Friends at the Daily Kos,
I wanted to take some time to reflect on the struggle I have had with chronic PTSD following my tour in Iraq. I have discussed it much on my own site Padre Steve's World which I started in some measure to share what I was going through following Iraq.
For years, PTSD dominated my life, in fact it almost defined who I was. The nightmares, night terrors, anxiety, depression, occasional thoughts of suicide, and so many other effects of it were often almost more than I could bear. But over the past few months, beginning with an existential crisis around Easter, I think I have turned a corner.
I have quoted James Spader’s character Raymond Reddington from the television series The Blacklist. Reddington told an FBI agent who had seen his fiancée murdered: “There is nothing that can take the pain away. But eventually, you will find a way to live with it. There will be nightmares. And every day when you wake up, it will be the first thing that you think about. Until one day, it’s the second.”
For me, my time in Iraq haunted me. It was the first thing that I thought of when I got up, when I went to bed, and so many times during the days, and through the sleepless nights. It still is there, I left part of me in Al Anbar Province and brought part of it back with me. That will not change, but it is no longer the first thing that I think about.
That my friends is a turning point. I still suffer in many ways from the effects of PTSD and mild Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI, and Moral Injury, but while they are a big part of me, they no longer define who I am. Iraq is no longer the first thing that I think about, and that my friends is important.
It has taken over eight years, and, yes, I still deal with the effects, the nightmares, occasional night terrors, the chronic insomnia, the anxiety I feel in certain places; but they don’t define who I am. I am a priest, a chaplain, a historian, a theologian, a husband, and a career military officer; not to mention daddy to two very sweet and smart Papillons.
Indeed, there is nothing that can take the pain away, but for me, it is now the second thing that I think about. For me, that is a victory.
Peace,
Padre Steve+