Lily Casura

Trust Betrayed: Sexual Assault in the Military

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“Military sexual trauma (“MST”) is the term that the Department of Veterans Affairs uses to refer to sexual assault or repeated, unsolicited, threating acts of sexual harassment — that occurred while the veteran was in the military.” Some comments to orient you, the reader, to what MST survivors go through/think like: * “While in (the [...]

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Combat trauma afflicts women, men alike

Thumbnail image for Combat trauma afflicts women, men alike by Lily Casura

A few months ago, I attended the week-long clinical training program in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at the National Center for PTSD in Menlo Park (Veterans Administration) as well as the “Brain at War” conference in San Francisco, put on by the Department of Defense. Both made clear how much money is being spent on [...]

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Audie Murphy on Getting Over Combat

Thumbnail image for Audie Murphy on Getting Over Combat by Lily Casura

Audie Murphy, in his day, was the most decorated American soldier from World War II, winning the Medal of Honor, among 27 others. He also famously told a reporter, “You know, you never get over combat. I don’t think you ever do.” (Quoted in Chaim F. Shatan, M.D.’s famous text, “The Grief of Soldiers,” from [...]

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The Sacred Brotherhood – and Sisterhood – of Those Who Understand

by Lily Casura

We read a few days ago Larry Heinemann’s excellent quote about veterans after combat “carrying the darkness with us.” And yesterday, in “War Creates Brothers,” we learned about an historic gathering, a sacred ceremony of sorts, where Vietnam veterans like Heinemann met with Russian Afghansti veterans, at least a decade younger, and shared their stories [...]

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PTSD: What a difference a year makes, a success story.

Thumbnail image for PTSD: What a difference a year makes, a success story. by Lily Casura

There’s a lot of bad news going around: suicides up, PTSD wrecking lives and families, not much constructive help in sight. But here’s a story that’s GOOD news…about how much progress one combat vet with severe, chronic PTSD — for 40 years(!) — made in just a year of trying integrative medicine techniques and therapies, [...]

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