Am I in the right place now

[Jimmy1]

Am I in the right place now

Hi All,

Within Australia, we don't really differentiate between PTSD and Combat PTSD.
I joined the PTSD forum and did not really fit in and hope I fit in here.

I served for 20 years and did three overseas operations in New Guinea, East Timor, and Iraq. And was discharged in April last year for psychological reasons.

I really enjoyed military life and had intentions on continuing to serve until retirement age, even if it meant transferring from the Non Commissioned ranks to the commissioned ranks. But this was not to be.

On return from East Timor in 2002 a comment was placed on my med docs as ? PTSD, but was written off and they checked my thyroid instead.

So anyway, after returning from Iraq, and my marriage failing, and my whole world falling apart, they eventually diagnosed me with PTSD, or Combat PTSD as you call it.

So here I am.

I am hoping to find similar people who are insomniacs like me to shoot the breeze with.

 

[anthony]

Hey mate, welcome along and glad you're here. Yep... as a veteran myself, when I started ptsdforum.org, I knew it wouldn't really cater veterans because we are a little different once the military gets hold of us... well, we are after they have finished and often our experiences.

I called this place combat ptsd because it is indicative of how we obtained PTSD, via combat. That is where the name is coined. Yes... totally concur though... it is just PTSD anywhere within the world.

Served in Timor also in 02... that was my last deployment actually, as the CSM Dili up till May that year. Gotta say, it was much nicer then than in 99... It was really good to see the after though, from the before in 99. Been in New Guinea also, Moresby, Madang, Vanimo and a few other places. I think that was beginning 97, as I had Bouganville end 97 and then again early 98, if my memory serves me correctly.

No doubt even run into one another. Parso was my normal nickname... Pet Op. Like many... ended up f*cked in the head from something I never knew existed at the time.

I loved it also... and I would also still be serving if this didn't wipe me out. Absolutely loved the Army, the environment, friendship, work, fitness... you know the deal.

Look forward to chatting more with you mate. In Melbourne now. Left Townsville 05 and shifted to Melbourne, where I ended up divorcing my now ex-wife, as she got posted to Melbourne, hence the move. Go figure.

 

[Jimmy1]

Good to see someone else here.

I have written a book and am still adding to it all the time. I am a firm believer that our PTSD is enhanced by our military conditioning.

For example during our basic training and all through our career, we were taught to push through anger and injury by aggression. So when they dump you on your arse and you have an argument with your spouse or anyone who gets in your face, its not as simple as walking away. You explode and if you had a bayonet, you would probably gut them.

We should chat sometime on MSN when your around.

 

[anthony]

Yep, that pretty much nailed it. Many don't understand the anger component with soldiers. Soldiers have an increased anger and hypervigilance, both symptoms of PTSD, due to their training. As you stated, we are taught to use aggression. Bayonet assault course, hand to hand combat training, fitness training, etc. As a soldier you are pushed to your limit and then taught to use anger to continue going forward. Hypervigilance... another trained symptom of PTSD. We are taught to be alert, patrolling, gun piquet - scanning through the foliage, look through the trees, not at them, be constantly familiar with what is around you... etc etc. Then, the military encourage socialising with alcohol, in environments such as the boozer. Alcohol is a method in which to aid the military to cap soldiers aggression until needed upon the battlefield.

Now when many soldiers think about just the above, it often clicks for them that they get overtly aggressive for such small things, they drink themselves to sleep and they wear themselves out going anywhere because they are constantly scanning every person, situation and event, thus creating and being within a constant state of anxiety which is a trained anxiety the military spent a lot of time achieving.

Add the chemical imbalance between the right and left brain hemispheres which is PTSD... and welcome to hell. Now civilians running around with military training with a skewed brain and no idea why they feel or act certain ways... equals disaster.

I only just created this site and released it last month. I haven't had much time to get into writing specifics here yet, as I am finishing of a renovation, Christmas and travel, also have a few other projects that are more important to complete first, then the majority of my time will be spent upon this forum building it, educating military, and hopefully reducing some of the military PTSD issues and getting more soliders back into life.

It is actually easier to help a soldier in most aspects, because once they want to help themselves, they already have the training needed to push themselves hard, fall down, but pick themselves up and keep going forward for positive growth. This is a much harder thing to accomplish, exposure therapy, with someone who has no such training and say... has been abused since childhood and doesn't know what their limits and boundaries are, as they have never had to find them under such training.

I would envisage around Feb 2010, I will be free to get stuck into building this site with relevant content. The stuff I created on ptsdforum.org is based more at PTSD in general, not soldiers with PTSD. I need to recreate a lot of that with the focus on veterans for here... and some other aspects which are veteran only oriented.

 

[anthony]

Oh... book sounds interesting. What invoked you into doing that? Good work I say.

Added: I wrote this one when launching PTSD Space, Link Removed, and it about nails this issue I believe.

 

[Jimmy1]

Mate the book started out as a 'Pipe Dream'. I am awaiting feedback from a few people as I wrote most of it in 'First Person', but some in 'Third Person'. Most people are telling me to expand on it and one day i hope to have it published.

 

[anthony]

Nice... a great accomplishment for any person. Well done to you I say. All great things begin small, begin somewhere... but they never just began great.

 

[Jimmy1]

When do I get full membership and what do I have to do. Do I have to have an anger outburst or something. hehe

 

[anthony]

What for mate...? PTSD Forum? If so.. what is your username on that site?

 

[Jimmy1]

No this site mate. If I try to send you a personal message is says I have no rights.

 

[Jimmy1]

It also says I cannot add to my album

 

[anthony]

Ah... that is an automatic permissions setup I did to stop spammers, trolls, etc. Basically, as you continue to post you move through a process where your permissions continue to increase.

Link Removed

21 posts and you get PM, 51 and you get the profile stuff.

Basically, learnt from years of experience. It is a very good deterrent to cease spammers or stop them from sending in an automated bot to spam PM all the members, their profiles, posts, etc. Have some pretty effective spam deterrents here now that I have learnt over the years running forums.

This is why I use a normal user account here, so I go through the same process as every other member. I only use the admin account for administrative matters.