You Have The Power To Change The Conversation On PTSD

Veterans consider the next commander-in-chief on PRI by Steven Snyder posted yesterday, this report on how our veterans are looking at the results of the election differently.

Brian McGough is a combat-wounded veteran who served in the initial invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

McGough, who has fought for the right of women to serve in combat, worries that President-elect Trump's views might result in limiting opportunities for women in the military.

"It's important to remember that there are a lot of veterans out there who are now feeling like they don't belong in this country," McGough adds. "There are veterans of color, veterans of different religious preferences, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender veterans who now feel threatened in their own country. And for me that's very concerning."

Another vet, who wrote to us from Ellwood City, Penn., expresses bitterness.

"I'm a veteran with mental health issues, and we just elected a man that thinks I need to just toughen up. ... I wish I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I'm neither proud of my country nor my service today. I just want to wake up from this nightmare."

But Dean Castaldo, an eight-year military veteran, points out that the men and women in the armed services — more than a million — represent a cross-section of America.

And regardless of their differences, Castaldo says, they all work together as a team.

Residual War, Something Worth Living For is about a female soldier, proven hero, suffering for what she thinks she caused by saving the wrong person. Suicides, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, military women, Warrior Transition Units mistreatment of our soldiers and the rest of the things that they really go through are within this work of fiction. 

Some hear about a female soldier with PTSD and assume it is just because of sexual assault, failing to notice females are just as human as the male soldiers and are exposed to the same dangers of combat. Some hear about soldiers committing suicide, assume they "just couldn't take it" without ever considering the simple fact they managed to "take it" when other lives were in danger, but did not receive the help they needed to heal afterwards.

Some hear about folks running around the country, screaming about how they are raising awareness, but the reality is there are less serving now than when the Army started to "address PTSD" yet it translated into more suicides among less to count.

Whatever you have heard up to this day after Veterans Day, you will now have the power to change the conversation.

Keep in mind that Combat PTSD Wounded Times has over 27,000 posts on it, so there is a lot of "news" put into this book. Your challenge is to discover what is true about the lives of these fictional characters.