Unbelievable Incident Yesterday

[RocketMCInfantry0311]

Brothers and Sisters,
I hope everyone is doing as well as they can. I went out for a bite to eat the other day, and was eating when a man walked up and asked if I was in the service? I replied yes Marine Corps. He asked if I had deployment and I responded yes. Then the question of killings came about, and I stopped the man mid sentence. I told him I do not wish to talk about my deployment days. He then asked about what I witnessed? I again replied I wish not to speak of it.
The man then be a me frustrated with me. He then began to tl me that I was a Phony, and that I should be ashamed of myself to portray a Marine. That I was garbage and all kinds of names. I couldn't take it anymore, I got up and walked out towards my car. I was stopped by a loud noise in my ears then had a few moments of flash back. My eyes went in to a pitch black room. A few seconds after the I came too. I got in my.car and left thinking about how bad I wanted to stomp this guy's guts out!!!
My question is, what was the loud noise in my ears? Why did I black out? What caused my PTSD to have an episode? I'm so new to all of this, so please help me.
Please help me answer my questions so I learn what to do when this occurs again.
Thank you all so very very much!!!

 

[GWhizz]

So sorry you had to encounter such an unnecessary and triggering event.

Not to fob you off or anything, but I really think therapy is the place to assess your triggers, the whys, hows etc. It's something I have spent a long time working on, yet still have little clarity on why exactly I react in certain ways.

The loud noise may have been real or a sensory flashback. And you were probably triggered by this along with the intensity of the previous scenario of this man working you up. The blackout could have been an attempt to escape potential danger. Again, I can't really say as I wasn't there.

But I really do hope you were able to find a safe space and that you can work through this with your therapist if you have one.

Take time to yourself and do something nice if you can.

 

[RocketMCInfantry0311]

So sorry you had to encounter such an unnecessary and triggering event.

Not to fob you off or anything,...

Thanks for taking time out of your life to speak to me. I believe your correct. I take it harshly when people pry and I don't want to talk, but it gets real deep when you tell a Marine, that he is a Phony and crap like that. I think it put me in a real bad place. He said he knew I wasn't a real Marine, because I didn't want to talk about my deployments. Because that makes a lot of sense right lo

 

[Deleted member 1860]

America is VERY war happy. I don't know where you're from, but I'm deep in civil war country. A battle was fought literally steps from my current home . The local reenactment weekend is soon. People think it's fun to reenact killings . I think it's disgusting. They think it's entertainment . But, show actual battlefield pictures of the dead blown to smithereens and they get EXTREMELY uncomfortable . Attempt to discuss the truth about the war (slavery) and get met with tons of resistance (or if you're down south, get told that it was the war of northern aggression .*rolls eyes*). It's pure extertainment and its disgusting .

I joked to my dad that if THAT is entertainment then it's about time we have entertainment in the form of airplanes flying into buildings. Too soon? Right.....guess we need to wait another 100 years before it's a socially acceptable form of entertainment.

Point being, Americans are very war happy and if you aren't too, you're unamerican. (One needs to only look back to the dubya years to know this is true .Remember how we hated the French because they were anti war and renamed French fries to freedom fries? I rest my case.)

 

[RocketMCInfantry0311]

Sir
Thank you for taking the time to speak to me. I am an American Soldier, a Marine. I get exactly what you are saying. I can't comprehend though why a civilian would challenge me by calling me Phony because I didn't speak of the war I fought in. A Civilian yes that's right. I think people would not have a cross word to say to any soldier who had actual live trigger time on a deployment, if they actually lived it themselves.I was so enraged man, I wanted to rip that guys head off. Man it really pissed me off. I pulled out my MID Card and showed him, and he still didn't believe me so I said F it!

 

[notsurewheretoturn]

I would echo the therapy suggestion. With PTSD you have to recognise some (impossible to recognise all) of your triggers so that you can either avoid or overcome them in the future.

PTSD is never the same for two people as all of the experiences are different and so are the reactions. It could be that you have suppressed memories that are beginning to come to the surface and again a therapist would be the best one to speak to about this.

I'm not sure what its like in the USA, but in the UK, there are several organisations who arrange fast referrals (usually within 24hours) for PTSD sufferers who have been or are in the military to therapists.

Not sure if this has been any help.

 

[IrisL]

That's just so bad - that bad impersonal non-empathic shit who you had meet. Experience..., he is just fatal stupid with zero empathy - selfish f"'er...
Okay so about the opinion usually how I recognised personally I get triggered when you forced into situation when you wouldn't be,.. Especially I can't handle questioning which I don't want to answer... My observation is because you lived threw horror which wasn't meet with your values. You did or you lived threw things what you didn't deserve. And is a kind of attack by your ownself... Sounds weird you had a bad experience and now your brain is playing it out... The guy put you in a trap by he didn't respect of your non answering and if he had any brain cell he would apologise... But probably he is another zero brain self narcistic abuser, who is so up on his/her ass is incredible ... A type of abuser.
Wish to have the courage on those situation to walk off like you did - I'm just panic and freeze ... And after non logical exploiding to the other person if I'm close to, if unknown I'm just feel myself tiny and give myself under the abuse...
Every each time different things will trigger you and will have main triggers- and sometimes you not even recognise you are triggered you wil just emotionally react.
I think if you have memory on the events and if you really wish to track it down you know where was that exact noise from... If you not yet get back the memory ... Than when you will remember back will make sense that emotional impact what you had with that zero brain cell idiot.
Hope it's helps somewhat.

 

[Deleted member 27524]

Omg I am so sorry you had to go through that. I refuse to talk about anything deployment related to my marine unless he needs to talk. I don't even want him thinking about what he's seen and done. That was way out of line in my opinion for him to ask you such things. I don't even know you and it really pisses me off.

Since meeting my marine I have learned a lot about PTSD and just the struggles that combat vets face when they do return to American soil. I'm just beyond grateful for my freedom. I'm naturally just a really friendly chatty person so I was out in public and I met an elderly man looking for a pie crust around Thanksgiving who asked me for help and he began telling me he served in Vietnam ( he was in a uniform and was a guest speaker at the local school that day) and I smiled really big and said "yeah? My boyfriend is a marine." He began just talking to me and we both got teary eyed and I wanted to hug him but remembering that certain things aren't so easy for veterans I just thanked him and shook his hand. He seemed very blown away at my gratitude yet my distance as well.

Some people have absolutely no respect. I apologize for the dumbass!

 

[WillyKat]

Wow! When you get to my age (55) you think you've heard of everything. Then the massacre in Charleston and crap like what you just went through. Many people are morons; I don't know any other way to put it. Folks here are not.

Yes, the sound you heard was a flashback, of the auditory type. I'm sorry you're dealing with that, but glad you came here and opened up about it. That...is a very healthy sign.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

I am so grateful for your service in the Marines. Thank you so much. My daughter has a boyfriend who did two different deployments and i would never dare to ask him such questions. He talks about his time there and I listen and empathize but keep the boundries with him intact so as not to offend. He get flack from some people who think he has not lived a hard life.

I am so disgusted with the asshole who confronted you with his bullshit. I am so glad I do not have to have anything to do with him at all and you are experiencing flashbacks and should have been respected when you told him no you did not want to talk to talk to him. He is such an asshole and I am so sorry for his insanity poured all over you and how it affected you.

Best to deal with this in therapy and many to explore options on how better to take care of yourself in such a horrible situation. I am sure you are a very fine person and I respect you deeply.

 

[hodge]

I am also so sorry you had this experience, Rocky. It really was unbelievably horrible of this guy. Just chalk it up to an ignorant American.. There are many of them, but not many who would do something like this, thank God. Please do deal with this in therapy.

 

[hodge]

Oh, hopefully this will not occur again. But if it does, you now have a sort of baseline experience, so you can do a relaxation exercise, even as simple as just staying aware of your breathing and keep it slow and steady. It's easy to imagine that this jerk's questioning triggered a flashback for you. Flashbacks can be sounds as well as sight and other experiences. I've often had sound flashbacks, even though mine are very different from yours. You're not alone.