War--What is it good for?

WaPo had a fascinating article yesterday about the possible positive effects war may have on some soldiers--testing them, trying them, and making them stronger. The article quotes a Dartmouth Med School prof, Matthew J. Friedman, who is also the director of the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He says, "If you think about all of the heroes and heroines in cultures across the world . . . all of them, in one sense or another, faced some sort of a dragon...The transformation from that encounter has been celebrated from antiquity." He also said that

research on the issue has not been that extensive and that the "deleterious" effects of trauma have received the most attention.

But that is changing. "The whole field, in the last four years, has shifted to a certain extent [to focus on] resilience, on human potential," he said.

Food for thought, anyway.