Responding to the letter, "From the Wife of a Veteran"...
PTSD is nothing to be afraid of. It's no joy either. I have learned from personal experience as one whose duty and service has taken me to hostile parts of the world, years as a paramedic in various ghettos, and 27 years of various law enforcement duties; that there are issues that pop up their ugly heads when least expected. To have loving understanding people around you helps immensely.
I have learned these ghosts never go away, but there are ways to learn to live with them. I found these things pop up sometimes when alone, or something is viewed on television, or something comes up in a conversation, etc. Sometimes talking about the incident/s has a tendency to open up on old wounds. Out of no where you want to cry. The best thing is to cry and get it over with and move on. Do something with a friend to emotionally side track you. I went to a training recently on Handling Extreme Emotional Incidents. It opened up a can of worms and my wife made it very plain, I was not to attend anymore of these trainings. She was right. Like I said you lean on love and learn to deal with it. Duty and service to others unfortunately has a price. But someone has to do it.
Frank
