I knew I couldn’t save the world but I could do my part. This problem wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon so I wanted to take part in finding the solution. I knew my life’s story, struggle, and experiences could help and make an impact. It was an epidemic that millions of Warriors were affected by. I realized that my problems weren’t isolated. Men and women in uniform were taking their own lives at alarming rate. It was here I truly got a feel for the problem plaguing society and our country. I had just discharged from the center a few months earlier. This opportunity presented itself to me by the owners of the Sundance treatment center and my best friends Josh and Lisa Lannon. I became a part of The Warriors Heart team in 2014. After leaving recovery and battling “My Demons” it gave me a sense of new life, it gave me a direction, it kept me sober which was the most important thing of all. In the fall of 2013 I entered into treatment and it changed my life completely. This was something I never could or would have ever imagined. I was truly sick and lost in a world I no longer wanted to be a part of. To make a long story short, I ended up with my semi-auto 40’ cal in my hand contemplating taking my own life on several occasions. I started “self medicating” even more and felt no purpose in life. Trying to make the transition into civilian life wasn’t working out for me. The most important person in my life, my daughter suffered for sure. Everything around me started to crumble including my marriage, relationship with my parents and my will to live. Needless to say, I eventually was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and medically retired that year.Īt the time, I was elated about retirement at 41 years of age but my life soon turned into a pure hell. I had seen a handful of counselors during my career but now sought a more intensive therapy regimen. The work conditions became more difficult and my struggles worsened. There came a time in 2012 when the city and Police Department I worked for was really feeling a budget crisis.
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