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A victim of post traumatic stress disorder can not distinguish between real danger and an imagined threat. There is no such thing as friendly bickering to someone suffering from PTSD. The sound of a rocket and something as innocent as a footfall may be equally as terrifying---and they may spark the same fight or flight adrenalin reaction. A victim of post traumatic stress disorder does not have a "safe" time. He or she can not tell the body "What you hear/see/smell now can be ignored." Every waking moment of the day--and a fair chunk of the night---is spent in a hypervigilant state. When danger is perceived, there is no measured response. There are only two settings, "On" and "Off." "On" for someone with PTSD armed with a military weapon is "kill or be killed."
