Reach out to your Veteran friends

There has to be something somewhere you can join, man. A place where you can get together with like-minded vets like you and talk through some shite. I’d start there, or even maybe start one up if there aren’t many available.

And thanks for your service and making the choice to subject yourself to the kind of shite that most of us can’t even fathom.

Feel free to share your stories or your problems here with us as well if you think that may help. We are a bunch of assholes on the OT, but we can also be a compassionate bunch of assholes too.

We started that with our Florida4Warriors group and Irreverent Warriors

I never lost a troop on a mission. The only serious injury was a snakebite.

I did lose an NCO to suicide, a couple of years after a deployment. Hurts worse, because so avoidable. One of the best guys you ever met, too. One just never knows what is going on with people. At least not all of it.

quote:

---

Apparently not, we couldn’t even get one of our closest friends to feel comfortable enough to talk to us

---

I’m not a veteran and not a psychiatrist nor counselor, but you started a group specifically focused on the issue. He was your friend. He knew. I’m sure you discussed at some level. You are not to blame. You are working to prevent what happened. You’ve probably saved a life already and don’t know it. Maybe you do know it. If so, remember the life you did save. People have to want to help themselves, with anything, to truly accept the help of others.

Bottom line, you are not to blame. You’re doing what’s in your power. Imo, best thing you can do at the moment is be cognizant of how this event is affecting you and talk and/or seek professional help so you don’t fall into the same situation.

Sorry for your loss.

I’ve heard a group of people meet over Zoom. I can’t remember anything about it other than that. The guy I was talking to, who I don’t know very well, a friend of a friend, said it saved his life. It has a name, sorry I can’t remember.

I am very sorry for your loss and I hope you find peace. God bless

Sorry about your friend's death and for the hardship you are now facing. Keep your head up and I pray that God will help you through this. You have more friends than you think.

I had multiple soldiers I had the pleasure of serving with as a NCO during multiple OEF deployments suffer from terrible PTSD. I can think of two soldiers who committed suicide, because of a post deployment divorce and another who couldn’t adjust to civilian life. Many of them have been through air assault, airborne, and sapper school (I was 21B) so they are tough guys in my book. These were soldiers on the ground actually searching for wires during dismounted combat operations they didn't stay in an MRAP all day and deploy a robot from 100m which is 99% of what EOD does. PTSD is a lot of times caused by the fact that when you kill a human being you usually don't feel good about it and you shouldn't. When you find pieces of children and old men blown up after they tried to plant an IED in the Chawkay district of the Kunar Province of NE Afghanistan it doesn't sit well with you or you’re recovering from you 3rd IED strike on a two week route clearance mission it obviously doesn't feel normal, non of the shite is. The Army has been fighting the PTSD problem for a long time. This isn’t a matter of someone being weak minded for having PTSD. Always ask for help and always be of assistance when needed to those who are struggling. Life is too short not to help.

Appreciate what you said, but I connected with my friend, knew thru shared experiences what he was dealing with, finding out he committed suicide today was the biggest gut punch I’ve ever felt

Sorry for your loss and it truly sucks when you get that news. It has been 4 people I served with so far that committed suicide. The most recent was a former platoon Sgt of mine and he was the last person I would have ever thought would commit suicide and it was 2 weeks after he retired. So as you said you just never know what is going through someone's head and what demons they are battling.