Understanding what trauma does

Understanding what trauma does
by
Chaplain Kathie

NASA fuels space shuttle Atlantis for final voyage, afternoon flight to space station

MARCIA DUNN

AP Aerospace Writer

7:38 a.m. EDT, May 14, 2010


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA fueled space shuttle Atlantis on Friday for its final journey, a delivery trip to the International Space Station that will provide fresh batteries and extra room.

Atlantis was slated to blast off at 2:20 p.m. Everything was going well in the countdown and the weather was looking favorable. Forecasters were sticking with their 70 percent odds of good weather, but a NASA spokesman said that likely would improve as the morning wore on.

The launch team began pumping more than 500,000 gallons of fuel into Atlantis' massive external tank well before dawn, just as the six astronauts assigned to the mission woke up. The all-male crew downed a hearty breakfast: medium-rare steaks and French fries for three of them, a cheeseburger for another and sandwiches for the remaining two.

The 12-day mission is the last one for Atlantis, the fourth in NASA's line of space shuttles. Only two flights remain after this one, by Discovery and Endeavour. NASA hopes to end the 30-year program by the end of this year.
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NASA fuels space shuttle Atlantis for final voyage

NASA is getting ready to send the Atlantis shuttle up for the last time. Here in Florida each time the shuttle goes up, it's stunning, especially when one takes off at night. We can see it all the way over in the Orlando area even though it takes off from the east coast. There are times when we hold our breath because we remember the day when a shuttle exploded.

Challenger
The Challenger flew nine successful missions before that fateful day of the disaster in 1986.
Sharon Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher to fly in space.
Mission commander Francis R. Scobee; pilot Michael J. Smith; mission specialists Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka, and Judith A. Resnik; and payload specialists Gregory B. Jarvis.

I was still living in Massachusetts when it happened and I can remember what I was doing when the news broke on the radio. I was in MacDonald's ordering lunch at the drive-thru listening to WBZ radio. Even after all these years I am greatly sadden remembering that day when I was simply listening to the radio instead of being personally involved. I didn't have to be there to be touched by it. No one in the country had to be there to feel strong emotions.

Each time they come home, we remember this as we pray it does not happen again.

The Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster happend on Saturday 1st, February, 2003 and was the second Space Shuttle Disaster and the first shuttle lost on landing. There was shock around the world over the tragedy.

The memory comes back when triggered by similar events or anniversary dates.

It is the same way around the country when September rolls around again. We all remember what we were doing that morning when we first heard the news about a plane hitting the tower in New York. I was glued to the radio after my boss came into my office to tell me the news. One of my co-workers rushed home to get a portable TV so that we could find out what happened as soon as the other tower was hit. We were sure there would be more tragedy to follow.

Again, I wasn't living in New York. I was far away from the attack in Massachusetts. I didn't know anyone killed or anyone working in the towers. For the rest of the day and weeks after, just like everyone else, I took a personal interest in every bit of news coming out. A sadness comes over this nation every year remembering what happened that horrible day.

Something as simple as moving from one state to another can be traumatic. We moved from the city I had spent my entire life in to Florida in 2004. Needless to say since I could get lost getting out of a paper bag, it was terrible learning how to get around. My elderly Mom was still back in Massachusetts after she changed her mind about moving with us. The first meal I cooked, I packed up the left overs as always forgetting how far away I was from her. We had a good laugh over what I did but there was a sadness in me when I realized how far away from home I really was. Then came hurricane Charlie, Francis and Jeanne. Each year when hurricane season rolls around, I remember what it was like to live thru a hurricane like Charlie as if it was yesterday and my neighborhood was destroyed.

These are just triggered memories of unpleasant things. The events were shocking but they do not affect my daily life nor do they haunt my days unless something brings back the memory. The trigger sets off seconds or a minute or two of great sadness but then that sadness fades away.

People surviving traumatic events experience the same thing when the remember the death of someone they loved, an accident, a fire or a crime. For some it's triggered memories and not part of their daily lives. For others, the memory never dulls. The events have become a part of them so strongly they cannot move on.

When participating in traumatic events, instead of surviving them, exposing themselves to the events on a repeating basis, it can leave scars upon scars. This is what happens to men and women deployed into combat. It's not just one moment in time they have to be recovered by triggers. It is a series of them. Imagine a full year of tragedy and shock each building on the other events. Then imagine having a break between trauma and normalcy back home followed by re-exposure to more of the same. The traumatic events become more "normal" for them than uneventful days.

We can all understand what trauma does to them when we take a look at what it has done to us in our own lives. It is not so impossible to imagine what it would be like for us to have it never go away. Some need time to heal but others need help to recover from the events. We experience abnormal events all the time but for them, they experience horrors as active participants in them and their emotional wounding cuts deeper, takes a stronger hold, leaves a deeper scar and takes more effort to recover from. When they are changed by combat, we need to realize how much events in our own lives leave their mark and then we can use that same understanding to help them.