“Just go do it.” A PTSD Recovery Program Helped This Veteran Thrive
I could not be around a lot of people and didn't know why. I didn't think that it was attributed to the military. And I didn't even want to own up to the fact that it was that.
My name's Kenneth. I was in the United States Army. I served during the years of 2000 to 2010. My enlisted MOS specialty was 13 Bravo Field Artillery Cannon Crewmember, and my Warrant Officer MOS was Field Artillery Targeting Technician Operational Electronic Warfare. So, when I graduated high school, my high school girlfriend she became pregnant, and I had to make a decision. So, we said, ‘Hey, I'm gonna join the military.’ So, I joined the US Army on November 13th of 2000. We did Operation Desert Spring, which is the ending of the 1991 Desert Storm War. I was honorably medically discharged on August 26th, 2010.
It was about six months of just figuring things out. So, January of 2011 is when I officially signed up and started my first class with Baruch College under the City University of New York for corporate communications. I realized all of my symptoms really excited itself sitting in those classrooms. But it was just so many symptoms and factors that were showing itself that pointed to go seek out a little bit more mental health than you're doing right now. Counseling psychology was definitely the way to go, along with trying to maintain my college experience along with family issues that were arising exponentially. And I just couldn't put so many hands on the geysers that were just popping up in life. I had to dig into what I've gone through growing up, physical abuse, verbal abuse from my brother's father, who was my stepfather, living in broken homes due to my parents being divorced. The physical abuse that I've watched them do to each other. I was a functioning alcoholic. I had to just seriously stop drinking, and I did.
My diagnosis was post-traumatic stress disorder with mild dysthymia, and then they upgraded it to post-traumatic stress disorder with extensive cannabis use disorder. Well, this particular program in Montrose and Peekskill, it was called the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Trauma Intensive Residential Treatment. Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, going to different field activities, we always had to sign out of the hospital just to go into the parking lot. So, we would look on a schedule and maybe would have a field trip. And most of us would just go just to get out of the hospital. We noticed you were out in the pond, kind of staring off into the clouds. And it seems like you like to meditate. So, have you considered meditating? And then I really realized meditation it's a great thing. But I'm also inclined, as well. I'm definitely highly inclined. I love to read. I'm a speed reader. I sit in a sauna and read. Spending time with my children. My oldest is 24. She just graduated from Radford University for a psychology degree. And what made me proud is the fact that she changed her degree 'cause she wanted to understand her father better. All of the programs that I've went through, she didn't realize how much positive reinforcement she was giving me.
So, the way I think about it is just use all the benefits. I think it's real important to just force yourself to be active. If you wake up and you start to think about things that are bothering you, it's going to engulf your day. Go on those nature runs. That's what I do, I go run, do a nature cross-country run. And I end up asking myself questions about things that I'm going through. And by the time I finish my run and I feel the runner's high, I got those answers, and then I just go and do it. Just go do it.
