Combat trauma and pastoral response

This is a long article I wrote in 1997. I think I did a good job of explaining what soldiers go through in combat, and how it affects them. It is oriented mostly on helping aging combat veterans cope with combat-related issues that surface late in life.

[Soldiers] cope with death in three broad categories. First, they struggle to accept that it is possible (even likely) that they might die. Second, they wrestle with the death of close friends due to enemy action, accident or disease. Finally, many veterans carry the burden of having killed other human beings, sometimes in carload lots.

Several World War II veterans have indicated to me that as their twilight years approach some of these issues are resurfacing. Even the youngest World War II veteran is more than 70. In addition to the common issues of aging and loss that elderly parishioners face, some of them (mostly men, but not exclusively) are now struggling with combat trauma again.