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Hi! My Name is Norma... Mom of a 23 Year Old Medically Retired Veteran

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nermal64

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My name is Norma. My son only spent 6 weeks in Camp
Taji. (outside of Baghdad) But it was quite tramadic for him. He was involved in 3 events that made CNN. He came home a totally different person. So violent and angry all the time. He has told me a lot about what happeden to him, yet I'm pretty sure there was sooooo much more. His humvee was attacked on April 25, 2005 and his 1st sgt was killed. My son was the gunner and was thrown from the humvee. the stories vary, but he flew at least 40 feet into the air. His driver was severely burnt, but lived and is currently still in the Army. I'd like to talk to people about things that help them. I'd like to think that listening to my son talk about what happened to him (him volenterrring the info, me not pressing him) helps let off steam. I'm very open to any other things that help making the difficult transistion back to everyday life easier. Thanks :wall: Norma...... K's mom
 
Welcome to the forum. I hope you find info you need to help you understand and support him.
 
Welcome Norma. If he is opening up too you Norma, then that is certainly a very healthy thing, as its very unusual for a vet to do that, so count your wishes and let him talk it all out. Seen as though he is talking about the incidents too you, the best you could do is to learn as much as you can about PTSD, and how to respond to people when they open up, so you can ask him specific questions that can help him along, help him to understand, help him help himself. If you read in the trauma diaries especially, and other threads, where we respond to one another with specific questions regarding trauma, which helps pick pieces from the person in their own time, or information to feed back at him to help him understand, if you don't want to question him which could make him close up. Feeding specific information back too him could help him lots, being such things as logical answers, facts, helping him identify fiction, what is made up in his mind and drawn self conclusions, opposed to the facts of the ordeals.
 
Thanks

Thank You all for your warm welcome and Thank You Anthony, for your advice. I have bad dreams after he tells me, but it can't be anyting like the dreams he must have! He saw sooo much death and pain, in such a small period of time... I worry about him! ~Norma
 
Hi Norma and welcome. Our prayers go with you and your son. Thank you for having the guts to help. Most don't
 
:hello: Hi Norma,

Welcome !!!!!!!

Be sure to thank your son for his service to his country. I am truly sorry he had to suffer the things he did. As they say you can't change history. However; learning all you can here & any where else about PTSD will help you both. If he is willing he can get support & information here.

I had serveral uncles in WWII, 2 brothers in Vietnam, & I am married to a disabled Army ranger. One of my brothers sufferers PTSD & my hubby does.
So I understand your searching for answers...

This has been a very good place to come to for all kinds of things.

Hugs to you & your son

D (wildcritter)
 
Welcome Norma,

Thats a tough situation. The best thing to do is listen. Dont rush him to tell you anything that he isnt ready to. He is already talking which is a very good sign. Many guys dont talk about it at all or just to other service members. Its the feeling that no one else would understand. Best of luck.
 
Norma

Welcome to the forum.. there are so many great people here that have helped me already.. I'm a new member. From what I'm learning, talking about what happened is really important.. (at your own pace). I have children too, and I'm sure you want to take away the pain for him.. you're great to be here searching for help, and I think you'll find it. Maybe when he's ready, he can take a look on this forum also. He'll find alot of people like himself. Let him know he's loved and appreciated, not just by you, but by all of us too. :kiss:
 
Was his med board for ptsd or some other thing? I hope he asks for some professional help if he isn't already in. VA or MEDDAC may offer some aid. Bunch of books for him Downrange is a good one. The one with the USA soldier on the front in full battle rattle he will know it. Goodman also has some deep stuff on topic. On Killing is a really good read if you can wade thru the stats adn gore. LET HIM DO THIS AT HIS OWN PACE DON'T FORCE!!
 
My son was supposed to be shipped out in January of 05 but got small pox, well cow pox from the small pox vacine. So his deployment was delayed till March. He left the states on March 15th. He was stationed in Camp Taji just outside of baghdad. Come to find out, he was good at cleaning up helicopter explosions. And spent some time doing that. He was chosen by his 1st SGT to be his gunner, and had his share of using his weapon. He was only in Taji 6 weeks until his Humvee was attacked by an IED and he was thrown approx 40+ feet from the vehicle. He landed on his legs. His first Sgt was killed nad his driver was badly burnt. The enemy video taped the whole attack and the army told him where on the net the video was posted. He spent a great deal of time looking at the video. I'm not sure if that was good or bad. So far it seems to be good that he "watched" what he lived through. He kinda gloats about them not being able to get rid of him... but that is not the response I expected. I tried to discourage him from watching it.
He was in the hospital 6 weeks recovering from his injuries. He had a PCL Tendon transplant in his knee nad his Ankle took a long time to heal as well. The broken jaw wass nothing compared to the fact that the enamel off of his back teeth was shattered from the impact and he has lost quite a few teeth.
he was not released from the Army for PTSD. He was released for medical reasons. When he is upset he will tell me stories about what happened. for only 6 weeks there... there are a lot of stories. Lots of death and lots of grusome sites that he witnessed first hand.
 
Nermal, don't look at this, but for those that want to see what Nermals son endured, [DLMURL="http://www.globalterroralert.com/video/0305/islamicarmy0305-5.wmv"]here is the video footage[/DLMURL]. The wrong part about it all, is that the camera man just seems to always be present around these bombs, filming the footage of them going off to send back and inspire the terrorists. Hmmmm... commonsense says, follow the camera man and stop things before it happens.
 
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