Chuck, glad you're slugging it out. The burden of PTSD must at times weigh heavily, however, it is your life not PTSD's and nothing's ever going to change that fundamental truth. It's your life.

May your efforts be blessed such that those you help will in turn help others and it will be passed on indefinitely.

You are a good man Chuck, which is all anyone can hope to be. And in the end it is enough. All the rest is noise outside the window. I sleep well at night just knowing that there are people like you in this world. And it is the reason I get up the next morning.

I wonder, if, maybe, the numbers are a lot larger for Vietnam and Korea vets then we think, and what that portends for the future. They have gotten better at spotting it, right? I just see too many broken lives, and like you say YOU waited 40 years to get help. How many are like that? How many never seek help?

=(

I think a LOT more money and funds needs to be invested in this.

Now.

I live with someone who suffers from PTSD, although not from combat; from a freak car accident in which she was driving and her husband died. Took me two long and persistent years to get her to see someone for it. She's better but it's still a struggle. It takes lots of time, talking, and treatment.

I don't know why we think having a reaction to trauma is a weakness. I don't know why we believe that pain can be successfully buried forever or that suffering can just go away on its own—it can't. I'm not saying this as a criticism, I'm acknowledging a mystery.

You're awesome, Chuck. Very brave. I wish you well. Those statistics are horrific, but we all need to deal with them, at the very least by educating ourselves.

Thanks for posting.

Chuck,
Thank you for bringing this issue up for discussion. When my brother-in-law returned from his tour of Afghanistan, his behavior was not what my sister was used to. She immediately provided him with the army help line number and both of them have been going to separate therapists ever since. The sessions have not been easy for him, but the more he sticks with it, it seems that he is finding his way.

Also, my father works for a veteran's half-way house. He is also a Vietnam vet and he sees first hand the drug and alcohol abuse that is rampant among the men who stay there.

This is a reality that citizens must know about so that we can provide the necessary support for those who have given so much.

I also encourage any vet who might be reading this and is struggling to get back into the groove of civilian life to please seek the help you need.

Chuck, isn't there a toll free number for vets to call? If so, it would be nice if you posted it.

Peace!

Chuck,
I acknowledged my appreciation for your work in a blog a couple months ago when I hadn't seen you online for a while.
Thanks, again.

thanks for taking the time to post this, Chuck.

Another piece of the puzzle is that many of us come from broken homes and are troubled to begin with. So many of us have already spent their lives with dysfunction and have a well-crafted architecture of denial.

I lost my father to drug abuse and PTSD. He is still alive but is spending the rest of his life in prison for his crimes. The military was a way out of his broken home and he became an Army Ranger. His experiences in Vietnam made an already fragile condition worse.

The problem is more than stigma or machismo today. It is a career ender. You get placed on limited duty and medically separated because you are no longer fit for combat. For many, avoiding counseling and diagnosis means staying in the armed forces.

Everyone who has deployed deserves counseling. I have returned and feel isolated, misunderstood, and exploited. I am fortunate to have a loving family, but my family is becoming all that I have. Many more have it worse, but it all starts with being treated as people first, veterans second.

OGD, I like you and your moniker. Wouldn't have expected you to insult. I assume your comment is because you think I should have answered you sooner.

First the spitting incident - hitchiking through Missouri with my uniform on. A car load of young college-types slowed down as if to pick me up - instead they had windows down and spit and yelled profanities then sped away. And, no, it did not permanently scar me. I relayed the incident to just make a point - I think Vietnam Veterans were/are treated horrible.

Look up Clinton's record, his selection of Vietnam Veterans for the top 1500 posts under him was too low to be statistically random. That attitude toward the Vietnam Veteran is pervasive throughout or society and is related to the fact that most of the movers and shakers of this country avoided Vietnam.

However, none of that has much affected me since I have always owned my own company and have done well enough to raise 6 kids, 4 with college degrees, with one wife of 35 years.

My opinion of the Republicans, regarding all this, is very low. I am not anti left or anti Democrat. The Republicans, especially, were often from privaleged families and avoided the draft by differments and the Reserves.

My beef is that the Vietnam war was fought by the boys from the south side of the tracks. We used to say that this war would end soon if the Senator's sons were with us.

And, I think the Vietnam War was a bad war - they are all bad. However I do think it was intended to be an altruistic attempt to help the South Vietnamese, who for the most part, did not want to be taken over by the North.

Last, I served in a combat unit and saw 17 incidents of relatively light action. I have a partial service related disability, though I still work full time.

OGD, I don't think it is thin skinned to consider it an insult when someone says "just as I thought...you are all smoke with no fire." Nor is it thin skinned to be insulted when someone tells me to go find a mechanic with a crowbar to pry my head out of my ass.

My only point was that Vietnam Veterans were not treated right when we got home and some of that poor treatment persists. Most individuals treat me fine regarding my Vietnam experiece, though the issue seldom comes up. There have been a few exceptions.

The main point of this thread is that there will be many Iraq/Afghanistan returnees who suffer PTSD and I think that is correct. I know a few of them. They were under a great deal of constant stress - never knowing when the enemy would hit. Another factor is that they are under the constant threat of being sent back. When they get home, it will be very hard to heal because the threat doesn't leave. PTSD is often about fear. The fear has to subside for healing. It takes time. I had at least 10 years of just dreams that I had been sent back. For those dreams to have been reality would have been much worse.