Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 30, 2017
When he got back home, everything came with him. It wasn't a matter of staying alive, because someone else needed him. It was a matter of not knowing how to get up when he no longer knew who he was. Nightmares, flashbacks, mood swings, pushing people away when he needs to have someone care.
Hope? No hope of healing. Hell, he didn't think he deserved to and even if someone told him he could, he wouldn't believe them. Not that he would have told anyone he needed help at all. He feels totally alone like no one will ever understand him and even if they did, they would think he was just weak or there was something mentally wrong with him.
All he needs is someone to show up the same way others were watching his back with each deployment. Someone to just show they care about him. That's all he needs to know. He is worthy of someone sitting with him, listening to him, buying him a beer or even a cup of coffee. Picking up the phone and showing some compassion, listening without any judgment or competition.
Do you think you can do that? Ok, then. That veteran is you.
It is a safe bet you'd do anything for one of your brothers or sisters, without thinking anything less of them than you did in combat. So what's stopping you from doing what you need to help now? If in your mind your buddies deserved your help, then why don't you deserve their help?
That was what I just posted on Combat PTSD Wounded Times. In the book Residual War, which is a work of fiction, the truth is within its pages.
General David King saw within each of the soldiers he sent to Fort Christmas a deep devotion for all those they served with. The trouble was they did not think they deserved help for themselves.
Maybe you'll see something in the soldiers rescued by this caring General that remind you of, well, you. Most of the stories came from actual accounts of war going back over the last three decades of listening to veterans just like you. They were willing to do anything for a brother or sister, but unwilling to do anything for themselves.
Their brothers, their sisters were worth everything they could do and that is what General King saw within them. He was sure all he had to do was put them together and sooner or later, all of them would get the help they needed simply by offering it to others. It worked because they were willing to die for them in combat and discovered after combat, it was worth doing whatever they could to help them heal, even if it meant they had to let others help them heal in the process.
