Beneath the Cap

Just seen this publication by Custom Press Publication.  'Beneath the Cap' by Andrew Rae is according to one of the reviewers "the closest any civilian is going to get to putting one that cap with pride, tightening your gun belt, strapping on the bullet proof vest and walking where you fear to tread for the next thirteen hours."

An exploration of the horrors our modern police force are expected to deal with and the black humour that develops to deal with it, 'Beneath the Cap' also explores the public's perception of the emergency and armed forces special brand of humour - 'unfeeling, uncaring and inhuman'.  It also tackles the problem of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and the fact that even some in the medical profession are not convinced that it actually exists.

Having come from a service family I fully understand the black humour that abounds among the members of this profession, whether they be armed or emergency.  Though I have not served myself (due to my disability I do not react well under pressure and that is not a good thing when someone's life may depend on you) four members of my living family have served and so did two of my known ancestors.

It has been remarked by many that the greater majority of children of service families mature faster than most.  Having been a service child I think it is because we absorb, almost by osmosis, the adult issues and coping mechanisms that are been lived out around us.  Just as our parents have to copy with the fact that a family member may not return home at the end of the day (last year there were over a hundred attacks on members of the ambulance service alone) so do we.  We have to cope with the knowledge of the very real possibility that we may lose a parent or a close relative before we have a chance to say good by.

As such we learn to say sorry a lot quicker than most (we may not have to chance to if we don't) and we also learn that if we laugh at our fears, if we make jokes about them, then we can still function and live, instead of screaming about them, which just results in a trip with the men in white coats.

I have to admit that I was surprised though that even some of the medical profession disbelieve in the existence of PTS Syndrome.  Besides the psychological effects of fear (which could be doubted, after all we barely know our own minds how are we to know another's?) there is the physical effect of adrenaline on the human body.  I wonder if it has been forgotten in recent times that it has been proven that adrenaline is, to all intents and purposes, a poison.  Adrenaline suppresses the appetite, the immunity system and puts a tremendous strain on the cardiovascular system.  In a body that is not in ideal surroundings (since when do emergencies take place in ideal surroundings?) it leaves the body open to infection but nobody truly knows what an overdose of adrenaline would do to the human body.

It would be interesting to know what the adrenaline levels of the soldiers who suffered 'shell shock' were during the First World War.  Is the 'madness' of shell shock the result of adrenaline poisoning?  Now there is a more useful study than some of the modern ones - measuring the correlation between adrenaline level and post traumatic stress syndrome.

The is also the known scientific fact that every time the human body is subjected to the concussion force of an explosion strong enough to shake you, even if it is not strong enough to do any other damage, it rips apart some of the connections within the brain.  Discovered in studies of bomb disposal teams, it has been found that over time these cellular tears in the brain add up to the lost of memories.  It may be all your memories up unto your fifth birthday, or the memory of the colour of your hair, or maybe the day you asked your wife to marry you or watched your children take their first steps.

What is worse, because you are in an emergency situation when this damage takes place, you have to focus on what is happening and push any personal thoughts out of your head so the first time you notice the loss of memory is when you finally get home.  Then you realise that there are gaps in your memory, gaps that you can't refill and that you can't even remember happening.  Can any body imagine how scary that must be?  To suddenly realise that your memory is falling apart and you can't even work out why.  I would be absolutely terrified, suddenly realising that I no longer have full control of my own head.

Is it any wonder that service humour is black?  If the enemy doesn't get you, your own brain might fall apart on you and some of the doctors who are meant to be helping you won't even believe that it is happening.  Can anybody think of something scarier than that?