War and Self with Doc Sutter.

This is a useful clarification.  The spirit does not flee the body but is changed from the trauma.  This makes more sense as well.

I actually avoided similar experiences by the skin of my teeth but not without forethought..  I had no intent to see combat when i went through basic training in Canada and that seemed a safe bet then.  I knew my comm skills at the time were likely to wash me out and that did happen.  Yet it was easy enough to fix.  Basic got me properly fit and that was my primary objective besides ending up in Vancouver.  What i did not know was something called Aid to an Ally and had i passed into full training, i would surely have ended up in Mil Intel locating targets for our sniper teams in Nam.  

So yes i was close enough and i have also extensively debriefed three men who did kill for their government and needed to be heard.  The stories are all luminous and utterly real.

What i find remarkable is that my own life was largely in isolation from society far more than is common.  In fact i learned early to prefer been alone in the woods and there i would even meditate long before that ever became a thing.  I see more going there as well, but cannot comment  except that a person alone is doing self work, planned or otherwise. 

Read the earlier post as well.

Ken Sutter has left a new comment on your post "Service time and Hubbard and PTSD disorder":

No, you don't lose the soul. A more accurate way of saying that is the innocence is gone and you can never go back to who you thought you were before the experience. You can't un-see the blood, the screams, the sheer insanity and ugliness of it all. THAT changes you whether you are seeking change or not. The innocence is indeed gone. 

But once you overcome all these things you are a better, bigger, more capable soul. Literally operating on a higher frequency than most. To be deliberately ignorant is no longer possible. Your capacity for compassion and empathy for you fellow man grows. Real, genuine love is now capable to flow through you. Instead of frustration that the average person can't understand you develop more compassion for them knowing they've been lied to also for their entire life. As well as 3-4 generations of mass poisoning affecting their thinking capabilities. 

[ it is most remarkable to me that these feelings need to be nurtured and even discovered. some is driven biologically, but it is also guided by mind and spirit.  arclein ]

That's why "they" don't like us, why "they" try their best to eliminate us, why "they" have no workable answers to help the vets. "They" know we can see now and the last thing they want is someone who is wide awake and physically pure with no drugs or chemicals affecting the critical thinking apparatus. (And why chemical detox is number one on the recovery list).

The only drawback, and I'm sure you're aware of this, is that it isolates you from most of society. Thus a social life is all but impossible. 

But even so I'm still here. Getting old and a bit tired from all the wars but still here just the same. Looking forward to going home. Back to my hometown that was so great before war happened to me. 

Thanks for posting my response.

Doc S