Posted on Jul 9, 2017
PVT Angelo Velez
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your civilian friend that is your best friend jokes about the military and jokes about how you have PTSD (when you don't) but you still defend the fact that joking about ptsd isn't cool and calls you soft for getting irritated over it.
Posted in these groups: 78568930 PTSDMilitary leadership skills civilian employment Civilians
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Responses: 9
SGT English/Language Arts Teacher
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I would ignore it. If one does not react than the other will end up tiring of getting a reaction. If I had a friend who persisted, I would look hard as to why I still have that person as a friend in the first place. No friend of mine has ever or will ever do something like that.
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PFC Jonathan Albano
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Using your example as a template, I'm somewhere in between the two options. I probably wouldn't immediately react, however, if the friend insisted on persisting, it would only be a matter of time before I'd say something to them. If the situation wasn't resolved by our little chat, then I'd wish my friend a good life and tell them I'd see them never. As the saying goes, with friends like that, who needs enemies?
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LTJG Edward Bangor Jr
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There's plenty of jokes to be made about the military that don't bother me at all (what's long, hard an full of seamen). PTSD, however, isn't a joke, and if my friend tried to make one of it, I'd ideally provide some tactful education on the subject. Some people truthfully don't have an appreciation for how bad the symptoms can be, and they might actually appreciate to learn something instead of being a ignorant and possibly disrespectful of an actual problem. Granted doing so requires you to remain professional in how you explain how wrong the joke is. A decent human being will learn form the experience and try to improve themselves. If not, they aren't worth retaining as a friend (to me, at least).
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