ptsd Ptsd

[kkp]

Ptsd and the way we were

My first question is, how were we. Where I come from in the late 1950’s to the early sixties life was calm, serene, and peaceful..

I ‘ve heard it said threes three things we all have to do. Be born, pay taxes and die. Well in my generation there were four things you had to do. That fourth thing was serve your country. You could either join or wait to be drafted. There was no lottery. If you didn’t join, unless you were rich the odds were that you were going to be drafted.

Upon joining the Army, I excelled in basic training, a. i. t… At that time we had our jump school at Fort Campbell, which I graduated from. I took courses in the army at night and got my high school diploma. I went to Recondo School, which was a must before going to ranger school. As things were happening in other parts of the world that I became involved in, I never went to ranger school . At this time I was embarrassed to shave in front of the other men because all I had was peach fuss, but I dare not go to morning formation unshaven as we had a platoon sergeant that could spot fuss a mile away.

That was my pre PTSD life. I will soon be sixty four years old, so the other forty six years have been a challenge, to say the least I managed to find an understanding wife and we raised four wonderful children who are all successful adults. I know she must have thought I had completely lost my mind at times, and perhaps I did temporarily. How many times has she come out in the yard in the middle of the night, and relieve me from guard duty and take me back to bed? Or when we lived on a farm, I would use the hay loft for an observation post. Or come to the edge of a field where I had set up a perimeter, and take me back to bed. Usually the next morning we would laugh about it, but we both knew it wasn’t natural. I could go on and on but most of you know.

I look at my Grand son today; he will soon be eighteen years old, a good boy, a good athlete, and a good student. When I was his age plus six months, I had blood on my hands and after a few years of college He may be working at some RO Making decisions that right or wrong on DISABLED VETERANS disability eligibility, when the worst combat he has seen was on a football field. How could these young men and women possibly know? Don’t Get me wrong, I know many who work at these ro’s may have gone through things much worst than I have, and are reminded of their own experiences daily.

I was reading on another site a few days ago of a retired Dro who taught a class to future raters. I’ll paraphrase, He said at the beginning of every new class he carried a file in and asked the class if they knew what it was. Most assumed it was a Veterans file. But after a while someone would get it right. (It was a Veteran or his families life He held in his hand).

So I guess the way we were (We were very young adults, with only a few guilt free years) Verses a life time of guilt.

Thanks for your time. I know that most of you could have written this by only changing a few things here and there, and like me there really isn’t anyone one you can talk to about it.

kkp

[old romad]

Well said kkp.

[Pete53]

KKP:

I think that if your grand son works at a RO he will be a good one.Like you I have a wife that looks after me. Many is the night she will come and coax me to go to bed. She still does not understand that if I am not tired enough I can't sleep. But its nice to know that someone cares about us.

We are getting ready to make a 90 mile trip and I have not slept more than 2 hours. I will have to get someone to drive cause I may be a danger on the road.

I have trained my dogs to bark at anyone who steps foot on the property. It was really pretty easy as I would woof at any noise I heard and now my dogs do the same.

When I was drafted I was going places. Made good grades in College married a College Grad and even worked for Mobil for 7 years. The fact is 7 years was about as far as I could work before the panic attacks set in and I could not go to appointments. Try explaining that to someone who does not have them.

I am 63 retired pretty reclusive but I now have a relatively good life. I am grateful that the VA finally made good on promises that were made when I was drafted. I would have had to save at least 700,000 for the income I get from the VA.

[Objee]

Thanks for your eloquence, kkp! Yep, that's about it. It's great to know you're not alone. An army of one? Hardly!

Ptsd and the way we were

My first question is, how were we. Where I come from in the late 1950’s to the early sixties life was calm, serene, and peaceful..

I ‘ve heard it said threes three things we all have to do. Be born, pay taxes and die. Well in my generation there were four things you had to do. That fourth thing was serve your country. You could either join or wait to be drafted. There was no lottery. If you didn’t join, unless you were rich the odds were that you were going to be drafted.

Upon joining the Army, I excelled in basic training, a. i. t… At that time we had our jump school at Fort Campbell, which I graduated from. I took courses in the army at night and got my high school diploma. I went to Recondo School, which was a must before going to ranger school. As things were happening in other parts of the world that I became involved in, I never went to ranger school . At this time I was embarrassed to shave in front of the other men because all I had was peach fuss, but I dare not go to morning formation unshaven as we had a platoon sergeant that could spot fuss a mile away.

That was my pre PTSD life. I will soon be sixty four years old, so the other forty six years have been a challenge, to say the least I managed to find an understanding wife and we raised four wonderful children who are all successful adults. I know she must have thought I had completely lost my mind at times, and perhaps I did temporarily. How many times has she come out in the yard in the middle of the night, and relieve me from guard duty and take me back to bed? Or when we lived on a farm, I would use the hay loft for an observation post. Or come to the edge of a field where I had set up a perimeter, and take me back to bed. Usually the next morning we would laugh about it, but we both knew it wasn’t natural. I could go on and on but most of you know.

I look at my Grand son today; he will soon be eighteen years old, a good boy, a good athlete, and a good student. When I was his age plus six months, I had blood on my hands and after a few years of college He may be working at some RO Making decisions that right or wrong on DISABLED VETERANS disability eligibility, when the worst combat he has seen was on a football field. How could these young men and women possibly know? Don’t Get me wrong, I know many who work at these ro’s may have gone through things much worst than I have, and are reminded of their own experiences daily.

I was reading on another site a few days ago of a retired Dro who taught a class to future raters. I’ll paraphrase, He said at the beginning of every new class he carried a file in and asked the class if they knew what it was. Most assumed it was a Veterans file. But after a while someone would get it right. (It was a Veteran or his families life He held in his hand).

So I guess the way we were (We were very young adults, with only a few guilt free years) Verses a life time of guilt.

Thanks for your time. I know that most of you could have written this by only changing a few things here and there, and like me there really isn’t anyone one you can talk to about it.

kkp

[Tbird]

very well said.