Discussion: Supporting Active Duty Military Personnel, Veterans, Their Families, and Noncombatants-6411-10

The Effects of War and Combat – Part 3

The Effects of War and Combat – Part 3 Program Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

RICHARD MALMSTROM: I've met vets that have tried just taking the medications to make it go away. And I'm a firm believer that that doesn't work. That may be part of it for some people. It may help them get over the hump, but I think in the long run just dealing with it, talking about it, getting it out in the open and dealing with it helps in the long run.

CLAUDE BOUSHEY: Your body, mentally and emotionally, go up and down as for as the hardships on the family and on yourself as for what you go through. You need people to talk to. You need people to encourage you. You need a mentor take kind of look up to, and give you that next step to shoot for.

I didn't have that. I had my wife looking out for me. I had my friends calling me quite often. So having been down at the bottom, you kind of got to know how it feels to give back a little bit. That way you can see it in people's eyes, as far as their recovery. You can tell what you've been through, in some cases. And that way they can be encouraged to move forward. Always give them something to move forward for.

It's pretty much like being on first base. You want to get to second base. They circle first base forever, they can't ever get to home. So that's kind of an analogy I use. Give them a resource or service for them to move forward. Or goal.

STEVEN MATOS: If you're looking for help for your PTSD, always know that you're not alone. That's the biggest thing that we all look for. It's for being able to connect with someone that's either been there and done that, or has done the same thing as you and is looking for a helping hand.

Never, ever think that, hey, I might have done something that deep inside is killing me. Someone else has done the same thing, and if not, something just as bad, or maybe even worse. And there's always somebody on the other side who would like to help you.

Most Marines don't want to admit that they have PTSD, because it makes you look weak. You don't want to tell a leader, hey, I think my head's messed up. They're going tell you, hey, go home, and sleep it off. And come back tomorrow, and you should be OK. You just learn to put in the back burner for as long as you can. And that's the bad thing.

I got back home in '03, and I didn't have my first incident until '06. And when it happened it was just an explosion of emotions that were put away for so many years. Which is why I got in trouble.

©2013 Laureate Education, Inc. 1

The Effects of War and Combat – Part 3

CLAUDE BOUSHEY: I got involved in the Wounded Warrior program when I was injured and during my recovery. I knew how it was to recover from almost nearly getting killed, coming back, recovering, recuperating, rehabbing, going through that whole experience, hitting rock bottom, pretty much. And being able to come back and help other veterans, to help them with issues that I faced and help them with other issues that are facing most veterans today was my driving force for helping other veterans when I retired from the Army.

RICHARD MALMSTROM: I encourage all the service members I come across to join things like the American Legion or the VFW, so they can find some of these kindred spirits to swap war stories. And it's more than just braggadocio. It's more than just that. You're not just bragging about what you've done. But it's more of sharing those combat experiences, and lightening that load just a little bit

CLAUDE BOUSHEY: I do a lot of outreach. I try to bring combat veterans to the group, because once they come to the group they can connect, get with other veterans-- camaraderie. Instant camaraderie. It's a peer to peer approach that we use. Nothing clinical. There's no doctors. There's no clinicians, therapists, or anything. It's pretty much a combat veteran talking to another combat veteran. It's a approach. It's not the best method. It's a method-- acceptable method. So that's the approach that we use here at the Virginia program-- Virginia Wounded Warrior program.

What works for veteran a may not work for veteran b, do you have to use a different approach. And having a peer mentor, or a peer veteran specialist, like we do here at the program, definitely will help someone guide through those hurdles and issues. So we can get them to the right resource.

STEVEN MATOS: The Wounded Warrior program is awesome, because you've got guys from almost every service. You've got your Marines. Got your Army. You've got you're Navy. You've got your Air Force. You got your reservists. And you get to see from every single perspective you could imagine of. OK. Marines do this. Army does that. And you get to kind of understand what their job really is. You get to see what somebody else has gone through.

I've met a couple guys that were in Iraq same time that I was, doing a complete different mission. And I didn't know about that. That's pretty cool. I wish I was there for that.

So you get that perspective, and you also get that camaraderie. And that family feeling. I look forward to Tuesdays, because it's like going to see a cousin or aunt. Because it's just that feeling of family. I could go ahead, go in, and speak about my problems. And also, somebody is going to help me out that day.

You could go to a daily check, and see how your week was from last week. See if you have any issues at home that you'd like to talk about. See if anything is

©2013 Laureate Education, Inc. 2

The Effects of War and Combat – Part 3

bothering you. It might be the anniversary of the date that you got hurt. Or a date that you had to put somebody down. And that always weighs heavy on folks.

And then we might find a topic. If somebody says something during their check-in that we could all talk about, we'll all talk about.

RICHARD MALMSTROM: So talking about is probably step number one. I should say, recognizing that it's going to happen, that you're not immune to, is step number one. Step number two would be to talk about it. Talk about what you saw. Find a counselor, somebody that you trust, so you're not breaking any confidences.

And talk about those things with that other person. Along with how they're affecting you. How those images in your mind are sticking with you. I could tell you hundreds of things that have stuck in my mind over the years of-- just things that people have described to me. And they become real to us, as well. So they can really affect us the same way that affects somebody else.

The Effects of War and Combat – Part 3 Additional Content Attribution

IMAGES: Images provided by http://www.istockphoto.com/

MUSIC: Creative Support Services Los Angeles, CA

Dimension Sound Effects Library Newnan, GA

Narrator Tracks Music Library Stevens Point, WI

Signature Music, Inc Chesterton, IN

Studio Cutz Music Library Carrollton, TX

©2013 Laureate Education, Inc. 3