Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Have you ever experienced an event so traumatic that you relive that event every day? That is what it is like to have to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. PTSD in the Armed Forces has always been an issue that has plagued veterans their whole life. If people don’t think that this affects them directly, then they should rethink their situation. According to US Census Bureau (2012), there are roughly 313,627,327 reported people who live in the United States.  Of those, 2,315,958 serve in the U.S. Armed Forces, which is a little more then %.7 of the U.S. population.  Almost everyone or someone they know, is affiliated with someone in the Military. About 11-20% of Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom) suffer from PTSD (Tanielian, 2008). I am one of those who suffer from PTSD and it is a never ending battle.

On May 27th 2003, while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, my squad and myself has just returned from a mission where we had to investigate a fire fight that occurred within the city limits of Samarra, Iraq. Upon arrival back to our compound, we received five 60 millimeter mortar rounds that landed less than 5 meters from our position. There were ten people in my squad to include myself. Out of the ten, seven received injuries, but no one was killed. Three other soldiers were preparing to go out on mission; one soldier was injured from the group. That is just one of the many events that I have to relive every day from serving two years in Iraq and one year in Afghanistan conflicts.

There are several incidents that can cause PTSD. You don’t have to be in the Armed Forces to get it. You can get PTSD at any age. PTSD is not normally found in young children. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 may have caused PTSD in some people who were involved, people who saw the disaster, and people who lost relatives and friends...