Page 928 - Total War on PTSD

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” - Roger Caras
Courtenay: Unlike Michael, I did view my PTSD as a personal weakness for a long time...and especially so when I was in the process of being medically retired. Now I have PTSD related triggers that still bother me but I feel like I have found more ways to deal with those triggers. I don’t see it as a weakness any longer.
One place on the Kandahar Airbase that I frequented was the laundry trailer closest to my barracks...which was still a bit of a walk. I usually went there at least once every two weeks to try and uphold some sense of dignity and cleanliness within a constant baptismal of dust on base, in my office and otherwise.
One day when I wasn’t doing laundry, I heard that a rocket had hit my laundry trailer, destroying it, and killing and injuring multiple civilian and military personnel. The next day I went to check on where the trailer was and found that it had already been removed, and it looked like nothing had ever been there in the first place.
I felt like they should have left it there for at least one day so others could ‘process’ what had occurred. In the very least I thought that something should have been there in its place, to honor what had happened and to help others with a sense of closure.
Instead it simply disappeared, like it was never there in the first place, and that made me mad. I guess I do understand that, since there were local nationals on base, that it may have been better
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