“Brannon Vines has never been to war. But she’s got a warrior’s skills: hyperawareness, hypervigilance, adrenaline-sharp quick-scanning for danger, for triggers.”
- This is a categorical claim because she named several examples of obvious PTSD symptoms but referred to them as “skills”.
- These are not skills. They are symptoms of PTSD.
“He’s one of the 103,200, or 228,875, or 336,000 Americans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan and came back with PTSD, depending on whom you ask, and one of 115,000 to 456,000 with traumatic brain injury.”
- This is a factual claim because the conditions do exist beyond doubt, hundreds of thousands of Americans who fought have been diagnosed after coming back.
- It has been proven that PTSD is commonly found in soldiers after battle.
“And as slippery as all that is, even less understood is the collateral damage, to families, to schools, to society—emotional and fiscal costs borne long after the war is over.”
- This is a causal claim because the author is telling the consequences a person with PTSD can bring to the environment.
- More information could have been provided but we get the point of what PTSD can cause.
“The house, in a subdivision a little removed from one of many shopping centers in a small town in the southwest corner of Alabama, is often quiet as a morgue. You can hear the cat padding around.”
- This is an analogy claim because the silence in the house is being compared to a morgue. It’s so silent you can hear the cat moving.
- Silence is a negative effect for people with PTSD. All the surrounding sounds trigger the person all at the same time.
End of one hour
Counterintuitive 