Page 746 - Total War on PTSD

was taught when I was becoming an NCO, your brain is in the wrong spot. You should be thinking in terms of maximum. If you are only focused on the minimum then you are only going to do what you need to get by and you are not living up to your own full potential. The minimum will never cut it in the real world or in military operations."
I don't usually talk to any of my fellow Veterans about my service because it may spark flashbacks for them. I just don't talk about it and I don't really want to remember it. I know the one thing I remember when I came home from my last tour in 2009, and they wanted me to talk to somebody right away. I told them I didn't want to do it and they made me do it. The lady I spoke to kept pushing me and she pissed me off. So, I told her, "What part don't you understand that I don't want to talk about it?" I was very angry and she kept pushing me when I didn't want to be pushed. The truth be told was, I just wanted to go home. I wanted to be with my family. I wanted to touch my kid. The number of amputees we dealt with were astronomical and I knew that my son was intact. It was just something in my brain that made me want to go home and put my hands on him and touch him, and make sure that he was okay.
If someone in my family was thinking about joining the military, I would say it's their choice, not mine. Just like civilian jobs, being in the military is not for everyone. My son asked me about joining the military at one point and I asked him why he wanted to join the military. He couldn't give me a direct answer. So, I asked if he wanted to do it because I did...or if he was doing it because he wanted to make me proud. To the first question I told him not to waste his time...and the second I told him I was already proud of him. I said that it was his life and I wanted him to live his life the way he wanted to.
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