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Kassidy Kelsch

Alison Fernley

ENGL-1010-411

27 February 2018

Shinseki and Soldiers

In 2007, President George W. Bush issued a surge of soldiers into Iraq and Afghanistan to

continue the war on terrorism. In 2008, after much backlash from US citizens, the American

government decided to start pulling almost all troops out of those areas to prevent unnecessary

harm and injury. By 2011, President Barack Obama had completed that task. On Veteran’s Day

2010, Eric K. Shinseki, who was the US Secretary of Veterans Affairs, wrote “We’re Working

to Ease Post-War Stress” in response to the new generation of veterans who were coming home

with Post Traumatic Stress and urged them to go to their local VA Hospital before their

untreated Post Traumatic Stress became full-on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In this article

Shinseki used his credibility as the Secratery of the VA and a former soldier, emotion responses

based on logic, and plain facts to convince the reader that the VA was ready to accept the new

generation of soldiers who had PTS/PTSD.

Shinseki advocated for and praised the VA’s continued work in managing the difficulties

of post-war stress. Shinseki did this by using his knowledge, as Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs,

and a veteran himself to describe how the VA was working towards the end goal of curing

PTS/PTSD. For example, Shinseki stated there were many divisions of VA offices and plenty of

workers across the country and how they were greatly qualified in treating PTS/PTSD

symptoms and complications that follow and accompany it; such as violent outbursts and drug
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addiction and misuse. Shinseki, after thanking veterans for their service, sincerely encouraged

all veterans to get treated and stressed how the quality of their lives would be better after

treatment.

Shinseki used his knowledge of the inner workings of the VA to give him credibility as he

wrote; he also sympathized and validated veterans with PTS/PTSD to connect with the reader

and convince the reader that he was writing the truth. In his last paragraph Shinseki started a

sentence with “President Obama and I…” to equate his argument with the opinion of the highest

and most important man in the country, of that time, who also ran and was head of the Armed

Forces whom soldiers had sworn to follow. He did this to elevate not only his credibility but also

his argument’s credibility. While just a little blurb at the end of the article, obviously put there

by the newspaper publication The Concord Monitor, mentioned that Eric K. Shinseki was the

U.S. Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs. While not going in depth about what being the secretary

entailed or how that gave him any credibility to write this article, the word secretary makes the

reader assume that he knows what he is talking about since he was in this high position about

this particular program in this government.

Shinseki used logic and facts to give some background of what PTSD was and explained

how it had been growing in awareness in the last 30 years. Also explained by Shinseki was some

very real realities for veterans after arriving home; including the symptoms of PTS/PTSD and

the good news of stability that they could have after returning from war. He also explained how

the VA was ready to take on these veterans who were experiencing PTS/PTSD. For example,

Shinseki explained that there were over 20,000 mental health professionals employed by the VA

that were ready to work with these veterans and he went into great detail about the types of

therapies the VA offered and how they could help. Shinseki used these facts about features and
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programs that the VA had set up to support his argument that the VA was ready to accept the

new generation of veterans who suffered with this debilitating disease.

This article starts out with quotes from journals written by soldiers who fought in the Civil

War and World War Two. These quotes described the fact that war was indescribable and how

these poor souls really had no way to cope with the horrors they had seen. There are many

emotional responses that are pulled out of the reader when reading this article. Most of these

emotions occur when the reader is presented with the all-too-real realities that soldiers come

home from war with. One example that Shinseki wrote that used facts to pull an emotional

response was when he described the symptoms of PTSD as “recurring thoughts of the traumatic

event, emotional numbing, hyper-alertness and irritability, or thoughts of suicide.” Another

example is when he touched on the subject of substance and alcohol addiction and misuse.

Shinseki ended this article by saying “Veterans are our finest citizens, and we owe them every

assistance in gaining the fulfilling lives all Americans should have, and that veterans, through

their service, fought to protect.” By ending this article with this logic it leaves the reader feeling

empathy for returning veterans.

Eric K. Shinseki’s article touched on a very important subject on how we, the American

people, can help those who have protected us. It is my opinion that Shinseki’s article is very

persuasive to readers. Although I am not a part of the original audience, because I am not a war

veteran or the family member of one, I am persuaded that in 2010 the VA was ready to take on

and help all of those who suffer from PTS/PTSD. Now, in 2018, the capacity of the VA’s

effectiveness varies from person to person but that is a debate for another essay. I have the

opinion that this article is successful mostly because of its emotional appeal to the reader

through logic and facts. Shinseki really appealed to the reader’s sense of right and wrong by
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presenting how PTSD could be devastating to someone. Without the emotions that are pulled

from this article it would’ve just been a bunch of statistics and numbers without the feeling that

a veteran would be safe and comfortable participating in the VA’s programs.

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Works Cited

Shinseki, Eric K. “We're Working to Ease Post-War Stress.” Concord Monitor/Sunday Monitor,

11 Nov. 2010. ProQuest Newspapers [ProQuest],

search.proquest.com/docview/763243953?accountid=28671.