Kicking the Black Dog.

[browningautorifle]

After I took my release in '08, the office for operational stress injuries wanted me to become a counselor for the returning injured. Although like Muffet says, the old hand chatting with the new man can help because you can give them first hand comfort...I don't think I could do it all my life and every day. I think it would wear on me. Also, living in the past is the greatest part of what keeps one in that mess. We don't seem to be helping our veterans much here either. But I'll say this for sure, because I've been around long enough to watch it...there's WAY more done now than there used to be. If we hadn't started with Yugo in the '90s and all that came after our vets would still be ignored. For us, that was the big change. I was the first one to go through the hoops because I'd released regular force and re-upped reserve to get the benefits. They didn't even know what to do with me so that took some doing. At least it paved the way for those that followed me. The problem is they have to stay the course to get help, many won't and don't have the patience. All part of the symptoms...no patience, anger, inability to deal with stress, crowds...self medicating with drugs and alcohol...

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