Any member of the armed forces held captive as a prisoner of war or hostage is more likely to be at higher risk of mental illness like PTSD. This hypothesis goes against everything we thought we knew during the First World War. It has been noted repeatedly that English and German prisoners of war were somehow immune to war neuroses and only susceptible to the newly identified barbed wire disease which is the prisoner's reaction to his environment during life in prison. It is interesting to note however that until now, no real data or studies had been done on post-release effects from captivity. POW repatriation and new rehabilitation programs were designed to help members of the armed forces readjust to military life or if their enlistees were able to readjust to their former civilian lives. Disorders seen among prisoners of war were often explained in terms of a pre-war predisposition to mental illness. Recent studies and even those conducted on World War I and later POW studies have found a higher rate of PTSD among veterans. The former prisoner of war who escaped or was freed by his or her captors is also a veteran of war, but also a veteran of experiences entirely different from their typical veteran counterparts. The POW fight was not only a fight for daily survival, but also a never-ending battle against psychological intimidation, physical suffering, boredom, degradation, feelings of vulnerability and sometimes depression. Another notable effect of being a POW was the recognition as a "hero" by the public and/or military community upon his honorable return from capture, followed by the attention he received in the years that followed. followed his return. The reintegration process returns to "normal... middle of paper ... and their families, not all injuries are physical and they are not left in the cells upon their return to the United States. The men who returned from World War II were welcomed and, more importantly, celebrated by the entire nation, but the efforts of those who returned from the Vietnam War did not resonate as strongly in the country. The Vietnam POW was lightly honored by our government, but American populists had difficulty separating their own personal beliefs from their dissatisfaction with the war and unfairly placed the blame on those who had returned home after having done only what was asked of them. Then-President Nixon briefly spoke during his State of the Union address saying that they returned with honor and that we can be proud of our brave prisoners of war because they returned home them with their heads held high and not on their knees..