Greeting Warriors! I am a Vietnam veteran who has seen the white elephant so to speak. My PTSD may not be as severe as some, but still keeps me up at night. The reason for this page is to let all of you know that there is hope in taking off some the sharp edges of PTSD.
I was laid off from a crane manufacturing company here in PA in 1984 and started going down hill fast. I was having night sweats, afraid to sleep, afraid to go out in public, didn’t dance, didn’t go to bars, didn’t socialize and my wife was getting a little perturbed about it. We had our first child in June of 1979 and in 1986 I almost threw him through a window because out of the blue, he ran and jumped on my back and startled me. I am not proud of that and am glad that things turned out the way they did but it did wake me up to the fact that I needed help. I called all the veteran organizations in the area and the only question they asked me was, “Are you a front line combat soldier?” When I asked them to show me on the map exactly where the front line was, they said there wasn’t anything they could do to help.
A friend of mine had talked with me and convinced me to go to the VA, which I did. I had an appointment with a doctor, no counselor or anyone that handled PTSD, and when I was called into his office he said that he was going to ask me three questions, which I answered. I could not believe what he said after I answered them. Yelling at the top of his lungs he said, “Get the hell out of my office! Stop wasting my time! There is NOTHING wrong with you! My time should be spent helping those veterans who really need it.”
After that I gave up with the VA until 2015 when a coworker suggested I give the VA another try. I made an appointment with a mental health specialist and my son (who is now 40) went with me. The counselor asked me to describe what I had been through, how I was treated and why I had an attitude towards the VA. After I told her my story she looked at my son and said, “So, how was your family life growing up?” My son said that it was like living on a powder keg of explosives, not really sure what would set it off.
I am now VA rated 50% with PTSD and yes I still have my moments when it comes to the surface, but alot of my demeanor now has been how I had to handle it when no one wanted to help me and I had to deal with it on my own. I vowed that I was not going to become a statistic. I learned alot and am thankful for those experiences.
You can do the same thing as I did. “Learn from it!” “Dare to be REMARKABLE!” Know that you are special!
If you would like to know more or would like to talk, send me an email to cricket.harmony@gmail.com
Talk to you soon!