Quote Originally Posted by Boat Bum View Post
This is so True!!! We come home there is no war. Things here does not make since. You do things for a reason or some die. We don't understand way we came home and others did not. We do it for something you people take for granted. It is part of our being. I have been home since 94. I still only sleep alittle a time. I only find peace out away from people. Some say that i'm bitter and hateful!!!!

Try to remember we are not the same person that left and may never find our way back. Don't offer help for a problem that you do not understand. Don't ask trying to understand because you havn't earned the right. Please give us our space and if you are lucky enough that you soilder finds their way back to you. Place hand on their back and say nothing. We know and Thank You.
My sweet in-law was sent first to Afghanistan then Iraq. He came home a few months ago and is so different, suffering severely from PTSD. He wasn't given the space and understanding he needed to even begin to recover; instead he was sent straight to a base and began training more soldiers for battle. A sudden loud noise sends his mind back to Iraq. I hold a Ph.D in Psychology and he called me, a bitter sound in his voice but he only wanted to talk to someone he thought would understand. I asked if I could take my favorite soldier to lunch and he said he would love that. I got dressed in a hurry and drove 125 miles, one way, and met him for lunch. I sat there and looked at a pitiful emotional wreck, unable to verbalize his feelings and yet he was confused and hurting so badly. I didn't mention the war or ask anything relative to his military career, I just listened for two hours as he poured out every frustrating hurtful thing that was embedded in his once brilliant mind. I offered no advice for his personal problems, he didn't ask for that, he wanted someone who understood and cared how much he was hurting. His mother didn't, his wife didn't, his sister didn't; he said nobody cared and he came home and found he was penniless. I tried to understand and maybe, just maybe, I gave him a tiny glimmer of hope. As we parted he asked for a hug and I gave him a huge, very long bear hug and slipped a bank envelope in his hand with enough money to pay his bills for a month. I looked again and the tears were pouring down his cheeks; I wiped them away and kissed his still damp cheek and said, "Thanks for all you've given for my freedom and my country. I love you and I care what's going on in your life. If you ever need to talk, give me a call." He said, "Thanks," and walked away. I knew deep in my soul that his marriage was over and I might never see him again. I've had two calls and a few emails from him since that time and he is getting better but I don't know how long his road to recovery may be.

To all the military people reading this, past and present, THANKS! and Merry Christmas.