On this day, we remember the high price paid for our freedom. Freedom is not free.
My Gifts, Among Other Things: Update on Friend#links
I just read this post a few minutes ago. Even though it has been over a year since Mark's last deployment, I am well aware there are familes praying for the protection of their loved ones.
This is a prayer request for a man who was injured.
Please keep this family in your prayer.
While we sleep, they stay awake.
While we sleep, they guard our freedom, keeping the enemy from our shores.
Before we place our heads to pillows, let us pray for the men and women who make up our troops. Pray for their protection, that they return to their loveds and give thanks that they are willing to give their lives so that we may enjoy ours.
Being a military family has never been easy. But today, our families face demands generations before us never have.
For the past two years, we have been at war. Our servicemen and women have faced back to back deployments. Wives, husbands, parents and children have said more goodbyes, send more carepages and letters than ever before. While we have e-mail, cell-phones and Skype, they still do not take the place of mum or dad being in the same room. Thanks to Cable and 24 News, we see what is going on in the war zones in real time. We search for our loved ones' faces in the sea of army gear and pray that the report of a dead soldier isn't our loved one.
More marriages strain under five and six deployments, more children live in insecurity.
And as more of our soldiers come home, our heroes cannot find jobs to care for their families.
Thankfully, today's military is aware of the struggles the service person and their families face today. Today's Veteran's Center are working hard for those who are struggling to adjust to their present life. While Mark continues to look for a job (it has been two years) he is going for counseling at the VA Center for PTSD. I go with Mark on some of his visits, but mostly this is his time. It was discovered that I too suffered from second hand PTSD, better known as SPTSD. Liken to second hand smoke, simply statement, this means the spouse and even the children can take on the stress of the Veteran. So, we as a couple are being treated for PTSD, learning to handle the unseen wounds.
Oh, it is easy to dismiss PTSD as just depression, just 'snap out of it.'
Easy to say, not to do.
The first step is knowing what is wrong. The next, is finding the resources to help to begin to help the wounds, to begin the adjustments so we can move forward once again.
The VA Center and VA hospitals are both good places to start.
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