I'm Chris, I did Army six years, two tours in Iraq.
You join to travel and then you just don't plan on
traveling to Iraq, or Afghanistan, but we got the
word and then we just trained for it.
We got excited for it.
There's separation anxiety from having your life, and
your day planned out.
I was doing training schedules for six months out.
It's tough being around people that are
completely opposite, I guess.
It's like going from a corporate position into a mom
and pop store.
You're not going to be able to function all that great right
off the bat, it's going to take you a while.
Everybody else went on to college, or they got married,
or they lived elsewhere or whatever, but
you just lose contact.
The ones that are supposed to understand, or the ones that
are supposed to help you out and take care of you, they
don't know what the hell is going on.
They think you're coming back normal Chris, but they don't
know that you've had to do all the stuff that
doctor's don't even do.
Like picking up shoulders that are completely blown off, they
don't understand any of that stuff.
It's trying to get them involved and teach them, but
it's like they don't want to.
They want to stay blind to the fact that somebody actually
did what you see in movies.
So that was the hardest part.
Being 28 and going to school with 18-year olds.
They haven't done anything.
If there is somebody that's 24, 25, 26 years old, I still
don't feel as comfortable around them
as I do with a Vet.
And then just trying to get back to you, and how you were,
but you won't.
Six years and two deployments, or even one deployment, you're
not going to be the same.
When you have the ability to drive into a car, or take a
car off the road, there's an adrenaline rush that--
that's why they call us adrenalin junkies, because
nothing excites us anymore.
When I first got back, for the first six months or so, I
didn't even think of it.
I was just on this high that I was free, and I could wake up
at 9 o'clock, I didn't have to go running four or five miles
in the morning, and I can just do my own thing.
I actually met a guy, another Vet, who kind of warmed me up
to going down to the VA, and talking to
people, and getting help.
He was wearing a t-shirt with the Second Marine
Expeditionary Force and I served with them in 2006.
And so I got his attention, asked him if he was with the
unit, he just told me it was one of his buddy's shirts.
And then we sat down, had a couple beers, and started
talking about the VA.
He's been doing compensation claims with the VA, so he got
me started with that, and set me up with one of the doctors,
and brought me down there to get the health insurance and
everything.
We get it for four years, five years, after we get out, so he
set me up with that.
I was completely oblivious to everything.
And then when I sat down with the doctor, then I realized
there's stuff that I need to deal with, instead of just
pushing it back and not thinking about it.
And then the big one is just the mental health, sitting
down with a psychiatrist weekly, and talking with him
and the group of Vets that go down there too.
We've had upwards of 20 people, but usually it's about
eight to ten, and there's two or three psychiatrists.
And they start off the conversation asking how
somebody was, and then everything
just webs out of that.
You share stories and experiences from deployments
and everyday life.
School is going fine.
I'm about to graduate here in about four months, just about.
So life's pretty good.
But I still have to deal with all this other stuff from
years ago, on top of homework, and getting all the papers
written, and doing research and stuff, but it's nothing I
can't handle.
I think the hardest part is just going down to the
hospital and telling somebody that you need help.
They're not going to judge you, and if anything they're
just going to appreciate you for having the maturity to
just come in and say you have issues or you need help.
Just go to the VA, they're there to help you.