I should probably wait until the others get here, I thought to myself as I slowly stepped forward. From the darkness, a loud STOMP echoed off the walls.
THE ONE
THE ONE On my first deployment, I was a young and naïve soldier with no family of my own. The thought of dying was far removed from my conscious, barely a blip on my radar. Even when faced with exploding things and some fairly fucked up shit, I still rarely considered my own mortality. None … Continue reading THE ONE
NUGGET NUMBER 4: COMING HOME
It’s hard to put a finger on exactly when the feelings began, but it was early in my return home. I think it was partly the realization that while we had been fighting and dying in the desert, everyone else had gone on with their lives like nothing was happening.
Fixing Veterans Day
It's so easy to separate veterans from the general population (and for us to do it on our own), but this piece highlights a way to think of service that brings us together.
NUGGET Number 2: The Void
I didn't seek help, because I had done that before and the response was just to throw pills at me. I just kept going on with life pretty much on autopilot. I lost friends to suicide, pills, and alcohol, but I ignored their warning signs and just kept going on with life as best I could.
NUGGET Number 1: The Fixer
I couldn’t share these feelings with my wife or my family; I was their protector. I couldn’t let them get a glimpse of this toxic mass of shit welling up in the corners of my mind. I attempted to open up to a few in the mental health community, but I could see the panic in their eyes when I got even remotely close to real talk. No, it was clear-I was on my own, because I am a Fixer.
Not Unusually Gifted 