Found this site online and thought I'd check in. A veteran of 25 years with experience in GW1, Bosnia, Yugoslavia etc. I've not been involved in Afghanistan or Iraq2 as I've been in training or operational posts in other theatres these last few years. I retired a year ago.
I was an aviator (pilot) and my experiences during the first Gulf War coloured much of my life. I've done isolationalism, anger, alcohol, feelings of lack of self-worth and suicidal feelings. I don't think that PTSD was really a fit subject for discussion when I first had problems and I've never discussed it with colleagues or doctors. I've done this alone - it wasn't until I retired that something caused me to break down and say what I felt to my family, amid floods of tears which I found embarrassing. To my astonishment, my wife and teenage kids were so cool about it and things are better now. I don't need help, at least of the medical kind. I'm still a bit tearful sometimes and irrational and my anger has reduced to sometime irritability over the years - but I now understand why and I can control it. I hope I can show others that they can expect this to last a long time but that life goes on and they don't need to be defined by their experiences: they're defined by who they are.
Anyway, would love to help others if that's possible.
I was an aviator (pilot) and my experiences during the first Gulf War coloured much of my life. I've done isolationalism, anger, alcohol, feelings of lack of self-worth and suicidal feelings. I don't think that PTSD was really a fit subject for discussion when I first had problems and I've never discussed it with colleagues or doctors. I've done this alone - it wasn't until I retired that something caused me to break down and say what I felt to my family, amid floods of tears which I found embarrassing. To my astonishment, my wife and teenage kids were so cool about it and things are better now. I don't need help, at least of the medical kind. I'm still a bit tearful sometimes and irrational and my anger has reduced to sometime irritability over the years - but I now understand why and I can control it. I hope I can show others that they can expect this to last a long time but that life goes on and they don't need to be defined by their experiences: they're defined by who they are.
Anyway, would love to help others if that's possible.
