Report visit veteran

On the 11th of May 2017, we were visited by Eric Schoonen. Eric Schoonen
is a veteran. This means that he is a former soldier who fought in a war. He
told us the story of his life. In this report we will be discussing his visit.
First of all, who is Eric Schoonen? Eric is a young veteran in his 50s who
fought in the Lebanon civil war. When he was 18 he was sent away. Back
then he had a girlfriend who nowadays is his wife. They live in Budel-
Schoot. When he was young, he used to go to the same school as we go to
nowadays.
In 1975, the Lebanon civil war broke out. Lebanon declared war on its
surrounding countries but there was also a war going on between different
religious groups in Lebanon. The United Nations, as always, wanted to
keep peace. Therefore they forced a group of young men to go on a peace
keeping mission. Eric was one of these men. He was very young when he
got sent away with no experience at all. They got a little booklet full of
information, but it was not enough to understand what was going on and
what was expected from them. They were completely unprepared.
Once they had arrived in Lebanon, the first thing they noticed was the high
temperature. A very long trip followed. The roads were terrible and the
circumstances at the destination were terrifying. The base where they
would be staying for the following months was dirty and old. It was a base
consisting of a separate toilet, a bathroom and two bedrooms. One
bedroom was for the leaders and the other one for the soldiers. The
bathroom was filled with small animals like snakes and rats. Next to the
base was a water storage, however they werent allowed to use it. The
water belonged to the village which was next to the base. Therefore they
couldnt shower as often as needed. The rule for showering was as
following: if you stink so bad that others cant sleep because of it, you may
take a shower.
The base was originally meant for 35 people, however there were only 27
men. There was still the same amount of tasks to be finished, meaning
they had to work extra hard. Eric told us that the working duration was
from 24 to 36 hours. After this you had a break of 6 hours. In these 6 hours
you had to take care of the equipment at the base, your own weapons,
your personal hygiene, contacting your home and resting.
There were a number of tasks which they had to fulfill. The most important
task was to check everything and everyone that wanted to pass the
border. Furthermore, they had to take care of the household at the base,
check the surrounding areas for bombs and make sure the contact with
the local people was stable. This was important because they might have
important information. Besides it was important that the local people had
faith in the Dutch soldiers.
During their time in Lebanon, they had to make very difficult decisions.
Every decision had consequences, but these consequences were about
human lives. There were also times when the decision was taken for them.
They were not allowed to use violence, only in very critical situations. This
meant that if no-one was in danger of losing their lives, the choice of using
violence was impossible.
All of this had a huge impact on Erics life. There were also difficult
decisions he had to take and consequences he had to accept. He told us
about one situation in particular. He was checking the cars crossing the
border when the heard from their allies that a mysterious truck was on his
way to them. They asked the driver to stop, but he didnt. The car tried to
avoid them by changing direction. Eric tried to stop him by shooting at the
tires. Once this didnt work, he directed his shot higher and a bullet flew
through the window of the truck. The car stopped and a man holding a
spear came out of the car. The man approached Eric and his leader. The
man was aiming for the leader and Eric was afraid he would attack him. He
had to make a decision in a split second. He choose to shoot the man in
his leg. Both the man and leader survived, however the man has been in a
wheelchair ever since. Eric still, after approximately 40 years, wonders
what would have happened if he had done something else. This is how
much impact one decision can have on your life.

Unifil-veteranen hebben vaker psychische

problemen
(Novum) - Veteranen die van 1979 tot 1985 in Libanon hebben
deelgenomen aan de 'eerste moderne vredesoperatie' van Nederland
hebben meer last van 'ernstige psychische klachten' dan hun jongere
collega's van latere vredesmissies. Vijftien procent van de militairen die
deelnamen aan de missie United Interin Force (Unifil) heeft klachten die
kunnen duiden op een posttraumatische stress stoornis (PTSS). Dat zegt
woordvoerder Klaas Meijer van het ministerie van Defensie woensdag.
De zorg en nazorg voor deze veteranen stond destijds in de
kinderschoenen, verklaart Meijer. Ook 'wist men niet dat ze bij Defensie
terecht konden en was er een hoge drempel'. Tegenwoordig worden
militairen gewezen op hulpverlening voordat ze worden uitgezonden.
Meijer noemt de zorg nu goed, maar deze zorg 'blijft zich ontwikkelen'. Hij
benadrukt dat de meeste Unifil-veteranen zich goed voelen.
De meeste veteranen hebben het eerste halfjaar na terugkomst
aanpassingsproblemen. Het ministerie volgt alle veteranen nadat ze zijn
teruggekeerd, om vroegtijdig problemen te kunnen signaleren. Het huidige
registratiesysteem voldoet echter niet, omdat een veteraan na een
verhuizing niet meer traceerbaar is. Daarom wordt gewerkt aan een nieuw
registratiesysteem, waarbij wordt samengewerkt met de burgerlijke stand.
Source: de Trouw
In this article, they explain that veterans from the first peacekeeping
mission of the Netherlands, which was the mission Eric was involved in,
experience more mental complaints than the veterans of the other
peacekeeping missions. This is mostly because they werent taken care of
before and after the mission. This can be linked to Erics story because he
agrees that this kind of situation can have a large impact on your life.
We think Erics story was very interesting because it gives us a clearer
idea of what life in a war area is like. Its very brave of him to talk about
the difficult things he has experienced. We want to thank him for sharing
his personal story with us.
Made by: Linn Douven, Mette de Haas, Emkea Krekels and Floor Stultiens