If you care enough to read, this is one of many US Veteran Stories: There are approximately 316 million registered Americans Citizens, and out of that group, only 7% of Americans have volunteered to serve our country, in the Armed Forces. I served on contract from 1987 to 1995, and after the 1st Gulf War, I received an Honorable Discharge from The United States Marine Corp; however, unknown to me at that time, I had developed a biological chemical {Post Traumatic Stress Disorder} trigger. Thus, anytime, I smelled any type of foreign odor, like someone mopping a floor with too much bleach, or if I found myself walking down the garden Isles at a Home Depot, where they stock pesticides and the likes, I found myself having an anxiety attack. Several times a month, from the year 1996 through the year 2000, I found myself in an ambulance, being driven by awesome EM Ts, {that are underpaid} to local hospitals; fire stations had become my safe havens. And when I was finally diagnosed correctly, I was put on the right medication to help me cope with my misunderstood service related triggers. Nonetheless, when the Twin Towers {911} in New York came down, I volunteered OFF-CONTRACT, because of my injuries, to serve my country again. I became a volunteer advocate liaisons Memorial Honor Guard from 2003-2007. And then one day, I woke up, and the American Flag that I had draped, and that I had seen being draped over my US Military brothers, week after week, month after month, year after year, had become another earned PTSD trigger; more blood stripes. I cried from 2007-2010, almost every day. Today, I volunteer to reach out to those like me, that are misunderstood. And civilians often ask me, how much did you get paid for your service, and how much are you being compensated? I just shake my head, and walk away. ... Plumas, El Madrigal
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 17:47:46 +0000
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