Vaccine Side Effects
- Followup: Antiperspirants And Cancer
- VA Hid Suicide Risk, Internal E-Mails Show
- Boy, 12, Beheads Man In Al Qaeda Video
- Health Care Lobbyists' Rise to Power
- Marshals Fight Battle in Air and on Ground
- How Vital Were Cold War Spies?
Latest CBS News Headlines
on Facebook
on CBS News
- Loughner lawyers want psychologist notes held back
- Regal Entertainment Group 4Q net income falls
- UN Security Council visits Haiti to review mandate
- Foo Fighters, Cornell to play Obama fundraisers
on Facebook
- Whitney Houston 1963-2012
- Diane Aulger induces labor weeks early to let dying husband Mark hold baby
- 2012 Grammys: Red-carpet arrivals
on CBS News





