Super heroes get PTSD too

After all these years some people still think that cowards and criminals are the only veterans claiming PTSD. That if they have PTSD, they are dangerous. What can we expect when the only time they make the news is when they are arrested or killed in a police standoff? While we read other reports here, the general public has no clue what it is really like for any of them.

Here's a story you should pass onto anyone you think needs an attitude adjustment. Read about Sgt. Rieman and what he did to earn his Silver Star. If this isn't courage, nothing is.

Silver Star Recipient Talks About His PTSD at Free Symposium

Posted Fri, Jan 13, 2012

By Bobbie O'Brien
SARASOTA
Sgt. Tommy Rieman was awarded a Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and courage under fire while serving in Iraq. But, he will do something that takes as much courage this Saturday in Sarasota. He will discuss living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The free symposium will start with a documentary that features the soldier and others struggling with PTSD and examines the military culture that stigmatizes mental health.

Rieman survived 11 wounds while guiding his team through multiple attacks in Iraq December 2003 and President Bush recognized his bravery.

“Tommy Rieman was a teenager pumping gas in Independence, Kentucky when he enlisted in the U.S. Army,” Pres. Bush said. “He was on a recognizance mission in Iraq when his team came under heavy enemy fire. For his exceptional courage, Sgt. Rieman was award the Silver Star. He has earned the respect and gratitude of our entire country.”

And Rieman is proud of his country and the Army. So much so, he agreed to be a part of the Army's video program called Real Heroes. But while on his second tour in Iraq, his situation changed and he considered suicide.

“I was just fed up. So, I loaded a rifle and played with the idea of taking my life for several hours at night,” Rieman said during a telephone interview earlier this week. “And it wasn’t until that exact point that I realized, hey, I’ve got two children, I’m in a great relationship, I don’t want to live my life this way. I am not going to be held hostage to this.”

So, he got some immediate help from a combat stress team while he was still in Iraq. Yet, Rieman acknowledges it’s tough admitting you have problems.

“A lot of people will believe, especially within the service, hey you just need to get over it. You’re just sad or upset because this happened and you just need to suck it up,” Rieman said.

He saw the need to educate his own service members as well as the general public on the invisible wounds of war. So, the Silver Star recipient agreed to let everyone see behind his soldier’s veneer. He agreed to do a documentary about PTSD with filmmaker Paul Freedman.

Rieman said as a leader, he owed it to the 30 men he commands in the National Guard as well as to the men and women who served in Iraq.

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