Page 15 - Total War on PTSD
P. 15

 That’s my PTSD. I returned from my Afghanistan deployment back in 2011 but, for part of me, it might as well have been just an hour ago.” – Courtenay M. Nold
I was ordered to Afghanistan in 2010 to work with the Third Naval Construction Regiment (3NCR), an outstanding Seabee regiment that has since been decommissioned, and was deployed for seven months. 3NCRs job was to support Operation Enduring Freedom and, under the direction of Captain Donald Hedrick, was in charge of four Naval Mobile Construction Battalions (NMCBs), one Air Force Engineering Command, two Army Combat Engineer Battalions, one Army Engineering Command, and three Army support units. 3NCR was responsible for construction engineering and engineering support in the Afghanistan theater, and played an essential in international security for coalition forces. Those of us who remained on the base (Forward Operating Base or FOB) never ‘officially’ saw combat. That is unless of course, like me, you lost count of how many rocket attacks and other attempts there were to penetrate the base perimeter and kill us there really were.
The issues I have dealt with since then really haven't let up as much as I have hoped they would. Please don’t get me wrong. There are many things that have helped me along the way, and there are things that continue to help me. This is not the way I used to be. I was very laid-back and self-confident before my deployment into the outer rim of hell known in some of our military circles as Afcrapistan (a.k.a. Afghanistan), as commonly referred to by my friend, Navy Journalist (now referred to officially as Mass Communication Specialists) and Chief Petty Officer Brian Naranjo.
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