I Feel Like An Impostor, But I Registered Anyway.

[Invictus_88]

And, also, I am a Desert Storm veteran, and I beg you not to go into the military. If you think that life is hard now, you will get no sympathy, empathy or camaraderie for PTSD symptoms in the military. You will get shit-quality food, shit-quality bedding, shit-quality medical care by doctors who have jobs there because they can't be sued, and your PTSD will get worse. You will hate your job, and soon you will find out that all that money they offered you to sign up was a lie because there is fine print that they never tell you about and you can't sue the govt to get the money and promotions and benefits they promised you. The military is a scam. You will be walking into a war zone, and if you don't die, you will come home with permanent damage to your body that the government will deny that it caused. It will shorten your life and take away your quality of the life you still have. Don't do it.

If I thought life was hard now, I'd not be joining. But life's OK, I just got given a few new and confusing impulses since I almost died. My life is successful and positive, though the immediate fallout of the accident almost cost me a relationship with my girlfriend, and I feel good about the rest of life. I came here not because I'm feeling blue, but because I don't understand my reaction to this accident, and don't want to let it carry on keeping me on edge and giving me flashbacks. I'll get past this, I'm just trying to find out how.

I'll be joining the British army, too, so trust me - I know about crap treatment, poor kit, and no govt support for ex-servicemen!
I'm involved with service charities and have been involved in the army cadet force. It's still my intention to join as an officer in a front line regiment, ideally in the cavalry.
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a Lt. Col in the Guards Division who had recently taken his Battalion out to Afghanistan and he told me all about the amputations, the horror, the risk. He also told me about the amazing support an army regiment can be in tough times, and how regimental charities, and the families of the servicemen, successfully pull together to get people through bad times.

War is shit, no doubt. It screws people up, I'm sure. But this means the army needs the very best officers it can get, in the very toughest postings. They think I can do it, I hope I can do it, so I'm going for it with everything I've got.

 

[Grama-Herc]

Just to let you know, when I first found this forum, I felt the same way. "MY" trauma was so insignificant compared to the others.

But I soon found out Pain is Pain and Trauma is Trauma.

Welcome to a group of people who understand. There is so much helpful info
to help you.

 

[Kunoichi]

Hello I88,

I will sound with the others here to welcome you to the forum. Also, as ametheist pointed out, there are many reasons for PTSD to occur, so you are certaintly not alone and CERTAINTLY not an impostor. I hope this forum helps in your recovery. :)

 

[stilltrying]

Me Too

I have had a very similar situation in the army. I went white water rafting on a leadership exercise. The army likes to take things to the next level so we were doing grade 4 and 5. My raft flipped and me and a mate and I were stuck under for ages. They say we were blue when they got us out. I started breathing again but my mate needed CPR. He made it though.

This still lives with me today. I spent 20 yrs in the army and I've got a few things still to work through.

I glad you registered because trauma is not restricted to a select few. It can happen to anybody, in sport, in work, in relationships.

You are not alone mate