PTSD: Who cares and who does not.
I wanted to revisit with one of the experiences that was brought up recently by the story of Eric Jasinski. He had been diagnosed with PTSD twice and was recently for going AWOL and missing movement to Iraq in December 2007. He had been to Iraq at least one time before in 2006. But because of the advice that he received he got 20 days in jail with a Bad Conduct Discharge. I think that is similar to one person that I have worked with a guy before. I have talked about him to a extent but I wanted to start from the beginning.
It started with a concern about on of the guys in PSD was having issues. I talked to him and he said that he had been seeing a off post doctor and he had been advised that he should not deploy because of his PTSD. The problem was that our Unit said that he was fit to go. I tried working with it seeing what I could do. I could not do much with the situation at the time.
I remember a conversation that I had with him at the JBB chow hall. You could tell he was frustrated about the situation, but I think I made some progress with him when I told him that even though I am lower enlisted that will do everything I can do help him. Then there was a unrelated setback when another member in my unit had a breakdown and had to be sent home. (He was taking PTSD medications and he had switched. The reason what he came in to have his old meds replaced because he dropped them in the Porta John. Something about the heat and how the medications reacted was the cause of the switch. Later he was found died of undetermined causes. The news did not go well for my friend.
So I had been working with him and offering him a ear. More and more he came to feel comfortable with talking about certain things. He talked about losing a teammate in 2005 and why he was coming at odds with other members of the PSD that seem to be hungry for a CAB. He had some very big concerns that by doing this and not taking things as seriously as he thought they should that someone was going to get killed. Something that made it worse was that I think that his event where he watched someone die in his arms was triggered by when another female hugged him to help him calm down. (She had been following the events up to that point) But He would tell me hsi frustrations about mental health. That because the doctors keep changing
that he would have to keep retelling things over and over before anything new could get examined.
That is why he would come to me about what he was going through. Also the new PSD Sergeant was very supportive in working with me and the PSD medic. We finally got him sent home for good around December of 2008 and I think they MedBoarded him out with a Honorable Discharge. It took some time ( about 6 months) but I think that we did it the right way.
So with this story in mind I would wonder where was his medic and how much he could have helped out in all of this.
It started with a concern about on of the guys in PSD was having issues. I talked to him and he said that he had been seeing a off post doctor and he had been advised that he should not deploy because of his PTSD. The problem was that our Unit said that he was fit to go. I tried working with it seeing what I could do. I could not do much with the situation at the time.
I remember a conversation that I had with him at the JBB chow hall. You could tell he was frustrated about the situation, but I think I made some progress with him when I told him that even though I am lower enlisted that will do everything I can do help him. Then there was a unrelated setback when another member in my unit had a breakdown and had to be sent home. (He was taking PTSD medications and he had switched. The reason what he came in to have his old meds replaced because he dropped them in the Porta John. Something about the heat and how the medications reacted was the cause of the switch. Later he was found died of undetermined causes. The news did not go well for my friend.
So I had been working with him and offering him a ear. More and more he came to feel comfortable with talking about certain things. He talked about losing a teammate in 2005 and why he was coming at odds with other members of the PSD that seem to be hungry for a CAB. He had some very big concerns that by doing this and not taking things as seriously as he thought they should that someone was going to get killed. Something that made it worse was that I think that his event where he watched someone die in his arms was triggered by when another female hugged him to help him calm down. (She had been following the events up to that point) But He would tell me hsi frustrations about mental health. That because the doctors keep changing
that he would have to keep retelling things over and over before anything new could get examined.
That is why he would come to me about what he was going through. Also the new PSD Sergeant was very supportive in working with me and the PSD medic. We finally got him sent home for good around December of 2008 and I think they MedBoarded him out with a Honorable Discharge. It took some time ( about 6 months) but I think that we did it the right way.
So with this story in mind I would wonder where was his medic and how much he could have helped out in all of this.