Ira Hayes by Tom Holm

Author:Tom Holm [HOLM, TOM]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2023-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

“Call Him Drunken Ira Hayes” [1]

It was not called PTSD back then. They really did not know what to call it. Consequently, they named it “the thousand-yard stare,” or “shell shock,” or “battle fatigue,” or “combat neurosis.” No one really knew what it was, but the people who dealt with those who suffered from it realized that it was bad. There are in existence motion pictures of shell-shocked British veterans of the First World War shaking uncontrollably with eyes wide and staring, yet seeing only images of the horror they went through.

Post-traumatic stress disorder was actually noticed during the Civil War. One major problem with the diagnosis was that it was thought to be a relatively quick reaction to the stress of combat. Some veterans had long-term psychosis, but it was thought that combat fatigue could be cured with rest and a return to a more normal atmosphere of stability and quiet. It has been found, however, that PTSD can be the result of recent combat trauma or crop up again and again throughout a person’s entire life, hence the use of “post-” in its name. [2]

Another problem is that PTSD is an extraordinarily complex emotional condition or, actually, a series of conditions and adjustment difficulties. And even that does not cover the entire spectrum of the disorder. Generally, the focus is on the stressor, which is considered beyond normal or usual human occurrence, be it a natural catastrophe like an earthquake, a rape, a disaster such as a plane crash, or combat. Combat can be viewed then as an extraordinary experience that is not quite supernatural but far from customary human pursuits. Warfare would then have to be considered an abnormal human event that puts the combatant in a situation that could mean death or serious injury. [3] However, as psychologist and scholar Wilbur J. Scott argues, PTSD was largely contrived as a disease because of political considerations that relied heavily on Peter G. Bourne’s conclusions in his book Men, Stress, and Vietnam. But Scott did not deny that battle fatigue existed. He pointed out that “the flow of soldiers out of the Army on psychiatric grounds during World War II at one point exceeded the numbers of new recruits.” Scott also posed the hypothetical query that PTSD might be a normal, rather than an aberrant, reaction to combat. It was certainly usual. [4]

Ira Hayes’ stressors were multiplied several times over. He had participated in a brutal war. And even before he went into the Marine Corps, he experienced the poverty of the reservation that had, in actuality, been imposed upon his people. The Akimel O’odham people as a whole were still undergoing a very difficult transition from a peaceful and sophisticated agricultural society to a society burdened with extreme poverty. Ira’s people were also setting aside some of their traditional culture in order to persevere as a distinct people in a changing world. Ira himself persevered through it all. But he survived with a great deal of emotional pain.

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