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Kristina 35 Wife of Veteran United States Army

Houston, TX United States

In addition to a peacekeeping deployment to Kosovo, my husband was deployed to Iraq twice. When he came home from his first Iraq deployment, he was a different person. He was more irritable, and little things would set him off. He would snap, and was a completely different person when he did. Before he left for his second Iraq deployment, he was not screened for PTSD, and ended up with some legal issues involving false accusations against him. With his PTSD, he did not have the tools to handle the legal issues very well, and ended up resigning for the good of the service. Needless to say, all these things have played havoc on our family. The year he was home after the second deployment was miserable. He didn't connect with us, abused alcohol, and could not find and keep work. This is a man who had been an officer...company commander, leader of men. He is now working in Kuwait with a private contracting company, and is finding great professional success. He has been through therapy, and seems to have made drastic personal improvements. Now it is time for me to heal. I have learned about Secondary PTSD, and realize that I what I have been experiencing on a more personal level is consistent with its description. So, I am realizing this about myself, dealing with the stressors of geographically single-parenting, and was teaching full time this school year in an unusually stressful environment. I also have a background in counseling, and would like to find and get involved in community-based support or some sort of advocacy program in order to both help and heal.