PTSD:You hear it before you see it

PTSD:You hear it before you see it
by
Chaplain Kathie

You hear it before you see it. All of us know the sound and what it means.

When you hear the sound of a fire truck's siren, you know someone's life is about to change. It may be a house on fire, a car accident or a medical emergency, but whatever the reason firefighters are rushing to help, there is danger for someone else.

As the sound gets louder, you know whatever the emergency is, it is close to where you are. If the sound gets softer, you know it is further away. The emergency is still the same for someone but it all depends on how close you are to it if you pay attention or not.

Whenever I hear the sound of a fire truck, police car or ambulance, I say a prayer for God to watch over them. There is no question in my mind that the people in those vehicles are putting their lives on the line, heading into danger and risking their lives to help someone.

There is another siren that has been heard loud and clear for millions of families in this country. Untrained ears have no idea what the sound means or the fact it also means someone's life is in danger.

The lives on the line have already risked their lives for someone else but not on our own soil. They were sent to face danger in a foreign country. Obviously the men and women in the military face risks everyday they are deployed. They face risks when they come home as well because of the risks they survived in combat but their uniforms have been traded for civilian clothes, boots traded for sneakers and sandals. The trucks and Humvees traded for motorcycles and cars. Machine guns traded for college text books. The title of their rank replaced with husband, Dad, wife, Mom, but they still carry the burden of their rank on their shoulders.

A neighbourhood or neighborhood (see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town or suburb. Neighbourhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interaction among members. "Researchers have not agreed on an exact definition. Neighbourhood is generally defined spatially as a specific geographic area and functionally as a set of social networks. Neighbourhoods, then, are the spatial units in which face-to-face social interactions occur – the personal settings and situations where residents seek to realise common values, socialise youth, and maintain effective social control."

Yesterday the siren was heard in my neighborhood 18 times.

Yesterday 18 veterans took their own lives because the foreboding wail of their suffering was not understood. Our ears were not trained to know what the sound meant. If we are ever going to be able to save the lives of our veterans, it is time to understand what we hear by first understanding what they feel.