"Kinetic".... a Neologism from the Military

I always talk to the fighters I take care of about the war. I don't want the blood and guts, but I do want to know how things are and what 'the real scoop' is.... I usually get it. The common theme... We are killing the enemy by the hundreds, yes, the enemy, guys with AKs and recoilles rifles who are shooting at our guys.... Beating the crap out of them every time, every where. And it's a hopeless mess (in marked distinction from Iraq).

The money we pour in goes away, the schools we build are destroyed, and the people are not in any state to take the reins of government. That's what they all say. No one knows what the answer is but all say, let's just get out. I don't know if that's smart... just passing it along....

But today I learned two new important things. The first is, PTSD is a real deal. It happens to the extent that even though the patient is doing great at returning to regular non-combat life, that something like a dog jumping on the bed in the morning can trigger a full fledged fists-and-elbows running attack at the poor pooch.

I also learned that folks don't say "in the shit" anymore (probably because the military does not want to demean its newly out and proud members), we talk about a deployment being 'kinetic'. In fact, the young warrior who recently assaulted his dog used this very word in describing his last deployment. "It was 'kinetic', doc"....

"What does that mean?" I asked....

"It means I killed a lot of Taliban"...

"Kinetic".