thoughts on ptsd

[BPTactical]

Disclaimer- Never been there-Never done that. You who have been there have. You have my utmost respect.

I lived with a Vietnam vet who had it pretty badly and my father who is a WWII vet battled with his demons.
I think it is the brains way of coping when it is overloaded with terrible events. It shuts down to a degree and disconnects during highly stressful situations such as combat and such.
Certain "triggers" can cause the brain to recall aspects that it had shut out.
The guy I lived with for a while could not stand loud noises, they would send him into a rage. You did not want to startle him either. His coping mechanism was alcohol. He was a functioning alcoholic. He never did get help, at that time the Vietnam vets were demonized by society. He died a tormented man.

I never realized my dad had issues with it until just a few years ago when my mom told me. He would have difficulty sleeping and would be withdrawn at times. My mom said nothing ever triggered him but he would just go quite. I know he saw some heavy combat in northern Italy, he was awarded the Bronze Star for pulling some wounded guys out during an artillery/mortar barrage. He and his driver made 3 trips under fire, after the second trip they had to get another jeep and his driver was full of shrapnel on his left side but they went back in. 12 men lived to survive the war because of them. All my dad ever said is "We went into a sticky spot and pulled out some boys that were hurt pretty badly".
In 86 he went with the 10th Mountain Division Association back to northern Italy where they had been during the war. My mom said he teared up a couple of times but bawled like a baby when they got near the hill where his best buddy from boot camp got hit and died. Mom said once he got over that hurdle is was if a huge weight had been lifted from him. She said "I think he was able to let some ghosts go finally". He has been a changed man ever since, sleeps well and will finally talk about his experiences over there. He never would before.

I fail to see how you can ever really "Heal" from something like that. Memories never really go away. I think it is more of being able to put things in place, realize you can't change what happened, realize you had very little control of what happened, understand it is something that is a part of you forever and make peace with it.

God Bless you guys that have to deal with it. You have seen and done things most have no comprehension of. Don't let it control your life, it was a part of your life that is behind you now.

Yesterday is our history
Today is our responsibility
Tomorrow is our challenge

God Bless you guys