My first-ever witnessed case of military PTSD tonight. Query attempted suicide on benzos and ETOH. All I can think of is he had no other means to numb the chaos in his mind.

I don't necessarily believe in what the military *does*, but I do support the men and women who stand up for their country in one of the most honorable ways possible and the sacrifice they make in that choice.

But I think the sacrifice goes far beyond a tour of duty and service on the front line. I think that the military completely fails its troops once it's time to re-enter civilian life. In absence of psychological intervention, soldiers turn to any variety of things to numb their thoughts and dreams, and too many of them end up dead.

Thanks for serving your country, here is a sense of manly bravado, zero coping skills and tons of bad shit to deal with. Bye bye now!

Seriously, so sad. I just want to go all "The Cell" on him and hop inside his mind and bring some peace there.

-- from the cellular desk of undergrad RN

On the whole military thing. I'm not going to get into it too much right now as I need to go to class, but suffice it to say that I'm not especially interested in going through nursing school and then losing all of my nursing skills in the army. Apparently they let those atrophy pretty bad. 

Yes, it's true.

Here's the scoop: if I get selected, the Canadian Forces will pay for my tuition and books, and pay me a salary to go to school. During school, I don't have to do anything except school. During the summer they will fly me out to Quebec for military training. I can finish my education at my wonderful college and I will graduate with no debt.

The catch? 5 years mandatory service. That, my friends, is all.

Let's weigh the options here.

Civilian: Graduate in 4 years with approximately $50,000 in debt, before interest. Work 22.5 hours a week while juggling school and those f'ing "extracurricular activities" that might make me worth a scholarship. Work for 5 years to simultaneously pay down said debt, put money to RRSP, put money to first house and car, and cross my fingers that I don't get knocked up in the process - 'cuz wouldn't that just be ducky!

Military: Graduate in 4 years with perhaps $25,000 in savings. Be in awesome shape from Basic. Be an f'ing Nursing Officer. Be deployed to various awesome places to administer medical aid to those who need it. Work for 5 years getting experience in floor nursing, and then either love it or leave it.

Now, some of you may be thinking yeah, ugrn, the perks are because you might, uh, die.

A valid point.

However, I might also die in a tragic car accident next week and/or get a stingray to the heart when I next go snorkelling. You just never know!

But really, Canada's bloodlust isn't exactly roaring these days and the Tories say we're supposedly pulling out of Afghanistan by 2012. Even still, I would be second-line and pretty unlikely, by military standards, to bite it.

So that's my news for today.