Hello All. Oif Vet Here

[Steph_F]

Welcome!! :) I am glad you are here, too!! My boyfriend was in OIF 1 and 3. First "touring" with Marines hauling ammo in the intial push in spring of '03 and then rebuilding in Baghdad in '05. I don't even know you, but I am glad you made it home safe...now the mission is to leave Iraq in Iraq, right?? Trust me you are NOT alone in that mission!

This is an excellent place to ask questions, to rant and rave, to admit your fears and share your goals and plans for the future. You can have a happy future and a happy life...even with PTSD. There will always be shit days mixed in with the good, and that really really sucks, but don't ever give up!! The Army has made you strong and resilient for the Army, you can use some of those skills to make YOU strong and resilient for YOU. Its good that you are noticing things that kinda set you off, loud noises, sudden movements, waiting in line, crowded places. Now you can think of ideas on how to overcome your reactions or at least begin to work with them. What kinds of things do you do now? (if you want to share, if not that's cool)

Anyway, I am happy you are here, thank you for your service and although I have not "been there, done that" I am listening. My Sgt doesn't share much of his stories and PTSD-related thoughts with me so anything I can learn from anyone else helps me understand.

 

[Jimmy1]

Hey mate, welcome to the forum.

I am glad you said 'Screw the Stigma'. I think you will find that the general public is in for a very rude shock.
This is the longest out of any conflict that our brothers in arms have fought in. The fall out when it happens, and by fall out I mean PTSD can sometimes take years to occur. Just look at 'Band of Brothers' and some of our Vietnam veterans. They went years until all of a sudden bang, it hit them.

This forum is a great place. You will have confidence in knowing that no matter where in the world we are, we share the same demon, and its that demon that makes us brothers. You don't have to share your traumas, not many of us do, but at least you can share your symptoms and how you tackled them. Everyone is different.
Its like medication. You might be put on one that works and we don't know about, and vice versa, we can help you.

Look forward to seeing you around mate.

Jimmy

 

[wife of]

Took a full 15yrs at a low level,with docs treating him as depressed before ptsd broke through witha vengence and the deterioration was a rapid descent into our current situation,General doctors,across the globe and the general public all need more awareness of how to treat this condition........Everyone now knows to think twice in public before rebuking a mother of a child who is acting up,mainly due to awareness campaigns of the many disorders that can cause such behaviour,but people see an adult behaving oddly and just either pretend nothing is happening or wade in for a barney.I think we all need to educate and enlighten in our own communities,the stigma needs to go,people need to realise that anyone affected needs help,we've all heard of "it takes a village to raise a child" its time the world also realised "It takes a village to reintergrate and support a Vet"

 

[Tim &Bailey]

People do need to realize it takes that same village to reintergrate and support their Vets!