"The Pacific" peeks into wartime mental wards

Private Leckie is a reliable U.S. soldier (and man) who finds himself in a shittstorm of bullets, rain and deadly critters on the opposite side of the globe during World War II.  In Part Four of HBO's series "The Pacific," Leckie (played by James Badge Dale) has a slight pee-pee problem that first renders him incontinent, then lands him comfortably (?) in the psych ward.

"Main ward is full, they put overflow with me," says the good doctor in charge (pun probably not intended) played by Matt Craven. And so Leckie is sentenced to heal among his fellow soldiers who aren't even allowed to wear shoelaces.

Amongst the incoherent, Leckie finds a caged former comrade named Gibson, whom he stumbled upon in the act of strangling a Japanese soldier. By most forensic accounts, that's the most personal type of murder there is, and it's exceedingly indicative of pathology.  But that's not what got Gibson committed to the ward. About Part Four of "The Pacific."

The medical opinion offered by Dr. Grant is that most of the men who arrived at the ward legimitately, are there due to exhaustion. I'm sure you've heard the term "battle fatigue." And the only goal of this mental health facility erected from tents and temporary buildings is simply this: to determine who can return to his unit, and who can't.

So how does this makeshift battlefield facility compare with our modern mental health system?  Put simply, it's probably not all that different. You merely have to replace the word "unit" with "life." 

Certainly today's docs try to channel more of their energies toward treatment, and sincere effort is put into resolving core issues by delving into a patient's life experience. I would wager this gives them a better shot than Dr. Grant, who doesn't dare explore the actions of men like Leckie and Gibson; actions that have led them in human shambles directly to his doorstep. But the decision to release a human back into their environment still remains. Leckie made it easy on Grant, he checked himself out and headed back to battle.

That's what they used to call gumption. The doctor shows slight concern for Leckie's decision --- it calls to mind a few Alan Arkin scenes from "Catch 22" --- but he accomodates the soldier's request. After all, he's required to let the man out while he's still a danger to others, right?

During their final exchange, Dr. Grant equivocates about his relatively ignorant vantage point by admitting, "I don't know what the war is like."

"Sure you do," assures Leckie, "you see it in every guy who comes through here."