• We are a multilingual website again. Read the notice about this.
  • Understand AI use at MyPTSD: all AI use is explained in our AI help page. AI use is by choice here. It exists if you want it, but does nothing unless you choose to use it.

News The Exposure

Status
Not open for further replies.
So she exposed herself. You just helped her a little bit :P

So that was neither good or bad, the way I see it. She told the public about the lie herself. So yeah it's messed up that they lied in the first place, but she did speak up about it. Don't know if she apologized for it yet. Would be great if she did apologize for lying.

I may view it this way because I have no idea about who she is, and have no issues that are even remotely related to the army, so this is how it may look to a detached outsider.
 
You deserve a medal.

She's been lying about her husband seeing combat. He's been going along with the lie. For what? Political gain? Self Importance? I don't know.

The point is she lied and it wasn't the little white kind. She knew that having a husband who saw combat would stir an emotional response in people. Because its an emotional thing, people die in combat, people lose family members. It changes people. And she tried to manipulate that to her own advantage.

Those media outlets informed the public of the lie and spread her agenda. Its good you told them the truth so they can inform people of the truth. People who probably don't read her facebook page.

Try to be kinder to yourself.

Also my traumas have nothing to do with the military, neither I nor my husband has ever been in the military. In case that changes anything.
 
I am ashamed of the emotion being out of control and I am ashamed that I exposed her lie. If that is what you mean.

I seem to differ with everybody else on this, but I think the shame about this is normal and human. After all she did publish her lies herself. I don't know how much time passed between events, but it would've been a possibility to tell her personally that you were overcome with anger about it, and that lots of people would be. And to ask her to come clean on a bigger scale, to take responsibility for her actions herself. And confront the people she lied to herself.

But I can also understand why these lies would make you incredibly upset and made you react the way you did. Also a very human response.
 
but it would've been a possibility to tell her personally that you were overcome with anger about it,

I did write to her to tell her how upset I am and I shared the news about the suicide bomber in my brother's mess hall. I wanted her to see that a person that she has personal contact with has been through deployment and the damage it does.

She never responded.
 
Oh, I didn't get that part. Thanks for clarifying. Well yeah if she never responded, I agree with the others.
You tried, and she didn't, I hope you don't carry this feeling around for too long. :)
 
First, I agree with the consensus that you did nothing wrong. (Was your brother in Mosul, by any chance? I had a close friend whose unit was sent there "by accident" about the same time as an incident like you described.)

I lost all control of my emotions and rational thinking.
I'm wondering about that statement. It reminds me a bit of, well, "me". I try not to react to stuff. I actually try not to have feelings. I guess I feel like I'm not entitled to them, don't need them, they just cause problems??? I'm not sure, which is one of the reasons I probably shouldn't quit therapy just yet. But, once in awhile, something happens and I fire off a response out of something like righteous indignation. And then I regret it, even if I was right. Maybe because I don't really believe I have the "right" to BE righteously indignant? It's hard to be clear about what I mean, because I honestly don't have it worked out in my own case, in my own mind.

Anyway, is it possible that you're beating yourself up more for how you FELT and that you acted on your feelings, than anything else?
 
She posted a public apology about how hard life has been and dealing with deployment. The next day, in a lengthy post, she said her husband hadn’t been deployed and wasn’t in the military anymore.
I agree with the others, she exposed herself. You didn't betray anyone. Chances are, you were not the only one who passed on the public information to the new media anyhow. I think you did the brave and right thing. I know it doesn't feel that way right now.

Your shame about speaking up is really common for trauma survivors. We were trained by trauma that speaking up would put us in danger. It is the message our abusers wanted us to believe, and that many of us internalize. Many of had to believe, that in order to be safe, to survive at all, we have to be silent. Shame keeps us silent. Shame tells us we are inherently bad as people and shuts us down to action.

You spoke up. You broke those old messages. You saw a lie, and you had an appropriate reaction. You spoke up and you had a goal to make sure that the same news media that passed on this lie is now going to pass on the truth.

The shame you feel now, it may just be a younger part of you, trying to pull you back into the silence that you needed to have to survive trauma. But this is different. You don't need to stay silent anymore when someone you care about is doing something horribly wrong. Feeling a loss of control is sometimes connected to feeling danger, a loss of safety, a loss of connection, etc. It is not out of control to care so much. It is not out of control to speak up. It is safe now to say this person that I have cared about has done something wrong and people need to know.

You didn't betray her, she betrayed you. The pain of that can be very real and very deep. You have great courage, and you did a very good thing. Your act was not irrational and your hurt now is not irrational. I hear that you wanted to act more slowly and
thoughtfully, but I don't think you did anything wrong in how you responded. It's not wrong to care. Sometimes caring for someone can mean getting hurt like this. My heart goes out to you and I hope you are kind to yourself through this process of healing from the way she betrayed you and so many others. :hug:
 
(Was your brother in Mosul, by any chance? I had a close friend whose unit was sent there "by accident" about the same time as an incident like you described.)

Yes he was.

Anyway, is it possible that you're beating yourself up more for how you FELT and that you acted on your feelings, than anything else?

I think I am beating my self up more about how I reacted and didn't think things through.

I just checked my messages. She responded that he was deployed and not to believe everything I read. She is the one that posted that he was not deployed. Here are her exact words she posted:

"Not that it makes it any better or worse, but my husband wasn't deployed and isn't even in the military anymore. There have been a lot of misconceptions about that."

This would make one think that he has never been in combat. I blocked her and the page. I think I have caused enough damaged with my outrage. I fear what will happen if they are investigated due to my e-mails.
 
Even if you reacted quickly, and didn't take time to think things through, your reaction is understandable. I'm also not sure if you have done the level of damage you feel like you have done.

Give others a little bit of credit here... If someone posts information publicly, and it's upsetting and alarming, especially if it is about a public figure lying to the general public and apologizing for it, then it is likely that more than one person will pass on that public information to the news media. Give reporters a little credit. I used to be one and I remain friends with one. I know it's really hard to give them any credit - they screw up sometimes. However, they get angry emails and messages about public figures all the time. It's really quite amazing how much stuff that gets emailed to reporters. Seriously. News media outlets tend to not take it very seriously because SO MUCH comes in.

If these reporters are interested in what you emailed them, then they will let you know and they will check to see if what you said was true or not. If they do not check any information you gave them, but print stories only off an angry emails from one person, then they are completely crap reporters and any misinformation they print is ON THEM. Not you. Yeah, I know the news media prints mis-information all the time, oh boy do I ever know... but, they rarely do it because of some angry emails from one person about a well known public figure. What they do is they take the emails and they check it out.

I just checked my messages. She responded that he was deployed and not to believe everything I read. She is the one that posted that he was not deployed. Here are her exact words she posted:

"Not that it makes it any better or worse, but my husband wasn't deployed and isn't even in the military anymore. There have been a lot of misconceptions about that."

This would make one think that he has never been in combat.
Being "deployed" only means being sent out on active duty. I have friends who get deployed with the national guard to non-combat situations, and my cousin was deployed to a non-combat place in the navy. It is still called deployment. It is my understanding that someone is either on a base near their home at the time, or they are deployed. It's not about combat status. (Perhaps a military expert can chime in though and correct me if I am wrong.)

The only legit explanation that I can think of for her conflicting statements is that US. Military members have been told that neither they nor their family should post about their military status online. No photos, no information about being a military member, ect. One of the concerns is that terrorists will figure out who the military member is connected to and their home addresses and harm their family or friends. ISIS has issued videos threatening our military members at home. The fact that she is posting or emailing anything at all about her husbands military status in connection with her real name is absolutely foolish on her part. Especially when she is creating all this drama around it and when she has other drama around the accusations of cheating on her husband.

She needs to give no more comment, not on email, not on facebook, to anyone, about all this mess. She needs to be talking to a therapist and private help. She needs to let it all die down. If there is any safety risk to her or her family, maybe she has someone from the military advising them to stop. Just stop all the Facebooking about his military status. If she is still telling people anything, then that tells me that there isn't a specific safety threat and/or she is being foolish and trying to draw people into her drama and have them run circles in their heads.

She may be lying for a good purpose... but she is going about all of it in a really illogical and drama inducing way.

She may also just be creating drama. And you got drawn in. It sounds like many other people did too. It's understandable and doesn't make you a bad person. My guess is that this is not about safety at all. If she is accused of cheating on her husband, then it sounds like she has some serious stress she needs to be dealing with
privately. Not on facebook or in front of all the public. That's the totally wrong way to handle all of this on her part. She is being foolish and stupid.

It sounds like she set out bait and many people got hooked up in her lies. I don't blame you at all for your actions. They sound wise. Now it's time to do what you very smartly are realizing - take a step back and disconnect from it all.


She should not be emailing you or other members of the general public about her husbands military status. This is her crazy out of control behavior. Not yours. She may be actually trying to pull you in emotionally and get a reaction from you.

I think you have taken a good step to cut off communication with her. What specific damage do think will come about if there was some kind of investigation into your emails between you and her? She is likely telling others the same circling stories that she is telling you. Don't take on blame for it. Give that back to her and let her go.

In general, it is best to avoid email about anything controversial, especially with public figures. In general, email is not a secure private form of communication, even though most people think it is. It generally should be handled like it is more or less public communication. So in general, it is a very wise step to probably hold off on any further emailing. If you two would really like to connect, then either of you can suggest a phone call. But emailing about
military status is really not a good idea, no matter what the truth is. She is the one who should know that most of all. Not you. You did the right thing.
 
Thank you, @Justmehere You have helped with my anxiety. I am going to try and let it go and try to calm down about it. I take it too personally when I am deceived by anyone, even if I don't know them personally. I am still raging.
 
I think I am beating my self up more about how I reacted and didn't think things through.
That's kind of what I thought. Been there, done that. Recently too, I guess. (Yesterday? Day before??)
I take it too personally when I am deceived by anyone, even if I don't know them personally. I am still raging.
I get THAT too.

I have NO idea what's going on with that woman. I'm sure there's a reason her story is so confusing. I have no idea what it is and there's probably no way we'll ever know. Doesn't really matter.

I STILL don't think you did anything wrong. I'll grant that, if you'd spent more time thinking about it, you might not have done it. You know what? One of my own biggest problems is that I'm remarkably good at talking myself out of doing things I SHOULD do. Any chance you do the same?

You had information and an opinion, You had the right to share that and you did. Those you shared with have the right to ignore it or pursue it. Personally, I think it's kind of cool that you cared enough to do it.

By all means let yourself off the hook!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Donation drives

2026 Donation Goal

Goal
$1,800.00
Earned
$980.00
This donation drive ends in
0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds
  54.4%

Trending content

Featured content

Back
Top Bottom