Virtual Iraq

Soldiers kill people. That is essentially what they are enlisted to do. To spend any amount of time in an occupation that possesses such a purposefully violent objective would eventually cause a person to become completely out of touch with reality. In Virtual Iraq, editor Sue Halpern, presents to readers a small recap of the harsh realities of war through her subject Travis Boyd. Boyd, who had been involved in two tours of duty in Iraq found himself unable to assimilate back into normal American society when he returned home. Halpner explains that, “he was haunted by memories of Iraq. He couldn’t sleep. His mind raced. He was edgy, guilt-racked, depressed. He could barely do his job”. What Boyd was suffering from was a typical case of P.T.S.D. (post-traumatic stress disorder) that was taking over (and taking away from him) his post-Iraq life.
One of my sister’s girlfriends was an ex-Iraq veteran and I recall one time when she came to our house for thanksgiving shortly after arriving back at home, she clearly was not the same person she was when she left. She was silent, yet clearly irritated by all the commotion going on in the house and seemed to always be scanning the room as if in search of something or someone.
The Virtual Iraq program discusses in this piece might indeed prove to be an excellent way to get armed service veterans to confront and cope with their Iraq experiences and eventually help them to move on and lead normal lives. By engaging in a game, “in which patients work through their trauma in a computer-simulated environment”, many veterans, such as my sisters girlfriend, might be able to open deal with issues that they feel normal US civilians cannot understand or relate to.
Halpern portrays the feelings of many veterans when quoting Paul Rieckhoff , “I’m not someone who responds to sitting with some guy, talking about my whole life”. Maybe this game will give veterans, or soldiers in between duties, a chance to deal with their Iraq experience on their own terms. Besides, as Rieckhoff puts it, “we’re a video game generation, It’s what we grew up on.”