Who Am I?

[anthony]

Who Am I?

I ask myself this question often... who am I? I am an ex Australian Army veteran, retired from the military in 2004 and have since been fully retired as a TPI. I have two ex-wives, three children to both of those, my oldest is 18 to my first ex, my other two boys are nearly 3 & 5. Just got remarried and not having any more children. Me + children + marriage just do not seem to function well together.

I kicked my first ex out after returning from Timor in Dec 99 to take posting south to a training position... just lost it for 6 months after returning from that trip. The first officially declared war zone since the Korean war. It was an eye opener to say the least. Recovered from that, had an interesting year or so single, then met another and got married. Can't say I was exactly sane doing the second marriage, knowing what I know now about PTSD. So that ended and now married for a third time. The last time.

I live in Melbourne, Australia and quite honestly require a pretty relaxed lifestyle to manage myself daily. I can function pretty good nowadays providing I manage my stressor intake. I got anger under control years ago, thank goodness.

Well... that is me thus far. I have served in various operations from humanitarian to peace keeping to a war zone. All fun, all had their good times and bad... some more than others. Seeing people burnt alive, decapitated, and all those things one should just never see... definitely eventually broke me and led to my now lifestyle with PTSD.

Look forward to chatting with other vets from around the world.

 

[Charon]

Nice to meet you Generic. I hear you on the good times and bad; as awful as Iraq was sometimes I miss it, maybe because I actually felt needed and useful there working in a mortuary. I hope all of us vets can help each other out on here and I'm glad you got your anger under control, that's something I'm really struggling with.

 

[anthony]

Well mate, here to help you.

Anthony (I use a normal user account here)

 

[Zatt1]

It's nice to meet the both of you, even if it is simply text.

I'm a veteran of Operations: Desert Storm and Restore Hope (Somalia). I'm seeking counseling for some of the things that I took part in and after a few months, I'm beginning to make slow, but noticeable progress. It's encouraging after living in denial for so long, withdrawing from my family and suffering a lack of sleep because of reoccurring nightmares. I too have had some major anger issues, anxiety, depression…*You name it.

I hope that all of us benefit from each other.

 

[anthony]

Hey Zatt, welcome along mate. Good for you in taking control of PTSD and helping yourself. Wish more would do this mate... some of my mates have had multiple heart attacks, complete breakdowns and more because they just refuse to accept what is wrong and that they must get out of denial. Instead they just drink and smoke themselves to death at a very young age.

 

[Charon]

Nice to meet you Zatt and it may sound weird but congratulations on taking that first step and seeking help. Sometimes it can feel like an uphill battle but this is something that you can beat and get a handle on. Keep on keeping on and I hope we can help each other.