Short answer, no, he isn't and I am; yet he's the one who hates them (apparently including the ones we went there to protect in the first place). Go figure.
I was just wondering. If he had served and had PTSD, I would have totally understood his unwillingness or inability to enter a Vietnamese restaurant. Sometimes, even a smell will trigger a bad memory or a flashback. You probably know all about that. I understand.
But now that I understand that it's just bitterness from a historical standpoint.....okay.
Yeah, I know; I've lived with PTSD ever since I came home; I think I remember you said you had family members who served in Vietnam, so you know what that's like. I've learned to deal with it; some days (and nights) are better than others, but I've been lucky; some have it worse than I do.
My father has PTSD from 36 years in law enforcement- the people he's seen killed, the stand-offs. I have PTSD-from 17 years of EMS. Canada has already started awareness of PTSD in first responders. The United States is slowly beginning to realize that we also get it, and it's very real.
Right now with so many war veterans coming home the focus is and should be, on them. The difference between emergency workers and military (except for you. Haven't you been at this for many years?) is that our experience isn't concentrated into 1-2 years of combat. Our experience is spread out over 20 years. We don't see horror every shift, but we see it regularly over years. I've had a rifle pointed at me; though I didn't know it until hours later-as the guy was watching us through the trees. I've seen decapitations, countless suicides (shotguns are always nice :S), people run over by farm equipment, thrown from cars, smeared like a bug from 18-wheelers on top of their vehicles.
Father has seen the same. And when gin asked that question, I thought that's where this discussion was headed. You know as well as I, that all it takes is an odor, a sound, sometimes a single word-a coworker of mine worked a fire where a mother and her two children didn't make it out of the house, and for weeks later, if someone simply said the word "fire" to him, he would break down into tears.
I'm not too proud to say that I reached out for help. Psychiatrist, therapist...the works. I no longer have the same nightmare that I had for 3 years, continuously. I hope that you've had some success in fighting it-because it's a ***** to live with.
