Clawmaster wrote:
Gonna get into something that is not widely talked about, but when you enter the military, you are trained for a job based on your ASVAB scores and that job may not or may not be in high demand when you discharge. The military also makes sure you succeed, had several ex military people in RN school, but only one made it, she said that they made sure everyone passed test while she was in MP training, the trainers would sit with you all day if necessary, of course that does not happen in civilian life.
You get a lot of vets that are highly trained in jobs that only exist within the military, these people often struggle when they rejoin civilian life. Have several family members and close family friends that are vets, one was trained to drive forklifts and still does, another was trained as a mechanic and works in college admissions, but the other two were nuclear navy, one became a nuclear engineer and the other a chemical engineer. The first two struggled financially for years while the other two did very well.
There are also vets that lived through things they will never be able to forget, and they will find ways to manage that pain, it might be psych meds and counseling or alcohol and illegal drugs.
It really is an interesting case study in when we see how the management of PTSD has changed, the older people we see were not put on psych meds to manage symptoms, and most turned to alcohol while the younger vets are heavily medicated on meds,but will become severely symptomatic at times because psych meds need to be adjusted frequently to reach the desired therapeutic effect.
I am what you would call an old veteran who has PTSD and has been treated for it and still is. With me, I lived with PTSD for years without realizing I had it. I also didn't get treatment from the VA for other medical problems notably pain management nor some other issues because I took my care from my job health carrier. During this time I was using alcohol and pain meds to deal with my physical pain and pretty well ignored my anger issues and nightmares that affected my life in a bad way.
I happened to begin really my VA treatments as a way to deal with my nightmare and anger issues as well as family problems caused by the anger and alcohol issues. In the years doing this, I found out about PTSD, go help and my life got a lot better including my work career and family life. I have since helped in reaching out to other guys who struggle with the same crap that I dealt with.
i value very much the people like yourself who help try and deal with the addicts and mental health patients. Having someone who is a pro to talk to and offer help and caring is really important to the veteran or other people who are dealing with mental issues including addiction or alcohol related problems. I think for anyone who is a friend or just cares about his fellow man, just talking to a guy and letting them know that you are concerned about them is a good thing to do. I think it is really the least that you can do for a friend.