PTSD: Many struggle, few tell

PTSD: Many struggle, few tell
DVIDS
Holloman Air Force Base Public Affairs Office
Story by Staff Sgt. Carolyn Herrick

HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. - When you meet an Air Force gunner, what's the first thing you want to hear? "War" stories, right? You want to hear what missions he's been on, what he's seen, and where he's been. You might sit in awe as you hear about when he was a first responder after the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. He might even show you a picture of himself, all geared up in an MH-53 Pave Low, with Ground Zero smoldering below him, or of the inside of his helicopter, splattered with the blood of his battle buddy ... who almost didn't make it and now suffers from severe traumatic brain injury.

But what he might not tell you when he tells those stories is how all that affected him. And you'd never bring it up, would you? You'd never stop him in the middle of a terrifying tale and ask, "So, are you doing OK now? How's your family life? Do you ever think about suicide?"

Suicide: a word that brings the conversation to a screeching halt. But the reality is, many military members who have those "cool" stories to tell also struggle with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, never seek help, and either contemplate or commit suicide.

Master Sgt. James Haskell, who is now stationed here, struggled with PTSD for years before he sought help. He was a gunner who responded after 9/11, and he has those photos. He spent most of his 21-year career in Air Force Special Operations Command, with more than 20 contingency deployments. Most of the things he saw or experienced didn't really affect him until nearly 10 years later.

"The symptoms were very insidious," the Haverhill, Mass., native, said. "It's not like one day I was fine and the next I wasn't. I noticed things like my stress level building, but not coming back down. I was unable to relax, I was becoming forgetful, I wasn't sleeping well, and I was short-tempered. I started experiencing stress-related physical symptoms like chest pains, muscle soreness, weight gain, and feeling anxious all the time."
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