Opinion: Vets can help with PTSD

Vets can help with PTSD

I served with the 21st Combat Support Hospital in Operation Iraqi Freedom I. I wish that there had been more support services for us when we returned home. The Army brought us back, the chaplain talked to us less than 15 minutes and asked us as a group if we were OK, and that was the end of it. We were tossed back into society to carry on our merry little ways. But it wasn’t that easy.

I don’t think the Army gives us enough time to get past the anxiety of being separated from our teams. When my team got back, we spent night after night with each other — not with our families — at some random pool hall, bar or restaurant just to feel that closeness of being together. It was our safe zone, and we still didn’t feel like we were home.

I know how the guys in Charlie 1-26 felt when they were broken up. When your family is taken from you so suddenly, you’re completely lost, and people on the outside fail to realize that we needed that closeness to debrief ourselves. One of our team members who was left behind killed himself.

Maybe we should start recruiting veterans to help us cope. The best person who has helped me so far served in Vietnam. They were two completely different wars, but he understood my pain and recognized the fact that it never completely goes away.

Thank God for all of our vets from all the wars who never forget, whom we can still rely on to get us through this. I strongly believe that they are the key to the post-traumatic stress disorder issue.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/community/opinion/army_opinion_war_080107/



uhc comment: The writer is correct. This vet believes in helping veterans overcome the PTSD killer of hopes, dreams, and life itself.