Winston-Salem knife maker creates works of art. Army veteran's hobby led to stint on "Forged in Fire."
Journal Now
Fran Daniel
June 12, 2021
“It’s very therapeutic for him, which is good,” Robin Lopez said. “But his creativity started coming out and it was allowing him to express that…I think it’s positive that we all have that creative outlet.”
After noticing that making knives soothed and brought him peace, Lopez began reaching out to other veterans who are dealing with PTSD and interested in making knives.
In the spring of 2014, U.S. Army veteran Fermin Lopez decided to make his own knife.
At the time, he was dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Lopez, who now lives in Winston-Salem, said he did a tour in the Middle East as a helicopter medic when war broke out in Iraq in the early 2000s.
“I was having a lot of issues with memories from the war and things like that, and I needed an outlet,” Lopez said.
To make his first knife, Lopez used a bag of charcoal he bought from Walmart.
“Then I used my grill and a hair dryer, and I actually was able to forge a knife,” he said. “It was mild steel. It was not like the ones I make now. It was just something to play with.”
He decided to make more knives, saying it helped take his mind off things.
“I felt a lot more relieved,” Lopez said.
His skills as a bladesmith, which is the art of making knives, swords and other blades, have come a long way since then. read more here
Military PTSD-suicide in the news would not be happening if the other bills done over all these years actually worked......
Parents of Norfolk sailor who died by suicide hope Brandon Act passes this time; Event in VB will provide mental health resources for military
WASHINGTON (WAVY) — Legislation to provide better access to mental health services for military members will be re-introduced next week on Capitol Hill, and the parents of the sailor for whom the bill was named are hoping it will become law.
Brandon Caserta was 21 when he died by suicide on Naval Station Norfolk. He had washed out of SEAL training in San Diego, but so do the vast majority of those who even qualify for the training. The course is known as BUDS, or Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL training, and Caserta was mocked with the label “BUDS dud.”
Caserta ended his life by jumping into the rotor of a helicopter. A military investigation found that his lead petty officer’s abusive actions were a likely contributing factor, and that officer was removed from the position. read it here
Canadian Armed Forces reports 16 military suicides in 2020
OTTAWA — The Canadian Armed Forces says 16 service members took their own lives last year.
That represents a slight decline from the 20 military suicides reported in 2019, which was the largest number in five years.
The new figures nonetheless bring the total number of Canadian military personnel who have died by suicide over the last decade to 191. That is more than the 158 service members who were killed while serving in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. read it here
"The loneliest kind of lonely" is when there is no one else like you. I know that feeling because when I started working on PTSD, I didn't know anyone like me. It was lonely because we didn't have the internet and the only information I could find was at the library reading clinical books. Nothing strange about that since it was in 1982.
In 1993, I finally got a computer and then I found other people talking about PTSD. I started my first site on AOL, then it was on a website where I went by NamGuardianAngel. Back then, since I was unique, I had a lot of emails and phone calls. There were even more when I wrote my first book in 2002.
In 2006 I started making videos on PTSD on YouTube and in 2007, I started Wounded Times.
All that work was worth it even though it was never to make money. Sure I wanted to at least break even but the thing was, the work itself kept me going. Getting feed back and reading messages let me know, it mattered to the people I was trying to help.
In 2007 I posted a massive post about suicides hoping that someone with the power to do something would. Once all the groups started to pop up all over the internet and social media, the emails and messages started to go down. I was reading more and more about veterans suffering and very little being done to help them. The problem was, they were doing something about it by using them to make money.
I didn't give up and made more videos, posted more and tried to reach out as much as possible. It got lonelier and lonelier. In 2017 I started PTSD Patrol hoping that with PTSD in the title, I could gain control over the conversation again, and give veterans hope and families understanding.
Last year, it was too much for me, reading the reports of suicides going up in the veterans' community and within the military itself. My heart was breaking. I decided to stop focusing on them and started to open the work up to anyone with PTSD. PTSD Patrol passed 100,000 page views recently.
I do not follow anyone or take from anyone because I am too busy making my own "music" to march to! My work, has been stolen and copied for decades, but it doesn't bother me anymore. My mission hasn't changed because of them. The work was to offer hope and if others can reach more than I can...that's OK with me. I know that one day, they will get what they deserve for what they did with my work. I pray that those who go to their sites receive the help they were looking for and find the encouragement they need to #BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD.
Wounded Times reached 5 million page views because people shared the work.
So, if you are doing anything for the right reasons, if you know that you have something to give the world, then give it freely. I am living proof that even if no one tells you that you matter, you do!
The best way to heal is to open up
Jesse had a difficult time adjusting to civilian life after deployment. He used drugs and alcohol to try to forget his experiences in Iraq. He eventually reached out for help at VA, where he received therapy and connected with other Veterans. Now Jesse’s a Peer Support Specialist and encourages fellow Veterans to reach out for help.
If you have not been in Make The Connection from the VA...you are missing a lot!
