Prayers be with you and your family regarding your husband Claudia. Love you lots. <3
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Prayers be with you and your family regarding your husband Claudia. Love you lots. <3
I've read and re-read this story a dozen times now and I am always at a loss with regard to "what do you say." It's a sad state of affairs because we send young men abroad and the people who return don't appear to be the same people we said goodbye to. Lost, so to speak. Thank you so much for sharing this story (you generally don't share a great deal of your personal life, so I appreciate that).
Your uncle was very lucky to have yourself and a great support system. It seems as though alcohol is a recurring theme in these stories. Having done my internship in a long-term residential treatment center, and having worked with many veterans not unlike your uncle, I can tell you that having support from family (someone to listen, someone they can trust) is often the key determiner of whether someone is able to recover a significant portion of "who they were" before they went into combat.
Love ya lots CP - prayers for you and ALL the veterans around the world whom have served and sacrificed.
I'm right there with you MKR - sometimes it's hard to find the words.
Prayers be with you and your family - thank you to your brother whom offered up the ultimate sacrifice. Truly, a hero.
The discount/freebies/upgrades pale in comparison to the sacrifices that men and women like your brother paid.
SPC Joshua Lee Omvig, will remain a hero with wings and may he rest easy.
PTSD takes over families of returning troops, there is no cure, there is no medicine, only help and support!
PH and CIB (OIF 9-20-2006)
PTSD Veteran
Infantry Staff Sergeant (Med Ret)
PTSD takes over families of returning troops, there is no cure, there is no medicine, only help and support!
PH and CIB (OIF 9-20-2006)
PTSD Veteran
Infantry Staff Sergeant (Med Ret)
A good retrieval of information.
It can be hard to live life on life's terms, especially for an 18 year old.
I started in El Salvador and continued to the current. I leave again in two weeks as a civilian. I have done the counseling, I stay on my meds, and have gotten sober. One of the things that I learned was that nothing was in my hands, and therefore not my responsibility alone. This will be my second trip since my changes and the first seemed easier to deal with. I care about the 18 year olds, I think my Higher Power would want that and so I do that in His service.
Things may be winding down, but the threat sees complacency. Numbers may be smaller, but so are troop levels. The press doesn't see it as profitable, so the encouragement and support are less felt.
Job hiring managers can't legally ask some rather pertinent questions, but they are another avenue of support. Its very good to have hallway conversations or out on the job site. Be supportive in this issue and be open to help the damaged. I wish there were enough VA counselors to keep an eye on these returning young servicemen and women. A quarterly visit and investigation of difficulties would help. But, in the mean time, the family and community need to pull together.
Thanks Kent, I think we spoke just a bit earlier via e-mail. I was the one that needed the pre-steeped juice.
Jere
It can be hard to live life on life's terms, especially for an 18 year old.
I started in El Salvador and continued to the current. I leave again in two weeks as a civilian. I have done the counseling, I stay on my meds, and have gotten sober. One of the things that I learned was that nothing was in my hands, and therefore not my responsibility alone. This will be my second trip since my changes and the first seemed easier to deal with. I care about the 18 year olds, I think my Higher Power would want that and so I do that in His service.
Things may be winding down, but the threat sees complacency. Numbers may be smaller, but so are troop levels. The press doesn't see it as profitable, so the encouragement and support are less felt.
Job hiring managers can't legally ask some rather pertinent questions, but they are another avenue of support. Its very good to have hallway conversations or out on the job site. Be supportive in this issue and be open to help the damaged. I wish there were enough VA counselors to keep an eye on these returning young servicemen and women. A quarterly visit and investigation of difficulties would help. But, in the mean time, the family and community need to pull together.
Thanks Kent, I think we spoke just a bit earlier via e-mail. I was the one that needed the pre-steeped juice.
Jere
Clark, obviously, I'm not your best friend...hmm
I see how well respected you are. In our brief messages back and forth, I knew there was something special about you. I could feel your integrity through the bandwidth. A good guy.
If we were closer, logistically, I'd be begging for help cleaning my attic.
Peace and Love, Peace and Love
your pal,
John
Thank you for the kind words John - for what it's worth... I'd love to come clean your attic.
I hope you're talking about between your ears not the real attic though, I'd have to task the crew for that kind of thing - I'm not as young as I once was.
Thank you for your service and sacrifice CSN - and you're absolutely right, the worst part is being "too late" and not seeing the signs. Also - thank you for sharing the hotline, I had the suicide prevention hotline in my phone and didn't even thing to share it... well played!
Thank you for your service Timbuck, and my sincerest condolences for your best friend. Two years later, he is not forgotten - he lives on in your heart and mind.
My condolences for your service connected friends - thank you for sharing their stories. Just in this thread, it's scary to see how many lives have been touched by PTSD.
The statistics you have cited are staggering, but (unfortunately) not wholly surprising. I salute the men and women who work at the VA and endeavor to save as many as is humanly possible...
It's a real shame. March 2014 is the first month in more than a decade with no combat casualties. Of course, many of those 1,892 suicides are due to combat.
It's a big problem for the Army, we go through a lot of training, but it's really hard to compensate someone or change someone's view on life when they've lost their will to live. I think that it's not only PTSD, but when you go through so much hardship and are so close to death multiple times, you have accepted death and you're life doesn't mean as much to you. You lose that fear of death, so when something negative happens in your life, it turns into a viable option.
I've been lucky in my units over the past 9 years, only three suicides. We didn't see any of them coming except maybe the one in Iraq. It's real cool that Clark and Katy support the Armed Forces, although I gotta say, even them just shipping to APO boxes and me looking forward to that purple package in the mail greatly improves my quality of life.
Thank you for your service Kevin! I know there are lots of companies not shipping to APO/FPO/DPO addresses due to liability issues, slow delivery times, etc. High risk or not, we're not going to discontinue shipping to APOs, ever.
You have been exceptionally lucky in your units - I do think they are taking the challenge seriously and that those in command have genuine concern for the men and women (and their families) whom may be suffering from PTSD. I can identify with your statements about being "desensitized to death" - it seems both plausible and probable that after having brushed up with death so many times the inevitability of it all becomes somewhat overwhelming. The other part of it is... survivors guilt. Josh lost his battle buddy in Iraq and he felt up until his death that he should have been there for his battle buddy, or even that it should have been him instead.
/salute
Thank you for your service, as well as for your positive thoughts/prayers.
You're absolutely correct that for some of the affected families, symptom management is the best case scenario - time does heal to some degree though. <3
Part of the challenge (based on research) is that the human brain is still developing into the mid-late 20s... so, these young men (18ish) are in the midst of a pivotal time in their lives.
You are absolutely right in the respect that, at least in the case of recovery, "giving it up to your higher power" - works. Thank you kindly for your service, and your timely contribution to this thread!
I recall the convo Jere - good call on the BG and the Gravity - you'll be pleased with what arrives I hope! We'll have some pre-steeped love headed your way asap!
Oh my stars, my own son is currently deployed overseas in the Navy, it took me forever to stop crying long enough to be able to post.
I'm so sorry for the pain and loss that will always be felt within your family. I have nothing but respect for your Hero, and I believe that he is resting at peace now, having done what was asked of him in the name of protecting his country.
I'm so sorry for the pain and loss that will always be felt within your family. I have nothing but respect for your Hero, and I believe that he is resting at peace now, having done what was asked of him in the name of protecting his country.
Thank you to your son, as well as to you and your family for supporting him.
I'm so sorry, Kent. As the widow of a WW II vet, the mother-in-law of disabled gulf war vet and the grandmother of a newly polished Marine who left for his first deployment this morning, I can tell you that you have squeezed my heart and wet my eyes with your story. So very sad.
Thank you kindly to your late husband, your son-in-law, and your grandson! We are deeply indebted to them for their sacrifice, and to you for supporting them. Bless you and your family, we'll be praying hard for his safe return.
I wanted to thank everyone for all the kind words about my little brother. Our entire family is grateful for the outpouring of support over the years.
I also want to thank all of our service members and their families who are currently serving overseas. As an OEF veteran with 3 deployments behind me I know the heartache of being separated from your loved ones.
Finally, I want to thank my cousin Kent for what he’s doing to support our troops. Mailing packages APO/FPO/DPO is often a crapshoot and even if you do get your packages they sometimes look like they were shot out of a canon! Kent doesn’t hesitant to do right for our folks serving in uniform overseas – Thanks Cous!
Thank you for sharing your family's story, Kent and Jomvig. I read it twice. I raised two sons and also have no words. Thanks to all of you who have served or have family that has or is presently serving....for all of us.
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