Re: Merchant Marine...not Navy
[ Follow Ups || Post Followup || The War Diary ]
Posted by Islander from Canada on January 18, 2021 at 14:44:51:
In Reply to: Merchant Marine...not Navy posted by Alter Ego on December 01, 2021 at 10:15:31:
You have some good points, but I think there's another that ought to be considered.
There's no question merchant navy service was hazardous work and that seamen were directly exposed to enemy attack.
However, unlike their armed forces brothers, they were never asked by their country to deliberately take another life.
We didn't know anything, during the Second World War, about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD, but it certainly did exist.
And those who suffer from PTSD, post-war, are much more likely to be haunted by what they themselves were forced to do during the war, than by what was done to them.
It would seem that this was a major difference between the two types of service, and that the moral responsibility of the nation should be rightly weighted toward its armed forces personnel.
Follow Ups:
Post a Followup