I just receive word that the claim against the audio on When War Comes Home Part Two, has been removed. Glad to hear this. The video is about when the troops come home changed by what they went through. Thank you very much Tody Keith, or the person who decided to complain about the songs. Yesterday's Rain and My List are powerful songs for a video like this.
While there are many that will never know the wound of PTSD, too many will. If we know what PTSD is, then we know what signs to watch for and when they need help to heal. It is never too late to get help. My husband is living proof of that.
He came home in 1971 from Vietnam. The signs of PTSD were there, but they were mild and back then, no one really knew what it was. While I was doing outreach work with other veterans, Jack wouldn't listen. He gave the usual excuses that the VA was for "guys who had their legs blown off" and he thought if he went to he VA, he'd be taking away from them. His attitude was that since he was still able to work, there was no reason to go. He was not thinking about healing. He didn't think he deserved to be helped.
Jack finally decided to go to a veteran's center for help. That was in 1993 and they managed to convince him to go to the VA. All those years of him suffering while PTSD claimed more of him needlessly finally ended in 1999 when he began to heal with the help of the VA therapy and medications. His claim was tied up for six years because of an error on his Bronze Star Award. Once that was cleared up, the VA took great care of him.
We've been married for 24 years now and we found our own kind of normal living with PTSD instead of just coping. Jack, well, he'll never be the way he was before and he has a lot of problems but we've learned to adapt. The key was first understanding what PTSD was. Had I not known why he was acting the way he did, I would not have been able to stay married to him. The other part was my faith in God. That gave me a lot of strength to fight for him as well as forgive him.
What we went through and still go through is the reason I work so hard to provide education on PTSD as well as support. I remember the days when I had no one to talk to, feeling lost studying clinical reports and every shred of articles written on PTSD trying to understand it. There were no short cuts for wives like me back then. There are many now. Support groups and internet sites are providing a wealth of knowledge and most of them come from Vietnam veterans and their wives. No one has to fight this alone now.
Learn what the signs are and avoid making the same mistakes we did. Our experiences are all over the net. Please use the support we offer so that you don't have to go thru half of what we did. While the generations are different, PTSD is no different than it was in ancient times. The thought of older veterans and their families not understanding is just an excuse to not listen to "people old enough to be your parent" that I've heard too many times.
Use my videos and pass them on to anyone you think they will help. That's what they are there for.
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
International Fellowship of Chaplains
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
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