From a Mother’s Point of View
Thank you for sharing the story about Moms going to war. I would like to share what happened last summer in my family if I may. I cried that evening as I stood there with my friends circling me. I was praying and my church family was praying with me. After being in denial for so long, my son had finally agreed to get help. Marijuana and alcohol were vices my son had turned to when he returned from Iraq. I noticed the changes immediately, a once charismatic young man now withdrawn from family and friends, nightmares that brought cries in the night, and headaches and irritability that would not stop.
He turned to marijuana and alcohol in hopes that he could forget, that he could just mellow out until he passed out. Still, there were times when his new companion (PTSD-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) kept him up.
I was terrified he would do something to hurt himself. He talked of suicidal thoughts and how he did not deserve to live when others had died. The headaches got worse and I turned to many organizations to try to get him help from the V.A. to the media. Eventually, he agreed to see someone and we found out he had a closed head injury. That was why the headaches had started that day in Iraq when the explosion rocked his vehicle.
Once David found out he wasn’t “crazy” as he kept thinking, that there was a physical reason for his headaches and mood swings (although the PTSD alone was self-explanatory in a combat veteran who went to a war zone as a teenager), then he began to see that he needed help to get off the marijuana and alcohol.
That was last summer. Now he is taking life one day at a time. He is in therapy and slowly regaining his confidence in himself and trust in other people. He is dealing with survivors’ guilt and knows that it is a common trait among war veterans who have lost friends in battle.
The post on here about moms going to war is accurate. Many times I wanted to go after the people in Iraq who were hurting the children and other innocent civilians and who hurt my son and killed his friend. I am grateful he made it home and I do not take my days with him for granted. Even now, as I worry about his bad days that he still gets sometimes it is uplifting to read a story such as the one shared here. It is reassuring to know that I am not alone in having felt like that.
