PTSD among veterans is a hot button topic because people fail to realize the long-term effects of
war on the mental health of the brave men and women who risked their lives for this country.
Soldiers come back so traumatized; they don’t know how to function in normal society anymore.
It takes years upon years for them to become even remotely “normal” again. This hot button
topic matters to me because my mom is a retired Air Force vet (she didn’t see war), my
grandfather welded in the Navy, and I have a couple of close friends who were in the Army and
one was a sniper in the Marines. Being my mom never saw war and neither did my grandfather,
they don’t have much trauma from being in the service. My friend who was a sniper though has
some serious trauma and mental health issues including PTSD. Watching him go through an
episode is terrifying and eye-opening. I’ve seen him start an episode while dreaming and when
