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Saturday, August 8, 2015

PTSD: Afghanistan Veteran Survived Combat and 2 Suicide Attempts

Afghanistan veteran tried to end his own life twice because of PTSD. This didn't happen before the Army started to get pro-active. It didn't happen when they were learning how to treat soldiers. Oh no, all that started with Battlemind and then Comprehensive Soldier Fitness in 2008.

We see the number of enlisted go down and the number of servicemembers from all branches committing suicide go up but they see all that as a reason to push the same failed programs harder.

The result is a deadly life as veterans of war. They don't understand what PTSD is, why they have it, how to heal from it and take control of their lives again. They lose hope and stop finding reasons to live after doing all they could to stay alive in combat. When will the military finally get that very simple fact? Probably never since they don't have to care when the servicemembers become veterans and then they are the obligation of others to atone for.

Young war veteran tells his story at Walk for the Wounded event
Press Of Atlantic City
By CINDY NEVITT, Staff Writer
Posted: Friday, August 7, 2015

OCEAN CITY — Standing in front of a crowd of about 75 people, Army veteran Lucas Wick spoke openly about how post-traumatic stress disorder drove him to make two attempts on his life and how Operation First Response helped save him.

Wick, 24, who was deployed to Afghanistan from May 2012 to February 2013, shared his story during a news conference at the Sixth Street Firehouse for the seventh annual Walk for the Wounded. Ocean City’s Walk for the Wounded has raised more than $400,000 for Operation First Response since 2009 and will add several new attractions, such as raffle ticket sales and a nighttime glow-in-the-dark golf tournament, to its fundraising activities this year, said Ocean City Fire Department Capt. Steve Constantino. The Walk for the Wounded will be held Sept. 26 on the Boardwalk.

Admitting to nervousness at his first public speaking engagement and surprise at the size of the audience, Wick, a Runnemede native, said afterward that he was nonetheless comfortable enough with the setting to open up about how PTSD had put him in “the darkest place” he’d ever been and how he attempted suicide while still enlisted.
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