Portrait of a PTSD survivor

Lt. Col. Greg Harbin is a survivor after 8 deployments. Yes, you read that right. He's a survivor. That is the word that really should be used when talking about them after the multiple traumas they are exposed to. They are not victims of them but they are victims of what we fail to do in response.

While across the nation regular civilians and emergency responders we count on everyday have crisis teams respond to the events that make the news, the troops are exposed over and over and over again but it was assumed they were "trained" to handle all of them. The military was the last to figure out that no matter how well they are trained, how tough they are, how courageous they are, there is no way possible to prevent them from being human.

When they come home they need people able to talk to them along the lines of the training they received to do their jobs in the first place. They cannot be treated the same way a survivor of a tornado is treated. Talking to them like regular civilians does not work because they have been trained/conditioned to respond to a different way of life.

I redeploy them and send them on a mission to heal. I give them the weapons to use against this enemy. Instead of physically drilling them to push their bodies to the limits, I take them the other way and get their drilling to push their bodies to calm down. We cannot dismiss the fact that they have been trained unlike anyone else any more than we can dismiss the fact that while they may have one traumatic experience eating away at them, there are more likely than not, many events behind the obvious one.

If you treat them you better know them and consider all the aspects of them. What were they like before they entered into the military is just as important as what they became sitting in your office. Most were compassionate, the first one to rush to help someone in need. This is why they ended up with PTSD from combat experiences. We know PTSD is a wound to the emotions and the emotional part of the brain is where the soul lives. If you ignore the spiritual healing while medicating them, you end up with a medicated veteran existing instead of living again. You turn them into victims instead of survivors.

You have to acknowledge what makes them so different in the first place that they were willing to risk their lives for the sake of others and build on your therapy from there.

Air Force officials remain vigilant in PTSD treatment
Air Force News — By Air Force News Agency

WASHINGTON: With a commitment to taking care of Airmen and their families, Air Force officials said they will maintain a focus on the prevention, mitigation and treatment of deployment-related post-traumatic stress disorder.

Air Force officials use a three-pronged approach to promote psychological health and resiliency in its Airmen, said Col. James Favret, the Air Force Medical Support Agency director of psychological health.

"Through psychological training, screening and intervention, we will continue to reinforce our commitment to our Airmen's total psychological health, collectively and individually," Colonel Favret said.

Portrait of a PTSD survivor
Several months after he returned from a deployment, Lt. Col. Greg Harbin said he couldn't wait to get back downrange, even as his headaches set in. Despite six deployments to Iraq and two to Afghanistan between 2003 and 2008, the pangs of guilt became stronger than any physical pain, he said.

"I wanted to be back next to my fellow warfighters," said the Air Force District of Washington air, space and information operations director of operations. "I wanted to get back to the war."

In 2004, Colonel Harbin sustained injuries from an improvised explosive device, and a little more than a year later suffered still more injuries from a rocket-propelled grenade. By May 2007, he was back in harm's way on a dismounted patrol with NATO. As he tried to rescue an Afghan child from crossfire, the colonel suffered a gunshot wound to the back.

"Each time you get hit, you feel like a boxer ... just punch drunk," Colonel Harbin said. "In neither incident did I think I was hurt that badly."

By the time Colonel Harbin arrived for moderate post-traumatic stress disorder treatment at Fort Jackson, S.C., he said he continued to downplay his ever-intensifying symptoms so that he could resume deploying.

But with a traumatic brain injury, left ear hearing loss and total loss of his left eye, Colonel Harbin could no longer deny the vice grip PTSD had on his life as a result of the injuries. Once a four-ship flight lead at the 14th Flying Training Wing at Columbus, Miss., Colonel Harbin also trained students and flew air shows on various weekends between deployments.

"I was living the dream and on top of the world," the colonel said. "I had confidence and skill then all of a sudden I couldn't do those things anymore."

The downward spiral led to the deterioration of his finances, personal and social life, as he began to recede from friends and eventually parted ways with his girlfriend.

Though he described himself as "still in recovery," Colonel Harbin credited a combination of solid medical care, operational support and the Air Force Warrior and Survivor Care Program for sparking the physical and psychological recovery process.

Undeterred by a stutter and occasional lapses in his thoughts, Colonel Harbin is a frequent speaker for the Wounded Warrior Project, an advocacy and outreach program for severely injured servicemembers. He also works with the Department of Defense and Veteran's Affairs as a voice for thousands of servicemembers who return home in need of psychological and physical rehabilitation.

Colonel Harbin said in addition to relying on co-workers, supervisors, friends and family for support, wounded warriors themselves have a vital role in seeking help.

read more here

http://www.defencetalk.com/air-force-vigilant-ptsd-treatment-24433/