General Carter Ham talking about his own battle with PTSD

In 2008 USA Today featured General Carter Ham talking about his own battle with PTSD.

"You need somebody to assure you that it's not abnormal," Ham says. "It's not abnormal to have difficulty sleeping. It's not abnormal to be jumpy at loud sounds. It's not abnormal to find yourself with mood swings at seemingly trivial matters. More than anything else, just to be able to say that out loud."

The willingness of Ham, one of the military's top officers, to speak candidly with USA TODAY for the first time about post-traumatic stress represents a tectonic shift for a military system in which seeking such help has long been seen as a sign of weakness.

It's also a recognition of the seriousness of combat stress, which can often worsen to become post-traumatic stress disorder."

I was Thankful for General Carter Ham and still am.

General Ham talks PTSD, military service
The Dartmouth
By HANNAH HYE MIN CHUNG
The Dartmouth Staff
February 6, 2014

After returning from military service in Iraq, retired General Carter Ham barely talked to anyone. He thought he was “doing fine,” but when his dog Maggie burst out of his daughter’s house and jumped into his arms, he realized he needed help managing the post-traumatic stress disorder he had suffered from since witnessing a suicide bombing.

Ham also served in various parts of Africa, where he led the U.S. Africa Command, and in Europe. He has engaged in advocacy and policy analysis on issues that affect the military, like health services and the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

In a public discussion on Jan. 30, the beginning of his two-week residency at the Dickey Center for International Understanding, Ham spoke about his interpretation and understandings of African government, security and economics. Johnnie Carson, former assistant secretary of state for African Affairs, also spoke.

Ham then gave a public lecture on Monday, explaining cultural transformations in the military in the post-Vietnam War era, drawing from observations made over his 40 years of service.

As part of a panel discussion on Wednesday, he talked about the significance of PTSD in the military, sharing his own experience with the disease, observations on the evolution of its management by the military and opinions on how it could be improved.

Ham said he originally thought counseling and medical support only applied to junior soldiers. Senior officers, he recalled thinking, should be strong enough to withstand psychological hardship on their own.

After returning to the U.S., Ham began working in a new position at the Pentagon but said he felt as though he was not achieving anything and wanted to rejoin his comrades in Iraq. Upon realizing that he needed to open up about his hardship, Ham said he began talking to an Army chaplain.
read more here