PTSD PARAGRAPH #19

“Yeah,” a county commissioner says, squinting against the afternoon sun, speaking of the high proportion of Vietnam veterans who live here, “they wanted to get away from society. And for the most part, they’ve blended in really well.”

-I believe this is an evaluative claim. Just because the county commissioner says that most of the veterans in the county have blended in, the veterans themselves may feel otherwise.

 “A 2000 VA budget crunch led to her clinic’s contract being terminated—and her husband’s disability pay ended when he killed himself in 2001.”

-The quote above represents two different causal claims. They both show what happened to influence the effect that followed.

 “Today, VVW is dedicating a new, second building, a log safe house open 24 hours a day so vets who feel themselves becoming episodic have someplace to go—it’s better than just driving to VVW’s parking lot and sleeping in their trucks.”

This is an example of a comparative claim. There is an obvious comparison between two different buildings that are dedicated to veterans who need help. The claim is stating the new building is better than the old one.

“..But it takes more than that. “She,” Danna says, meaning the wife—nearly all the vets around here are men—” NEEDS therapy.”

-I believe this is a proposal claim due to the fact that the person who is being quoted in this quote is stating that spouses of veterans also need therapy. Therapy just for the veteran would not be beneficial.

“It may take years for the verdict to come in on whether secondary trauma will be officially acknowledged as its own unique form of hell.”

-Due to the fact that secondary trauma is being compared to a “form of hell”, this is a comparative claim.