I did find it funny she tried doing dick measuring with a guy that was a boots on the ground tier operator, especially with what happened with his woman. A solid military tradition. She does sound exactly like the intel people we deployed with in Iraq....."I saw something in a file or a video so I've seen more" types. She might have seen some shit, but our fair MC had his fingers in it.
This observation reminds me a bit of the Dunning-Kruger effect, but for trauma. Many people aren't familiar with the actual D-K paper, and don't realize that while it shows that people who are less familiar with a subject tend to overestimate their ability or understanding of it, the paper also observes that people who are objectively considered experts in a subject will tend to downplay or doubt their own abilities. So while Els talks at length about her experiences (though she doesn't give any specifics) to present the idea that she is an expert about wartime trauma and atrocities, MC instead stays quiet and perhaps doesn't fully realize the large gap in their understanding of the subject. Or maybe "familiarity with the subject" is the more appropriate description here, because direct personal experience doesn't always mean that a broad understanding of something has been gained. That still requires analysis and thought after the fact.
Of course, this all assumes that the source of both Els and MC's mental challenges is just the bad memories they carry, and that's a bit simplistic of a diagnosis I think. It may sound strange to say, but I've seen some recent talk that PTSD has less to do with "trauma", and more to do with – in the case of veterans entering civilian life at least – being cut off from a high-functioning, high-trust, highly goal-oriented environment. That's a bit of a long discussion that doesn't belong in this thread though, so I'll just say that I wouldn't be surprised if MC, Els, and others in the Veterans Centre will find a lot of healing by reforming those "high-trust" conditions and simply being part of something bigger than themselves. And sport – like MMA – can often be a strong substitute for that military environment, since you have to rely on a very close-knit team to succeed, and the outcome is clear, with high stakes. So MC's passion about fighting makes a lot of sense, since it is likely very much a way for him to heal and rediscover that strong sense of purpose that he has lost.
