Nate Bethea is a former U.S. Army infantry officer who served in combat zones from 2007 to 2014. He's now an instructor at Voices From War, a creative-writing workshop for veterans and their families in the New York metro area, and has written about his experience as a soldier, including his take on Bowe Bergdahl, who, he said, is a deserter that cost the lives of his fellow soldiers. On Wednesday night, Bethea began tweeting about Sarah Palin, who earlier in the day had blamed her 26-year-old son Track's arrest on his post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD. Track had served in the Army in Iraq, and his mother used the incident as a way to slam Obama.

"They come back wondering if there is that respect for what their fellow soldiers and airmen and every other member of the military so sacrificially have given to the country," Palin said at a Trump campaign rally in Oklahoma, adding that this disregard "starts from the top."

Many veterans bristled at her remarks. "It's not President Obama's fault that Sarah Palin's son has PTSD," Paul Rieckhoff, head of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told NBC News. "PTSD is a very serious problem, a complicated mental health injury and I would be extremely reluctant to blame any one person in particular."

In a series of tweets on Wednesday night, Bethea offered a lengthy, raw, and pointed explanation of PTSD and the danger when someone like Palin—who has such a large stage—makes cavalier remarks about the condition.

Michael Sebastian Michael Sebastian was named editor-in-chief of Esquire in June 2019 where he oversees print and digital content, strategy and operations.

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