PTSD Afghanistan Veteran Fights Demons With Help

Mark Patinkin: A soldier finally faces his demons
Providence Journal
By Mark Patinkin
Journal Columnist
Published: November 09, 2014

Courtesy of Tim Laprade
Tim Laprade's unit, 2nd Platoon, B Company, 27th Engineer Battalion, nearing the end of deployment in March 2007

Tim Laprade lay in bed in his Providence apartment unable to sleep. He had taken a Benadryl to help but it wasn’t working and he knew why. Laprade had served two tours in Afghanistan and like many soldiers, felt lost when he got home — now he’d agreed to be interviewed about it the next day and he could not sleep.

His apartment is in Elmhurst. Laprade, 30, shares it with his girlfriend. He recently moved there to be walking distance from the Providence VA Medical Center. Most days, he goes in for counseling and group sessions.

If it weren’t for the VA, Laprade was sure he’d still be homeless and using. Or perhaps gone. It was crazy that he turned down VA help for so long, but that’s what soldiers do — they feel they should handle it on their own. He’d learned that doesn’t work.

It’s why he agreed to be interviewed. Perhaps, Laprade felt, if he told what he’d been through, others would recognize themselves.

Now, as he lay there awake, knowing he’d be asked about it, his mind went to one of the worst moments.

He was in the back of an armored vehicle returning to base after an all-day route-clearing mission.

That’s what he did for a year during his second Afghanistan deployment — drove down roads to find and detonate IEDs. Laprade was full-time Army and proud to do the job — all his battle buddies were. But every day, often every moment, he expected something to happen.
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