Page 791 - Total War on PTSD

“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself.” - Josh Billings
Courtenay: Two weeks after we got to Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2010 there were two military members who were killed while doing their job as part of a Route Clearance Team. My Commodore, Chaplain and Command Master Chief from the THIRD Naval Construction Regiment (3NCR) all went to the Ramp Ceremony...as did a couple hundred others.
I guess it's because of the memory issues that I developed since then...but I don't remember this particular event having happened so soon after our arrival. I handled casualty reporting in terms of injuries...but didn't really know about deaths until there were Ramp Ceremony Assembly Announcements or after talking to the 3NCR doctor. The announcements always brought sadness to my heart and soul that was, and still is, hard to break through. Whenever we did have Casualty Reporting that involved injuries that were significant enough to necessitate medical evacuation of service members, I would often be up way after my normal working hours, if you could call what I worked normal, sometimes even being up half the night or all night in the process. Often, because we were reporting information back to the United States, the expectation was that I get them all the information they required before I could go to bed...because they had just gotten into work and were waiting on the reporting.
This was a job I willingly took on and managed singlehandedly, on top of my regular job as Administrative/Personnel Department Head for 3NCR. I took on the job because it was a way that I knew I could support those who did go out into the field, those who left base on convoy, those who went in harm’s way with no guarantee of a safe return. It was very important for me
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