“It’s never too late.” Veteran’s Recovery Leads Him to New Purpose
Since I've been clean, I have reconnected with my family and I see all of my nieces and nephews, who now have their own nieces and nephews. And to think that I let a substance keep me from all of this, that hurts me.
My name is Kevin, I'm United States Army Veteran, 1979 to 1983. I had an MOS 74 Delta and a secondary MOS 75 Bravo. When I went to Germany, I was on Air Defense Artillery Unit. Upon leaving there, because of the firing of missiles so frequently, I had developed, you know, a bilateral, chronic bilateral ringing known as tinnitus. But when I rotated back, I worked and, you know, I was doing various things, but the ringing is just so incessant and consistent. I started drinking and doing pot. Pot led to, you know, the cocaine, and cocaine led to smoking it. There was some bouts of heroin involved also, you know, after a while I knew that it wasn't helping the ringing because there's no cure for this. My addiction went on for approximately 20-plus years. There was years of homelessness involved. I was out there for a minimum of three years, four years. I was totally lost.
After really, really hitting rock bottom and at the persistence of my wife, I figured I'd give it a shot to get clean, to get help. I went to a detox. There was an Army sergeant who happened to be a counselor there, and he asked me, you know if I was willing to go ahead and seek treatment. At this point, after I left the detox thing, I went to the Brooklyn VA. Eventually, I got myself clean and started building up time, clean time. I've been diagnosed by a psychiatrist with depression and anxiety. When I left the detox, I went to Fort Hamilton, and I did a 28-day program and I had good social workers, I had good psychologists. So, the information that we were being given and skills that we were learning, all touch base on that, to help us grow, get a good foundation on our journey of recovery. I received CBT. I still do CBT with a psychologist, which helps me. And the way you feel has a lot to do with your behavior. I do walks, I make sure I have me time during the day. I read a lot. I journal. I've been journaling for now close to five and a half years. I'm able to see, you know, anything that I'm procrastinating on or what I need to get better at. I have a sponsor that I call every other day. Getting outdoors, actually, it's very relaxing to me. I enjoy sounds. I enjoy doing it, you know, with my wife. She's like my anchor. She's my rock. You know, she gives me a lot of wisdom.
So, to me, that's a great blessing. I yearned to do something more. I wanted to do more. I wanted to do more. How can I help the Veterans? And eventually, I got licensed and certified by the State of New York and was hired by the VA FDR campus. I facilitate recovery groups for the substance use disorder outpatient. I have Veterans coming in from outside. It really makes me feel good when I can help them and help them to change their thinking. I didn't get clean until I was 54, so it's never too late. You can still be productive. I try to go above and beyond to help them to get these services. I let them know, you know, we are one, we are the same. We need help. We gotta get it.
