May 14, 2008
RIP Travis N. Twiggs, USMC PTSD Sufferer
Very sad just breaking news in the USMC Staff Sergeant Travis N. Twiggs story we blogged about yesterday. See link for details. It sounds like authorities searching for Twiggs and his brother, wanted in an armed carjacking in the Grand Canyon on Monday, just killed themselves as they were being surrounded by police in Arizona today.
http://www.healingcombattrauma.com/
I know there are people out there who wonder why I care when they are involved in crimes. It's because I always wonder how many of their lives could have been saved as well as their victims if things were different. If they received the help they needed and if all of them were taken care of. I wonder if they would be like my Jack. If they would find that life is worth living again, that there are still joys yet to feel beneath the torment of PTSD. I wonder if Jack would have committed crimes if I had been able to just leave him so long ago instead of fighting for him when he could not find reason to fight for himself to have his claim approved or obtain the help he needed because he went to Vietnam. There are so many things I wonder in all of this and every time I read any story about any of them dealing with PTSD, I see Jack, what our lives were and what they have become.
Twiggs served the country and did what few ever have to do and he didn't come out of it well. By the looks of it, he committed crimes but were they worthy of his death? Would he have been able to do what he seemed to have been able to do as a member of the armed forces if he had been given the help he needed? Would his victim have suffered if he was not left feeling abandoned? Did he feel abandoned? Did he lash out because of this? So many questions we will never know.
I'm grateful there are people out there like Lily who care. It's wonderful to know that if I were not here to care about Jack, Lily would. It's just a shame there are not more people like her in this country who care enough to do what she does.
Staff Sgt Twiggs was seen by me at Quantico for many months and treated for his TBI/PTSD. He was an honor to know and to work with. He served our country with many deployments to Iraq and Afganistan and served his men and led them well. The trauma and death he experienced is a very common story by our military people coming back. Many do not appear to be harmed because they have no "visiable" wounds. However for those of us in the Mental Health field that work with the men and women who serve in the Military every day, know how deep these wounds go. Staff Sgt. Twiggs was given the best medical treatment the USMC has to offer. We stood by him and loved him and were committed to his recovery everyday. What the Public needs to understand that our men and women coming back from this war suffer on many levels and some just can not come back from their experiences. Staff Sgt. Twiggs served his Country up until the moment he died. I knew him very well and he was running from his deep deep pain and I am grief struck that his story ended this way. Please, Please know this is but a very sad moment in a mans life who was a Hero and a Awsome and very loved Marine. Please think of him in this way and not by the end of the Story. Honor him please as I will do the rest of my life. He was a blessing to know and I was very honored to have shared in his life for as long as I could. Please honor all of our military who serve this country. They deserve you respect, your love and your support.
ReplyDeleteDonna Scarborough LCSW
Thank you very much for posting this. It must have been hard to do. It is important that we see all of them had lives, touched others and people cared about them.
ReplyDelete4th tour ended even though he had been diagnosed with PTSD already. This is what he wrote. Even after all he suffered from, the last part is where he offered to help others.,,,,,,,,
ReplyDeletePeople sometimes talk about the sacrifices made by U.S. troops without grasping just
what that means. In the January issue of the Marine Corps Gazette, a Marine infantryman, Staff Sgt. Travis Twiggs, recounts how he slowly came to recognize that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after serving one tour in Afghanistan and two in Iraq:
* * *
That third trip did not go as planned. I lost two Marines less than two months after arriving in theater. I cannot describe what a leader feels like when he does not bring everyone home. . . .
I checked into my new command about 1 1/2 months later. My first day was painful. I couldn't seem to function around others. The sergeant major sent me home and told me to be standing outside his door at 0700 the following morning. The next morning arrived and the sergeant major told me to come into his office and take a seat. He asked me if I knew what PTSD was. He then told me I had it bad and asked me if I knew how he knew this? I replied, "No, I don't," and he responded that it was because he had it too -- that he could see himself in me.
That afternoon I checked myself into the medical clinic. While I was there I met a physician's assistant named Laurie Giertz. She had a list hanging on her wall of 10 symptoms Marines experience upon returning from combat. She asked me to read them and tell her if I had any of them. . . . I told her that I had all of them.
But simple recognition wasn't sufficient, especially after Twiggs was sent back for yet another tour in Iraq.
When I arrived back in the States, it was as though I had never left. All of my symptoms were back, and now I was in the process of destroying my family. That was all taking place because I did not understand what was happening to me. . . .
Well, I ended up back in Bethesda [National Naval Medical Center], and this time I was in a locked ward where I would remain for two weeks. At Bethesda I was not exactly a model patient. I was experiencing psychosis where I would fight my way through the hallways and clear rooms as if I were back in theater. The hospital police would have to be called in to secure me. . . .
Looking back now, as with everything in life, the answers seemed so simple. . . . [L]ife with my family is wonderful again. Don't get me wrong; the PTSD is not completely gone. There can be a helicopter passing or a loud noise or even certain words and it will remind me of the past. It's just that now I know how to deal with it. . . .
If you have any of these symptoms and you can't get help, you can always contact me, regardless of your rank. . . . My e-mail is travis.twiggs@usmc.mil, and I will help anyone in need.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010404297.html
My name is Christopher Lowman. I am a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marines. I had the pleasure of serving with Travis in 2/6 Golf Company. We became friends very quickly and proceeded to become competing colleges. I spent almst everyday with Travis, Kellee and then a very young Ireland. I can say without a doubt that is he IS one of the finest Marines and men I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. He has a true love for his Marines, his family and the Marine Corps. Everything he did was in the highest sprirt of the Corps. He was one who everyone, including myself, looked up to and aspired to be. I just learned of his tragedy here in Iraq from a mutual friend. I am heart broken for the loss of such a fine warrior, husband, and man. I hope and pray that he is remembered by all in this very manner. Not in the manner inwhich some are portraying him to be. God be with you Travis, I am sorry I wasnt there to help brother.
ReplyDeleteVery Respectfully
Christopher Lowman
GySgt USMC
Warchild
Thank you for the comment about him. Please understand, some of the time no matter what we do, we cannot reach them deeply enough to help them. Sometimes, the wound is just too deep for us to reach. Know that he knew he was cared about and loved and that will go with him forever. The pain is gone but the warm memories live on.
ReplyDeleteTwiggy was my SSGT in 04-05 at JWTC. The man is still my hero to this day. He said, "Never Lie, Steal or Cheat." Words to live by...and I have ever since. He was unorthodox, but very loyal to his subordinates. As good leader he never had his Marines do anything he wouldn't do. In fact, if he didn't agree with his orders he would help his juniors do the job his leaders ordered despite the fact he wasn't ordered to take part. The man was and always will be my hero as far as leadership goes.
ReplyDelete