Georgia Peach is an advocate and public speaker and serves on the board of directors for a local homeless shelter for veterans. Her grandfather served in WWI and her father and four uncles served in WWII. Her brother went to Vietnam and her son served two tours in Iraq. Her son was incarcerated for a PTSD related incident leading to her involvement in advocating for Incarcerated Veterans.
Joseph Miller is completing his Master’s degree in Canadian/American History at the University of Maine. He received his bachelors in History from North Georgia College and State University. He was second in his military class and ranked 44th Cadet in the 2003 National Army ROTC Order of Merit list. In 2003 commissioned as an Infantry officer and assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division. Deployed three times to Iraq in support of national elections and as an Iraqi Army adviser during the 2007 surge. During his second rotation he was injured by an IED. His awards include the Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Iraqi Campaign medal with three service stars, Senior Parachutist Badge, and Ranger Tab. Recently named 2011 Army ROTC Instructor of the Year. In his free time he enjoys running ultra-marathons, reading with his wife Rachel and cat Madison, and going on hiking adventures with his dog Darby.
Travis L. Martin served two tours of duty in Iraq as a sergeant in the 51st Transportation Company. He holds an MA in English from Eastern Kentucky University, where he founded The Journal of Military Experience. Currently, he teaches and is a PhD student at the University of Kentucky. His research interests include trauma, autobiography, and war memoirs from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Michelle Monte is a Professor of English and will be writing about Military Sexual Trauma and her journey through therapy. She is an assistant editor for The Journal of Military Experience 3. Michelle served in the Army and Army Reserve from 1992-2000.
Uncle Sam's Mistress
Scott Lee was an interviewer and writer on the graphic novel Korean War Vol.2 commissioned by the DoD, as a volunteer he served as an associate editor for the Journal of Military Experience, the director of the Veterans’ PTSD Project, founded Veterans’ PTSD Support, and the blog PTSD: A Soldier’s Perspective.
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ReplyDeleteI thought January 9, 1970 was the end of my involvement with the military and the Vietnam War. That was the day I was discharged from the Navy after having completed three tours to Vietnam, two of which took me "in-country" often. Now 44 years later, at times, I am back there. PTSD, or PTSS as it was called then, isn't what many people believe. It is an insidious thing that is opportunistic and nearly impossible to kill completely. Weird things can awaken it, sounds, visuals and even moods, especially depression. It is hard to guard against and impossible to predict when it will raise its head. So what do you do?
I spent years at Vet Centers in group counseling. It helped. My wife of nearly 40 years has probably been the best healing agent as she is a good listener. But recognizing what the critter we call PTSD is and its power over us or more precisely the power we allow it to have over us is a key. Another key is to give it a path out. For many years I kept it all inside. It was killing me. One evening after a frightful bout with the trauma nearly breaking me, my wife suggested that I write it down. I did, slowly. Over the next ten plus years, when it raised its head, I wrote it down.Then I read and read read my journal. Over time I found I could talk to others about my experience. Then I put the manuscript away for nearly 20 years. Every five years or so I got it out and read parts of it. Sometimes I cried. You see I could only write about others. Yes, many if not most of the story on the pages was me, but I could handle obliquely--not head on. .
During the intervening years, I've had a great career, supportive family and got educated. My wife and I started a business that became a school and that then turned into a university. So there are no complaints there. The monster that still hides in deep sacred parts of my mind--PTSD-- sometimes still today affects me when least expected. That's okay. For now I know it for what it is--only part of my past and it has nothing to do with my future.
Last year I submitted my therapy manuscript and it was published as fiction. The comments I've gotten from readers, many of which are family members of service member who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, thank me I never would have dreamed it could help others understand how PTSD can happen to anyone. Even Mike Farrell of M*A*S*H fame saw it's value and wrote a review. It is too personal for me a make a judgement call. I didn't realize how getting it out there is really the final step in my healing process. Now I can talk about it without crying. I reached my goal: I'm NORMAL AGAIN.
The title of the book says it all: BY WHAT IS SURE TO FOLLOW. . Of course when you experience extreme trauma in war PTSD is sure to follow. If you read it let me know. Before I put it away in 1990, I had several Vets who read it throw it at me, saying "How dare you degrade the service like that" Then you didn't speak about PTSD. Luckily today it is out in the open.