Hi all.
It took me up until last month to realize I needed to do something about all this and it hasn't been easy. However, to know where I am, I gotta start where I came from.
I was born not far from here (Clarksville, TN) in a place called Springfield, up in North Tennessee. That's where all the kids in the Kentucky town I come from were born. That makes me a Kentuckaseean.
I moved a lot between the two states, even lived in Britain and China. I speak four languages, two fluently.
I didn't know it until I was old enough to know all kids didn't grow up the way I did, but I was abused pretty badly by my father. When he left us, I waited until I was old enough, and joined the Army Infantry. That was 2006.
2007 Rolled in, and so did I. Into Baghdad, I mean. I did 15 months in an outpost there, doing daily patrols, repelling attempts to overrun our humble home of a bombed out factory and serving as the Commander's RTO/PSD and Company-level Designated Marksman. We left in late spring, 2008.
Time passed, and problems started to arise. I was eventually targeted by the medical brass, and was diagnosed with PTSD. One year later, I was medically retired for it on Christmas Day of 2010.
That is where the military politics stopped and the real problems began. Adaptation to civilian life was not happening, and it was frustrating. I found someone amazing who I opened up to, and like a levee that was already at max capacity, I broke. four, maybe ten, maybe twenty four years of stuff started catching up with me. It has wreaked havoc on my loved ones, my relationship, and myself.
So, here I am.
It took me up until last month to realize I needed to do something about all this and it hasn't been easy. However, to know where I am, I gotta start where I came from.
I was born not far from here (Clarksville, TN) in a place called Springfield, up in North Tennessee. That's where all the kids in the Kentucky town I come from were born. That makes me a Kentuckaseean.
I moved a lot between the two states, even lived in Britain and China. I speak four languages, two fluently.
I didn't know it until I was old enough to know all kids didn't grow up the way I did, but I was abused pretty badly by my father. When he left us, I waited until I was old enough, and joined the Army Infantry. That was 2006.
2007 Rolled in, and so did I. Into Baghdad, I mean. I did 15 months in an outpost there, doing daily patrols, repelling attempts to overrun our humble home of a bombed out factory and serving as the Commander's RTO/PSD and Company-level Designated Marksman. We left in late spring, 2008.
Time passed, and problems started to arise. I was eventually targeted by the medical brass, and was diagnosed with PTSD. One year later, I was medically retired for it on Christmas Day of 2010.
That is where the military politics stopped and the real problems began. Adaptation to civilian life was not happening, and it was frustrating. I found someone amazing who I opened up to, and like a levee that was already at max capacity, I broke. four, maybe ten, maybe twenty four years of stuff started catching up with me. It has wreaked havoc on my loved ones, my relationship, and myself.
So, here I am.
