The deeper damage done by Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin decided to make a political issue of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder. “My son, like so many others,” she said at a rally endorsing Donald Trump for President, “came back a bit different.”

Normally, veterans like me would view this positively — as a needed discussion after two wars that have impacted nearly 2.5 million U.S. service members.

But we’re talking about Palin here, and that’s not where she took it. Instead, she used PTSD to excuse — or at least shift blame away from — her son’s arrest on domestic violence charges the night before. According to police reports, Track Palin “allegedly punched and kicked his girlfriend.” Police found her “hiding under a bed” and “crying.”

Palin then took it further, attributing her family’s situation to America’s supposed lack of care for veterans. “It starts from the top,” she said — implying that President Obama was somehow responsible. Ironically and outrageously, Palin never mentioned the actual victim of this apparent crime: her son’s girlfriend.

And while her unfair smear of Obama is getting most of the attention, there’s a bigger tragedy here.

Palin’s implicit assertion that it’s normal or standard for a PTSD diagnosis to lead to physical violence is simply not accurate. And peddling in that kind of misinformation sets back the progress post-9/11 veterans have made in re-integrating after war, whether it’s in school or at work.

Contrary to caricature, those with PTSD — veterans and nonveterans alike — are simply not ticking bombs who could snap at any moment. Research has shown this time and again.

Palin’s remarks strongly suggest otherwise — that people like her son cannot control themselves. In the process, she’s perpetuating an unwarranted stigma that will almost surely cause other veterans with PTSD to hesitate in reaching out for help, especially if they think a diagnosis will hurt their careers.

Let’s reeducate ourselves on a few facts.

PTSD is a normal human reaction to extraordinary circumstances. Symptoms include nightmares, insomnia, hyper-vigilance, irritability, anger, emotional distance and depression.

The suffering is primarily internal. This is why veterans who live with PTSD are far more likely to harm themselves than they are to hurt others.

In rare cases, symptoms are associated with physical outbursts. Consequently, the rate of domestic violence among veterans is indeed higher than the general public. But that still doesn’t make it prevalent among veterans. Many Americans know a veteran. Few Americans know a veteran who’s been accused of PTSD-driven domestic violence.

I know veterans with severe PTSD. Not one would blame President Obama for his condition.

More importantly, the majority know that what they’re grappling with is common and nothing to be ashamed of. PTSD is an injury sustained in combat like any other. They know what help is available to them. As veterans, this is now ingrained in us.

What Palin offered America on Wednesday was a cynical move to absolve her son of responsibility for his actions by blaming it on the Iraq War and the President.

Of course, there is irony in this considering that it comes from a key spokesperson for the party willing to start wars at the drop of a hat, all while espousing personal responsibility.

Facilely blaming PTSD for domestic violence to score points in a political circus act is both harmful and inexcusable. Forgive me for thinking, as she travels the country in the self-congratulating Trump cavalcade, this is a lesson Palin may never learn.

Vets with PTSD must know help is available