DCPT Hockenberry's Last Fall-Personal Narrative

Over the last decade, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have drastically increased the need for effective mental health services and treatment for U.S. veterans and service members, especially those suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Nearly 1.5 million American service members have been deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) since the attack on the Twin Towers in September 2001 (Price, Gros, Strachan, Ruggiero, & Acierno, 2013). Approximately 25% of soldiers and wounded warriors returning home from OEF/OIF present with mental illness due to combat-related violence and other trauma exposure (Steinberg & Eisner, 2015). According to Price and colleagues (2013), OEF/OIF soldiers and veterans are at greater risk for developing mental illness compared to others who served in past military operations.

Everyone close your eyes and let's all imagine something together. The setting is Iraq in a forest.You're lying down in a pool of sweat and blood. The darkness surrounds your whole being, and the only weapon you have against it, Is your gun. You hear footsteps running to your hideaway, your bush, until the shadow gets to close and you hear the cock of a gun .you finally pull the trigger on this shadows life. You stare down at your bloodshed uniform and at the corpse in front of you. And it was at that precise moment this man's corpse was engraved in your mind for all of eternity. Sounds like any other horror movie doesn't it?Well guess what this situation is a harsh reality for many of America's finest , our very own veterans. And the most sinister thing of it all is that it's all happening right under our noses, and at this point it's a elephant in the room that no one wishes to address. The conclusion that many americans have drawn is that if we simply avoid a problem it will disappear into thin air. And that's why i'm here today to express to you the silent killer that has struck America quite brutally. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or better known as PTSD. Hello Panel my name is Derek Gonzalez and today i come to serve one purpose and one purpose only, i came to address the

Legends of the Fall is an excellent story of brotherhood, loss, and life. Originally Legends of the Fall was a story written by Jim Harrison, but later was adapted into a film. The story tells of three brothers named: Alfred, Tristan, and Samuel, who lived their lives on a plantation in Montana and then decided to go to war once the youngest brother was of age. Samuel, the youngest brother seemed to be favored by the family; and the older brothers only want to go to war to protect him. Eventually tragedy strikes and young Samuel is killed by machine guns due to his blindness from mustard gas. Tristan (the middle brother) took Samuel’s death especially hard and many other characters thought he had become completely mad. Once Tristan and

In “The Invisible War,” it is noted that “women who have been raped in the military have a PTSD rate higher than men who have been in combat” (The Invisible War, 2012). The impact that military sexual assault has on victims is tremendous. Both physical and mental trauma are common, and they play a significant role in how victims of sexual assault are able to return to their daily lives.

Memories of war are like poison in the minds of the broken soldiers calling for help, only to find out that their voices have become a distant echo. Their words lost in the society of the land they've slaved to protect, robbed of the aid, and crippled by their illness. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), became a documented mental disorder in 1980, when the American Psychiatric Association (APA) added PTSD to the third edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. For about 30+ years, since the Vietnam war began, veterans have experienced the pain of this ailment. Human beings experience PTSD in varying degree, but often we associate it with war. Since the recognition of PTSD as an illness, the government has failed

The OPORD 14-83 is the federal level regulation in the Military that addresses the issue of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, depression and suicide. These health issues are not new phenomena’s, especially in the military health system. PTSD can be dated back to WWI, when it was simply called “shell-shocked”. However, with the co-occurring Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the number of soldiers returning with mental health concerns, this issue has been pushed to the forefront of the media. Every shooting, suicide, or homicide involving a service member, the news makes a point that these service members must have gone untreated. Even the president of the United States passed an executive order to address the mental health crisis (Executive order, 2012). It is alarming that RESPECT-Mil and the OPORD 14-83 are not discussed in conjunction with the numerous news stories about ailing service members. No major editorial or newspaper has discussed this policy, however, more targeted sources such as Medical Daily, local base papers such as the Ft. Campbell Courier. Huffington Post online was the most publically broadcasted article about the policy. The article titled Military Mental Health Care: One Size Does Not Fit All, was written by Dr. Engel in 2010 and updated in 2011. In this article, he praised and discussed what he described as the high-quality specialized care program that is mandated in all Army primary care clinics (Engel, C. 2010).However, this article was not in regards to

In this article, Peter Katel interviews veterans returning from Afghanistan. He tells us how one service member, Coleman Bean is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after his first combat tour in Iraq. However, two years after returning home to South River, N.J., Sgt. Bean returned to duty. After that second deployment, the 25-year-old shot and killed himself. This shows us just how bad this awful disorder is, we need to stop ignoring the situation at hand and help or service men and women returning from war torn countries. Reading this article has given me incite on just how bad the situation is and will go well in my presentation.

It is common for war veterans to return home with physical and emotional damage from the traumatizing sights they’ve seen and terrible places they’ve been. It is also common for women to return home with MST (Military Sexual Trauma). This occurs when a woman has been raped or assaulted by another person in the military. When these women return from duty, they suffer greatly. Many of them become homeless. Two dozen female veterans were interviewed, and of them, 16 said they were assaulted in the service. 53% of homeless female veterans experiences MST.

On May 1st, 2017, during a healthy discussion on the role of social media and crime in our society, TSgt Robert Gibson lost his temperament and military bearing in front of fellow CPT members TSgt James Goodman and TSgt Alan Laitan. TSgt Gibson in a hostile manner turned a civil conversation into an insult, profanity, and baseless accusations directed towards myself. Furthermore, without regards to his surrounding and presence of mission partner staff, TSgt Gibson began berating my character and values. In my seven years of active duty service in the United States Air Force, I have never been treated in such disrespectful and degrading manner.

La Chute translated The Fall, was published in 1956 by Albert Camus '. The Fall is Camus’ last completed novel according to the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Fall can be seen as complex. At times, interpreting and analyzing can be difficult to some when attempting to understand the novel. However, according to Referential Anxiety in Contemporary French Fiction by David R. Ellison, there is no right or wrong way to interpret The Fall because Camus never had the chance to explain it himself. David R. Ellison argues that "It seems as if no real progress has been made in deciphering the text’s central enigmas" due to this. For the reader, this is good or bad news. The bad news is that no one can tell you with any real authority exactly how to

The chapter ‘Clinical Histories: From Soldier’s Heart to PTSD’ from the book ‘Fields of Combat’ by Erin Finley, examines U.S. military community’s perception of combat stress casualties. From the Civil War times until now, there has been growth in the understanding that soldiers face extreme psychological consequences, like behavioral and functional problems, after returning home from war. In 1980, this behavioral and functional problem is formally recognized as Post-Traumatic Stress order (PTSD) in the U.S. and it was internationally recognized in the late 1980’s. Not only was the diagnosis given to survivors of combat, but also noncombat traumatic experiences, such as rape, natural disaster, rape and etc. The chapter looks at the historical

psychologically changed (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2012; Satel, 2011). Peterson et al. (2011) reported that combat-related trauma is the second leading cause of PTSD in men. In this section, diagnostic criteria, assessment, and interview protocols related to PTSD are discussed. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition – Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR, American Psychiatric Association, 2000) outlined criteria for the PTSD diagnosis and defined it according to its symptoms, duration, and the nature of the trauma. According to the DSM-IV-TR (2000) Criterion A must be met in order for a PTSD diagnosis: “the person experienced, witnessed or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or

The day after the Fall Play auditions my sophomore year, I went up to my drama teacher who also happened to be the Fall Play director at the time. I was curious and sad that I didn’t make the cast and if I’m being honest with myself, I was a bit humiliated and angry that I didn’t make it. In my mind it made sense that because I was in the play last year, I would automatically make it. However that was not the case. When I went up to my teacher, Mr. Boles, I asked as calmly as I could, “Mr. Boles, I just want to know what I did to not make cast.” I will never forget what he said to me. He turned to look at me, crossed his arms and said, “You weren’t good enough.” Plain and simple. Cut and dry. Just like that.

I’ve always loved water, ever since I can remember. Jumping in, splashing around, a cool chill rushing over you. It's almost like you are weightless, carefree.

IN 1995 FEMALE VISUSLY GAVE ME A AAA , THAT’S WHEN I START FEELING DEPRESSED, I WAS STATION AT FT BLISS, TX I FOUND OUT MILITARY MEDIC AND MALE NURSES WOULD VILATE MY HIPPA RIGHTS, TELLING NON-MEDICAL PERSONNEL IN THE MILITARY UNIT I HAD A AAA. I PCS TO KOREA, MEDICS REVIEW YOUR MEDICAL RECORD SEE IF I HAD ALL SHOTS, MALE NURSE SEE I HAVE A AAA, SAME THING HAPPEN, TELLING PERSONNEL IN THE UNIT I HAVE A AAA. 12 MONTHS OF HELL AND EMBEARMENT SAME THING HAPPEN TO ME OVER AND OVER, NOW ITS HARD FOR ME TO DO MY JOB IN THE MILITARY, HAD 3 PCS AFTER KOREA. THE THIRD PCS WAS MY LAST PCS, THE WORST, I COULD NOT DO MY JOB PARANIOD TO LEAVE MY APARTMENT AND DREAD GOING TO WORK. THEY WOULD TAKE AROUND TO DIFFERENT LOCATIONS MADE SURE ANYONE AROUND WOULD KNOW I HAD A AAA.