At The Movies

Demons

A new Israeli documentary vividly portrays
the toll of combat stress disorder.

NECHEMIA MEYERS
Special to the Jewish News

Rehovot, Israel

new Israeli documentary on
combat stress disorder (also
known as shell-shock) may not
win an Oscar next year as its
producers hope, but it does make a pow-
erful impression on viewers.

A

"Kochatainu Lo Chazru (Our Forces
Have Not Returned), which debuts

~wend

175

Oct. 17 on Israeli Television, focuses
on two veterans of the controversial
1982 Lebanon War still suffering from
CSD, as it's known.
One of them, now in his
fourth marriage, somehow
manages to study at Tel Aviv
University and to work as an
ordinance inspector for the
The impact of combat stress disorder is just
army. The other, presently liv-
ning to be understood. While much has
ing with his mother after the
been written about how the children of
breakup of his marriage, wan-
Holocaust survivors often suffer from traumas
ders aimlessly through the
that are a direct consequence of what happened
streets of Tel Aviv or chats
to their parents in concentration camps, now it
with half-deranged beach
appears that the same phenomena sometimes
bums on the city's seafront.
exists with the offspring of men whose battle-
Producers say the film will
field experiences left them with CSD.
be released in the United
Ex-soldiers with CSD are apt to be poor
States, but they have no firm
role models, say a number of psychologists,
dates and venues as of yet.
making it likely that their children will suffer
This documentary, alter-
more than other youngsters from a lack of
nating between battle scenes
self-confidence, various traumas and, in
and interviews, is based on
extreme cases, will try to commit suicide.
the premise that the CSD
According to Professor Zahava Solomon,
from the Lebanon War
an expert on CSD and head of the Adler
resulted from Lebanese civil-
Center at Tel Aviv University, this phenome-
ians often being in the line
non is widespread.
of fire — a scenario contest-
"Indeed," she declares, "the damage
ed by some veterans of the
caused by war doesn't end when the battles
conflict.
are over, and children who were never at the
Indeed, critics note that
front nevertheless suffer the consequences of
there are psychological casu-
past conflicts." 1 1
alties in every conflict, and
Nechemia Meyer
that the phenomenon is rec-
ognized and treated in Israel,
a nation in which every gen-
we take him back to the place where
eration has seen combat duty.
his traumatic experience occurred.
It's worth noting that the Israeli
"If he snaps out of it, he is immedi-
army's treatment of men suffering
ately sent back to his unit. If not, he goes
from combat stress disorder has drasti-
to a nearby base for 72 hours of group
cally changed since the Yom Kippur
therapy, or therapy of another sort."
War in 1973. Back then, those affect-
Only if that fails will the soldier be
ed were immediately evacuated from
transferred to a regular army facility
the front and taken to hospitals.
— not a hospital — for further treat-
"As a result," an army mental health
ment. But the soldier is never removed
Nechemia Meyers is an American
from a disciplined military framework
who has lived in Israel since 1948.
or treated as an invalid.

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worker said, "they seldom recovered
from their trauma. Today, we first deter-
mine whether the person in question is
clearly suffering from CSD, which is
characterized by a variety of symptoms."
Telltale signs include hysteria, apathy,
sweating, an inability to concentrate or a
failure to understand one's location.
"Once we are convinced that the
problem is a real one, we see to the
soldier's basic needs, [food, drink and
sleep], and ensure that he is kept
busy," he continued. "But we don't
move him from the front-line area,
allow him to take off his uniform or
even disarm him. And, where possible,

MIL