“I would like to add a little to shawn’s post below. Veterans we have a responsibility to those we live with spouses, kids, parents or anyone else to get help when our lives are spiraling out of control. I can understand some of the frustration that folks have towards the V.A or the military or government in general about the way they ignore those of us suffering but in the end it all comes down to you and I getting the help we need. I see so many spouses angry because they call and nobody will do anything but in reality if a spouse is the one calling for help the anger is misdirected because the Veteran is the one that should be trying to get help. It is not impossible for a Veteran to get help as a matter of fact it’s way easier for the Veteran to get the help than it is for a spouse to get it for them. What I’m saying is step up and do what’s right. There are no good valid reasons for sitting back and not doing anything as a Veteran. If you kno…
w and you do know when there is an obvious problem you need to get up and seek the help. It’s there in every state in the U.S and you can say the help isn’t that good but any help is better than none. I have fought the V.A and I have gotten my help and I continue to this day to go to counseling and there is no reason to not do it. Spouses you need to be angry with your Veteran if he/she is making 0% effort at their own mental health not the government. They can only help those that seek the help and are active in their own treatment. So if your Veteran is sitting on the sofa and smacking you around but never takes the time to make a call or get an appointment then guess what it’s your Veterans fault not the system. I’m sorry if my blunt opinion on this has offended anyone but I have never held back and I know what I’m saying is true because I have lived it as an Iraq Veteran 100% service connected PTSD………Jason H.”
“I would like to add a little to shawn’s post below. Veterans we have a responsibility to those we live with spouses, kids, parents or anyone else to get help when our lives are spiraling out of control. I can understand some of the frustration that folks have towards the V.A or the military or government in general about the way they ignore those of us suffering but in the end it all comes down to you and I getting the help we need. I see so many spouses angry because they call and nobody will do anything but in reality if a spouse is the one calling for help the anger is misdirected because the Veteran is the one that should be trying to get help. It is not impossible for a Veteran to get help as a matter of fact it’s way easier for the Veteran to get the help than it is for a spouse to get it for them. What I’m saying is step up and do what’s right. There are no good valid reasons for sitting back and not doing anything as a Veteran. If you kno…
w and you do know when there is an obvious problem you need to get up and seek the help. It’s there in every state in the U.S and you can say the help isn’t that good but any help is better than none. I have fought the V.A and I have gotten my help and I continue to this day to go to counseling and there is no reason to not do it. Spouses you need to be angry with your Veteran if he/she is making 0% effort at their own mental health not the government. They can only help those that seek the help and are active in their own treatment. So if your Veteran is sitting on the sofa and smacking you around but never takes the time to make a call or get an appointment then guess what it’s your Veterans fault not the system. I’m sorry if my blunt opinion on this has offended anyone but I have never held back and I know what I’m saying is true because I have lived it as an Iraq Veteran 100% service connected PTSD………Jason H.”
“So if your Veteran is sitting on the sofa and smacking you around but never takes the time to make a call or get an appointment then guess what it’s your Veterans fault not the system.“
I am compelled this morning to be as “Blunt” as Jason H. in the above quote from https://www.facebook.com/MilitarywithPTSD?ref=stream. My mother worked tirelessly for many decades and became severly affected by secondary PTSD while trying to help my father with his post WWII complex PTSD. His anger persisted for many years until HE decided to do something about it. But by this time our family was so dysfunctional, self defeated, and destroyed as a cohesive and loving unit, we just gave up. Even when Dad stopped drinking he was mean. It wasn’t until following the Viet Nam War that he finally started getting help with appropriate treatment from the VA, including medications. Dad started to calm down and ended up later in life a relatively normal person and a loving father. My mother’s life was the happiest in their later years as well. But the baggage remained with we siblings for many years until recently when my book, Reconciliation: A Son’s Story, was published in November 2011. It is never too late, but families are destroyed in the process unless the person affected by moral injury from combat and war decides to reach out for help and gets committed and totally focused. This is deeply personal to me because living with PTSD for so many years was so painful and ugly for my family, especially when there is denial and blame… Take the advice of Jason H. now and do not hesitate. Do it now!
Steve Sparks
Author
Author
Reconciliation: A Son’s Story
