Life improved after her husband got support

Life improved after her husband got support

Shannon:

I am Shannon and my husband Jason he started in the Marine Corps. When he left the Marine Corps, he entered into the National Guard, the Army, and he has been on 2 deployments. He has been to Iraq and Afghanistan. Both of those deployments were about 13 months long each.

It was difficult, I mean you miss them, and you are worried, you don’t know what is going on you know, and they can’t tell you everything. We didn’t talk on the phone that much; it was delayed so it was a lot of times hard to understand, but we emailed a lot and we did get to talk at least once a day. But as soon as you hang up the phone you are worried until the next phone call. But it did help to get those phone calls.

He was home, he was safe, he was ok and there was no more worrying, you know. I mean I could tell that something was different. He was more anxious than normal; he had a lot of nightmares. It took a lot of getting used to for him too. I mean, he got used to being where he was, and it was different over here. He was really jumpy when he would drive under a bridge. Loud noises like a firecracker or something, that could cause a bad situation.

He had a doctor at the VA, and it was a Colonel and he was really close to him. He could open up to him, and the Colonel understood his situation. So, that helped him tremendously and then I think the medicine that the doctor gave him helped him as well. Some of the PTSD Support Groups have helped. He is not as anxious. His temper has calmed down a lot. He handles crowds differently. You know like, he couldn’t be in a crowded area, he was constantly scoping out everything. It is way better. It is a lot better now, a lot better.

I am so proud of him. I mean what he has done is amazing. You know, I mean they went through so much we can never understand that because we didn’t go through it. Just be there, listen, and do your best to be supportive.