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Military Joining The Army With Ptsd

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Cha123

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So I've recently been looking into joining the British Army and I think it's something that was absolutely made for me. I love physical challenges, I can lead, take the initiative and work hard when things are tough... only problem is, I have PTSD from a sexually abusive relationship 3 years ago.

Has anyone else experienced this absolutely gutting feeling, realising you are in fact limited in things you once would have excelled at because of an experience somebody else caused? I realise I am probably 99.9% without a chance in hell of ever getting into the army now that I have been diagnosed and take anti-depressants but if there is anybody out there with some good or inspirational stories which might give me a bit of hope, I'd really love to hear them.

I looked on the British Army blogs and people have asked similar questions and have almost been laughed at by people responding saying it's a completely ludicrous idea and I really don't want the same on here - suppose it would just be nice to know I'm not alone..!
 
I know that gutting feeling you speak of. It's one that can be quite disheartening but the fact is, despite your illness, you can do many great things. Even if you can't serve in the military, there are many ways to serve and help others, you just need to take it easier than other people because of the condition.

I would really not recommend going into a job like that, you may feel like you're fine now but if you're exposed to something quite harrowing you can become so much worse.

I was in a similar situation to you a few years ago and really, you have to make yourself into the person you want, you have an obligation to look after your health, physical and mental and being exposed to war, violence, the atmosphere of the military would not do someone with PTSD any good.
 
I know that gutting feeling you speak of. It's one that can be quite disheartening but the fact is, despite your illness, you can do many great things. Even if you can't serve in the military, there are many ways to serve and help others, you just need to take it easier than other people because of the condition.

Thank you Kiril. As much as I don't want to hear it, what you say makes a lot of sense. Guess I will have to find something elseequally as challenging or rewarding to do with my future!
 
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Rewarding and challenging are all subjective terms. It may feel rewarding to know you got out of bed and a challenge even to get out of bed some days.

People need to have different definitions of "success" for themselves.
 
Check.

Double check... Because in my first PTSD tailspin, I had no effing clue it was PTSD, so I didn't think twice of heading back into combat any way I could. And I did. Later... Once things calmed down I was offered a police job that I turned down. Dude pestered me for 10 years to come work for him. Divorce.... Okay. Let's do this then. And PTSD smacks me down before I can even sign on the dotted line. (Insert swearish rant here). Now I'm in a moral dilemma I have yet to sort. I may go private, where they expect you to be f*cking nuts from time to time. I may do something individual (combat photography comes to mind) where no one's f*cking life depends upon me being clear headed, except my own, and I tend to only be clear headed in combat anyway. But to be brutally honest there have been times where I wasn't, it wasn't in the field I was f*cked up, it was at home. I may say screw it, and take the LEO job. I may do a runner and go live on a beach surfing and fishing. God only knows. Cause I'm not there, yet. First? Have to sort out this PTSD nonsense. Get my life set up. Then and only then can I honorably look at any kind of work. Future tripping about what I may or may not be able to do once I've got this situation under control? Only prolongs this situation.
 
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Also... You should know... That while picking up new Trauma is to be expected in certain jobs, rape is pretty much to be expected as a matter of course for women in most militaries. Stats vary per branch and country of origin. In my own branch and country it was 4:5 in the first year, and then most of the rest sometime in the following 3 years. If one includes sexual assault as well as rape, the numbers go up quite a bit. That's for the first time, of course. No idea UK stats.

Combat, rape, & assaults of various flavors are only 3 of many f*cked up things that are just part of life in the military.

You're looking at physical challenges, leadership, and other upsides. The downsides are as real. And, if anything, more prevalent IME. I still love & loved it. But it's not a recruiting poster. Probably most off, because it immediately ceases to be about you. Other people's lives depend on you. There's no room to play. Means things like you do get raped? Oh f*cking well, if you're busy, you go back to work. Not showing up for anything less than being dead is absof*ckingloutly not tolerated.
 
Edit. Apologies.
 
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A quick google search will show that they're trying to get women through combat training, but so far, none have succeeded.

A better Google search will show you this:

Link Removed

It's an article about the first USMC African american woman to deploy as a combat pilot (air wing).

Her first deployment (to Iraq, as a combat pilot) was in Feb 2003. I'm not sure when the first woman, period, deployed.

I believe @FridayJones has said she was in the air wing.

You're right about the restrictions on women for ground infantry in combat. Not for the air division.

@Solara, I just don't get it.
 
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Restrictions on women don't mean a whole lot in combat zones, actually. I know, I've been in them. You don't get to pick and choose when combat finds you. There are plenty of women in roles other than infantry, within services, which see combat. They drive from point A to point B, and combat finds them. They get told to fill-in on a gun, they have to do every job that basically a guy does, other than directly enlisting them into an arms corp itself.

I have known arms corps to see nothing, yet support corps are constantly attacked. Support corps are typically filled with women, and when shot at, man or women, in a combat zone you're all soldiers at that time.

Combat is not defined by being within an arms corp... so maybe anyone with issues should think about the reality of what occurs within combat zones, and not profess to understand what happens based on arms corp criteria being male only.
 
Please don't rule out a complete recovery and a medication - free future. People can be and have been cured and healed my friend. Who knows what great things are ahead for you? We just have to be wise and use our common sense and remember that others may depend on us so we have to be at our best at those times. Today, I will come up against the reality that I would love to do something that I can't do right now. But tomorrow is another day. Do not let your today dictate your tomorrow unless it means that tomorrow will be better with better outcomes. You WILL do well. Have faith.

There are other options like the French Foreign Legion - but the intake is fairly limited and the screening rigorous. The training is hard, really hard. I had a friend who drives a bus now, that joined. He told me it was tough but the toughest was that the language had to be learned to an excellent standard for protocol. He got stationed at a far and distant outpost, given the books and told "Learn..." If you Yahoo Foreign Legion, you will find interesting stuff.

Don't give up hope, sometimes PTSD is like a big bad dog we love, we live with it but it scares everyone else. The reality is this, when the darker side of PTSD hits, it's wise to be in a situation you can at least part control. So if your heart is set on joining the military, remember, there are many good Countries out there, many good Armies - all looking for a good, honest, decent human being that has a good attitude and a heart to serve. I know you would be brave by nature, but maybe seek out a situation where your military choice would be a peacekeeping or a policing role in nature, you can be just as happy and fulfilled protecting the vulnerable as going head-down into the heat. I believe we can improve anything and everything around us if we have a heart to and a servant attitude. Whatever you end up doing, do it for the good of others and yourself, never side with the bad guys. God bless you, I hope you get to make a choice that makes you happy and earns you a long fulfilling life. Think hard and then YOU choose wisely.
 
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