Living casualties: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

All week, we've been looking at the issues facing veterans returning from the battlefield. Now, we look at an issue of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. For these returning vets, it affects every aspect of their lives — making daily life a struggle. When Justin Walsh left for Iraq in 2008, he knew his life would never be the same. But he never imagined that after being home for a year, he would be battling a list of new problems all brought on by the experiences he had. "I still struggle with a lot of things," Walsh said. "Abuse a lot of things to try to hide pain, which has affected my family, wife, kids and I'm working really hard to get that under control. With my PTSD and MTBI that I do have."> Justin suffers from a host of combat-related problems. Chronic headaches, a result of roadside bomb blasts. And lower back problems, from the weight of his gear and jolts from the truck, as he stood up in his vehicle to man his machine gun. But the Post Traumatic Stress has made the physical problems worse. “I’ve got a lot of anxiety, hyper vigilant, I don’t really ever feel safe,” he said. Justin's job in Iraq was route clearance: making sure the roads were clear of the enemy and IED's so convoys of personnel and equipment could get safely through the area. Walsh said it was a very stressful job. One day, Justin and his team noticed something suspicious. After checking it out, they called the route clear and drove on. “Three other vehicles went by, nobody got blown up, and then a KBR bus, which is US civilians, got blown up by it,” he said. What followed was chaos, and what he believes is at the root of his PTSD. "There was 20 people in there, out of the 20, seven [were] KIA and the rest were injured, very severe. It was pretty traumatic." "A lot of things run through my head, a lot of different things, you can always second guess yourself, like I could of would of should of done this, but you know that's something that I deal with every day,” he said. According to research by the VA, around 45 percent of returning vets deal with the same problems. Over the past few years, it has been a learning experience for mental health providers in that work with these veterans. "PTSD is still something that we're learning a lot about,” said Dr. Donald Wilson of Veteran’s Affairs. “It’s a relatively new diagnosis in the mental health field." But Doctor Donald Wilson says there are common symptoms: flashbacks, hyper-vigilance, poor sleep, nightmares, agitation and irritability. The VA says up to 65 percent of veterans with PTSD abuse drugs and alcohol, affecting friends and family too. "PTSD certainly leads to difficulties in relationships as well,” Wilson said. Something Justin knows all too well. “It affected my marriage; I'm still actually struggling to this day to hold on to my marriage," Walsh said. And working his hardest... Just to get by. "Day by day, I just try to wake up, thank the lord I'm here, and try to get up with a positive attitude and realize what I've got, what I've got to live for and who needs me in this world,” Walsh said. The VA says there is help for those with PTSD and if anyone is having problems they should contact any mental health professional, either with the VA or private practice. To learn more or find ways to get help, you can visit our website at WSBT.com and click on News Links.