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I was sent home from deployment in Afghanistan last year due to suicidal ideations. I had spoken to my unit chaplain after 8 months of deployment about wanting to shoot myself. This was the second of my deployments totaling about 2 years over 10 years active service. After discussing my status with psychologistis this year, and a stay in the psych ward of an Army HospitaL, I was rated at 90 % disability due to combat & was retired with tax free VA payments each month. Now in my 30's I have a constant income. While I was originally very relunctant to discuss my problems, I had seen Blue and Green killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and it had affected me greatly. I believed sharing my problems would jeopardize my career and family. However, once I realized I had to speak up or kill myself, I told my BN chaplain and was sent home. I want to share this since I felt hopeless, but now have a guaranteed income and the rest of my life to look foarward to. As long as you have 6 years in, you can be medically retired. I have a counselor through Tricare and a fallback through the VA. If you feel hopeless or suicidal, please speak to your unit. It is not the end of your life. I still feel ashamed since many of my friends have seen worse than me, but everyone reacts to combat differntly. I can only accept who I am and make the best of my life.
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Dec 31, 2015 08:05
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Also, if you have less than 30% disability or less than 6 years in, you can get a lump sum of money. This is beter than you or your family could get through suicide.
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Dec 31, 2015 08:12
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Thanks, man. We get a lot of horror stories here, so it's nice to hear from people who got help and had things work out some times.
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Dec 31, 2015 21:49
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Enophos posted:If you feel hopeless or suicidal, please speak to your unit. It is not the end of your life. I still feel ashamed since many of my friends have seen worse than me, but everyone reacts to combat differntly. I can only accept who I am and make the best of my life. This should be at the top of every suicide prevention flyer because it's the loving truth. Thanks for being honest.
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Jan 1, 2016 18:38
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Dead Reckoning posted:Thanks, man. We get a lot of horror stories here, so it's nice to hear from people who got help and had things work out some times. Amen to this. Glad you posted this Enophos. Also glad you were able to speak up when you needed to and it worked.
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Jan 3, 2016 00:36
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Godholio posted:Amen to this. Zeris posted:This should be at the top of every suicide prevention flyer because it's the loving truth. Thanks for being honest. Thank you. Like many soldiers, I assume, I was trained to ignore personal feelings by my family and through military training. I have met many people who have killed, seen, or led to killing that deeply regret their actions. Without passing judgement on any war, if you feel that you cannot continue your vocation in the military, don't feel weak or insufficient. If you are deeply affected by you experiences, please speak to your unit. In the US Army there is a push to downsize. If you come forward with your concerns, you will be most likely separated. There is nothing weak or cowardly in this. I have a lifetime medical care and pension because I said "no, I do not want to kill myself!"
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Jan 4, 2016 10:13
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Dead Reckoning posted:Thanks, man. We get a lot of horror stories here, so it's nice to hear from people who got help and had things work out some times. Zeris posted:This should be at the top of every suicide prevention flyer because it's the loving truth. Thanks for being honest. This was hard for me to share. After my first deployment I viewed my insecurities and irritability about what I had seen and done as weakness. I became a recluse since I felt I couldn't share my experiences with anyone. A couple years later I jumped on the chance to deploy since I felt it would sort things out. Every day I was Afghanistan I hoped that I would die. I felt that dying in combat would redeem my life. After I realized that I was 100% ready to shoot myself before redeployment, I knew I had to talk to someone. Luckily my unit chaplain was approachable and understanding.
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Jan 4, 2016 10:31
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 11:05 |
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Enophos posted:If you feel hopeless or suicidal, please speak to your unit. It is not the end of your life. I still feel ashamed since many of my friends have seen worse than me, but everyone reacts to combat differntly. I can only accept who I am and make the best of my life. Thanks for sharing man, and this is so critical; I do a lot of work at my school with vet's struggling with PTS and survivor's guilt, and to the man, they each say this, no matter how bad their experience was. There are few people I scream at with regularity, but anytime some vet starts talking about how his experience was worse, I lose my poo poo. Too many vets not willing to get help because they are ashamed that they didn't get hurt badly enough.
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Jan 6, 2016 18:49
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