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Major Airsoft Push To Help Veterans With PTSD

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With the easy connection between Airsoft and military people, whether active or retired, the potential for airsoft to be a helping tool for those coping with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is getting into the consciousness of veterans who are now active in airsoft. There are claims that airsoft is therapeutic for veterans with PTSD with the veterans themselves attesting to it and being supported by some game organisers. To emphasize the growing realisation of this, Darkhorse of One Grunt's Opinion put forward a call for veterans:

We need your testimonials. Blacksheep6 and I have started our late summer offensive against PTSD. It's time to bring PTSD to the forefront of everyone's consciousness and Airsoft as a tool for treatment. We need your testimonials to collect and put in front of the VA. It's time me make them see the benefit of Airsoft to treat those suffering. If we can't show them how useful it really is, we can't get them to fund real studies. So I'm calling all vets and all of you that know vets to mobilize. Or fight is not over and not all are brothers are being taken care of. PM me or Blacksheep6 at Blacksheep Milsim with your testimonials. You don't have to give your name, it can be an anonymous testimonial. Send them in guys or ask me for my email to email them.

Javier "Darkhorse"

In this case, VA means the United States Department of Veterans Affairs with the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) being in charge of giving medical assistance to veterans in need of such. PTSD is their major concern and with estimates that those suffering with it in the services are in the hundreds of thousands. Many efforts are being poured into finding ways to help them, some of them very safe like as use of pets especially dogs, and some more dangerous such as hunting and shooting with real firearms as in the case of what happened to Chris Kyle, the most dangerous American Sniper.

Airsoft is getting more emphasis right now amongst veterans concerned with PTSD, either as sufferers themselves, or as helping their fellow veterans. Thus, the push to have some funding along the way from the VA or whatever organisation that can help provide funding and influencing policy in PTSD treatment and therapy in veterans.

Thus, we enjoin readers of Popular Airsoft to heed the call of Darkhorse and Blacksheep6 to help find veterans they know of who can provided testimony that airsoft has a big potential to help veterans with PTSD. Even for those not based in the US but may just find studies or treatment programmes of their own governments to combat PTSD and airsoft is mentioned, they can submit these as reference to build the case.

Other airsoft groups which are established as support groups for veterans with PTSD would be valuable. If this becomes a national effort of airsoft players in the USA, then we will find out if our sport or hobby can be a viable programme for veterans and allocated resources by the VA.

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