My life as a veteran in college has helped me grow as a person.

When I first left the Army, it was an extremely hard period in my life because I left everything behind, all my friends who I trained, grew, and fought with were no longer there but the worst part was losing people who had the same experience of loss and trauma as I did.

When I was in the Army, I would tell another soldier how that night, I woke up looking for my weapon. The soldier would laugh it off with me and tell me “it happens to everyone.”

It made you feel a sense of normality. I never realized I had PTSD till I left the Army.

At first I was ashamed to admit it and I didn’t want to believe it, but the only reason I felt ashamed was the stigma that goes along with PTSD.

I felt if I tell others, it would impact the way I am treated and the way people interact with me, because in the past, I told people about my experiences and it completely changed the way they saw me.

I felt if I told people I had PTSDl they would see me as broken or weak, but that’s not true. People with PTSD are strong because they survived the events that scarred them.

PTSD has a lot of stigmas and since no one has addressed the issue, I will.

I have come to a point in my life I feel sharing this will help others. PTSD does not always have to affect a person’s everyday life.

While at school, students’ curiosity gets the best of them and they ask questions like “You are not messed up, right?” and “What was the most traumatic event for you?” Asking a veteran this can being up a lot of emotions.

I realize they do not mean it to be malicious, that they just want to know. But for other veterans who are not as open about it, it can be a painful question.

I talk openly about war because I want people to know about the world and the people who fight for this country. But, most importantly, to care about what is happening.

If a student asked, “What was the highlight while you were in the military?” or even just ask about a funny event, I would much rather talk about that.

I had some of the best times of my life while I was deployed. I love to share those experiences with students, but people usually want to hear about the bad or traumatic things you saw or did.