Donald J. Trump once said his time as a student in a military academy was just like serving in the military.
It damn sure isn’t.
Trump also said U.S. Sen. John McCain earned his war hero status only because he was captured by the North Vietnamese, who then held him as a POW for five years.
Now comes this. He seemed to suggest that combat veterans who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder aren’t as strong as those who don’t suffer from PTSD.
This guy needs a reality check.
Veterans groups have listened to Trump’s remarks. They hoped Trump’s comments were “taken out of context.” They discovered that the reporting has been complete.
The vets say that PTSD victims need help and do not need to be told they are “weak or deficient,” according to The Associated Press.
My own father suffered a form of PTSD when he returned home from World War II. I wasn’t yet around, but my mother used to tell me how Dad would flinch at the sound of airplanes … which was a natural reaction for someone who had endured constant aerial bombardment while serving aboard ship in the Navy in the Mediterranean theater.
They called it “shell shock” back then. Dad got through it.
As the son of a combat veteran, well, I take great offense to the implication that the Republican presidential nominee has uttered in relation to this generation of combat vets.