PTSD & Trucking

In previous wars, it was called shell shock.

 

PTSD is real. I've witnessed first hand.

I use to have a really good friend of mine name Dave from a previous job that was a vietnam vet and POW for 2 years. Really nice guy and would give the shirt off his back to help you out. Always had a smile on his face. I looked up to him and respected him and sorta looked at him as a mentor. He went out of his way to help me out when I first started at the job and I always appreciated what he did for me.

During that time, I never new he was a vietnam vet and POW. He had stints where he would work for 3 months and then disappear for 6 months and then out of the blue, show back up for work. We use to call him "Super Dave" because he literally drove 45-50 mph on the highway...lol. I always use to ask him where the hell have you been?...and he always dodged the question by just saying on a long vacation. I never really pressed the issue on his disappearances until another co-worker explained to me that he was a POW and a severe alcoholic. Everybody use to call him "Crazy Dave", because he could be the nicest person you ever met one day, and show up hammered from drinking the next. Management use to allow him to take as many days off as he wanted with no consequences because he was a war hero. Not too many people new about Dave's history and the ones who did...nobody ever talked about it openly because we all new how far gone he was mentally because of the war.

There's an old saying that goes..."you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped". But sometimes there are unfortunate events that happen to good people that completely changes them forever...to the point where they can never come back. PTSD is real. I think that's the reason why the suicide rate for military vets is so high.

 

Not a vet, but I’ve had been diagnosed with PTSD for about 8 years. It’s a main reason I want to get into driving; I’m sick of office drama, and the stress of having a boss breathing down your back all day.

It hasn’t effected my employment at all. Most employers 1. Don’t need to know or 2. Are super empathetic

I’ve met a lot of combat vets who became drivers, and did pretty well at it. Everyone I’ve met and known seems to be very supportive of vets, and would accommodate whatever their needs are, provided that they are preforming the job safely and well

 

Vets from all wars have suffered from PTSD, it just wasn't called PTSD then. They were either thought to be cowards and shot/killed or put in asylums for the insane.

 

I never put on my job applications that I'm a veteran. It's no one's business.
If you have PTSD, don't tell any potential employer or DOT doctor.
I wear a long sleeved shirt to job interviews because I have military tattoos.
I'm not ashamed of them at all, it's just that during a job interview those military tattoos are no one's business and don't affect how I perform the job, but may cause bias with the interviewer.

 

When I retired out of the military and was sent to a 12 week PTSD clinic we had Vets from every era there. WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and now Operation freedom.

The older guys have/had it. They just didn't talk about it. Shell shock is another name for PTSD. Some just don't wear it on their shoulder.

You can see subtle hints. Quite, withdrawn, has to sit facing the door, back against the wall, always on alert.

 

My father was WWII combat vet in North Africa and Italy. He suffered from PTSD and it changed his life dramatically from what his mother and my mother said. I found out from them, not from him, because he never talked about the war. He was in the Army for 5 years; before the war and during the war.
Had all the symptoms @Jenn72 posted.
Three of my uncles had it; none blood related just related thru marriage. All three were POW's and committed suicide in later life.

 

Never served, but I was in juvie as a teen. Lot of gangs in there. Violence was a regular thing. School covered it up. Part of makes living in the "real world" difficult was how much simpler life would be if a guy my size could just curb stomp anyone I had a problem with. It's not the same as military service but I had nightmares into my late 30's that "the school" was coming to take me back.

I can't talk to anyone about what that's like. So at least there's brotherhood in the military, and the public is more aware. If I were to bring up my past in casual conversation with strangers? It would be,,, awkward. Took me decades to deal with it.

Now I've been away from there more than twice as long as I was "in the system" I've adapted, but how much has my career suffered? I'll never know.

 

Seems you're a stronger person than those you served time with. That's what I surmise from your post.

 

For years beating the people that thought I'd just end up in jail anyway was what got me through the day. I'm sure my past would come up if I ever committed some crime. (I'll never be able to run for office, ha!) I've lost touch with everyone from that time.