Wednesday, June 27th was officially recognized as the 3rd annual National PTSD Awareness Day.  PTSD Awareness Day was first established by Congress in 2010 after Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota proposed honoring North Dakota Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Joe Biel, who was a suicide casualty following two tours in Iraq. Biel’s birthday was June 27. Tragically and stunningly, in the first 155 days in calendar year 2012, the active duty armed forces endured 154 suicide casualties – as sure a cry for help as there is.

It took a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and millions of words, and thousands of shattered lives, for our nation to finally recognize the legitimate and true nature of post-traumatic stress and the effect it has on survivors of trauma. Trauma comes in many many shapes and sizes – I call them species of trauma. Combat, certainly. Accidents, whether vehicular or otherwise. Domestic abuse. Sexual abuse. Bullying. Racism. Crime victimization.

The link above includes 12 ways to increase awareness of PTSD in the community. PTSD does not affect just returning veterans. It affects every community, and all ages. It is, in effect, a 12-Step program for community members to learn about living with trauma.

But soldiers and veterans experience something else – a different species of trauma. Because they are volunteers. Every single one of us volunteered to don the uniform, to strap on the boots, and to take up arms to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. That is a good thing. Its a morally right and defensible action. Love of country is part of the natural order. So what happens?

My friend Nan Levinson of Tufts University is a writer and PTSD researcher. She has written an incredibly insightful essay about “moral injury” crossed posted at Tom Dispatch and the Huffington Post. Entitled Mad, Bad, Sad: What’s Really Happened to America’s Soldiers, she calls these moral injuries “sacred wounds.” Here she tells the story of a soldier:

“Andy had assumed that his role would be to protect his country when it was threatened. Instead, he now considers  himself part of “something evil.” So at a point when his therapy stalled and his therapist suggested that his spiritual pain was exacerbating his psychological pain, it suddenly clicked. The spiritual part he now calls his sacred wound. Others call it “moral injury.”

Nan goes on to explain:

“While the symptoms and causes may overlap with PTSD, moral injury arises from what you did or failed to do, rather than from what was done to you.  It’s a sickness of the heart more than the head. Or, possibly, moral injury is what comes first and, if left unattended, can congeal into PTSD.”

She gives credit for the term “moral injury” to Dr Jonathan Shays, the MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and Boston VA Psychiatrist who wrote Achilles in Viet Nam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Moral Character and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Coming Home.  There is an important academic paper on the phenomenon of moral injury entitled Moral Injury and Moral Repair in War Veterans published by in 2009.

It is no accident that the first National PTSD Awareness Day happened in 2010.

Awareness is not enough. Reaching out. As in combat, creating bonds under extreme conditions of stress and trauma. The VA has a new campaign called Make the Connection. Veterans share a common bond of duty, honor, and service. Some military Veterans served in combat overseas. We experienced things – life – that most people can’t fathom. We know. We get it. That’s why we have to reach out.

 

I feel that an introduction is probably the best course of action as many people reading this article will have no idea who I am. My name is Joe Nunez, and I am a former US Marine, Disabled Veteran and member of the newly graduated, inaugural class of the Entrepreneurship Boot camp for Veterans with Disabilities at the University of Connecticut’s School of Business. I was born in Brooklyn, New York and my family moved to San Antonio, Texas when I was just three years old. I spent my entire childhood in San Antonio, graduating high school and leaving for Marine Corps boot camp three weeks later. In 2005 I was injured while participating in unit physical training, requiring two extensive surgeries on my ankle just to be able to walk without a limp. By the end of 2006 it had become painfully apparent that I would no longer be able to wear the uniform of a US Marine for very much longer. The Marine Corps treated me well and allowed me to finish my contract and I separated honorably after seven years and four months of service in October of 2007.

Since leaving the Marine Corps I have been working in the industrial laundry industry in a variety of roles. After being laid off three days after Christmas of 2009, my wife and I decided that we needed to begin exploring our options for financial security that did not depend on anyone else’s judgment or hard work (other than my own). We decided to begin cultivating an idea for a business that would take my existing skill set and apply it to a larger market capable of providing our family with a comfortable living. The only problem was that neither of us knew where to begin. So the idea lay dormant for several months, recurring in my head every so often. I was frustrated by the lack of direction I had as I took another job and desperately hoped I’d be able to find a way to make my dreams come true.

In summer of this year, I received a phone call from a very dear friend and former Marine, Darryl Hill. Darryl is one of the most gifted networkers I have ever met, getting business contacts in even the most innocuous of places. He was calling me to tell me about a course he had recently attended that he believed I could benefit from. The course, The Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Veterans (or EBV for short) was designed specifically for veterans with disabilities who had served our country honorably and had a desire to be in business for themselves. I was skeptical at first I must admit, because what Darryl was describing to me sounded too good to be true. The course is provided at no cost to the veterans he explained, and anything and everything you will need while you are there is provided. The instruction is world class and you really do learn a lot about what programs and opportunities are available to veterans. In my life experiences, when something sounds too good to be true, it generally is. I applied nonetheless and completed a phone interview a few weeks later.

When I received my acceptance letter to the program, a whirlwind of activity began. I participated in a rigorous, 30 day online course that provided some of the key components of what would eventually become portions of my business plan. After the online portion I was whisked away to the beautiful campus of the University of Connecticut to spend 10 very long, very challenging days going through classes and writing my business plan. Days began early and ended late. We were given world class instruction by the amazing instructors at the UConn School of Business, all of whom had volunteered their time and energy to give the 14 of us all the tools necessary to be successful. UConn rolled out the red carpet for us in every possible way, including allowing us the privilege of walking out onto the football field during a Huskies game to receive personalized, signed footballs as thanks for our service to this great country of ours.

When I left the University of Connecticut I had an entirely different perspective on life, my business and my potential. I am now in the development stage of my business and am actively working to secure the funding necessary to open San Antonio’s first Residential Laundry Service. I cannot overlook the fact that without the fine folks at the University of Connecticut’s School of Business, I would still be working for someone else, wondering when the next layoff was coming. Instead I am working for myself, working harder than I ever have before but loving every minute of it.

To my fellow veterans I thank you for the friendship, camaraderie and objectivism that lead me to where I am today. Every veteran in the course is a fine example of the best the US Military has to offer and I wish each of them good luck in their selected business ventures.

To the School of Business Staff, Dean Earley, Course Directors Mike Zacchea and Kathleen Dechant, graduate students and volunteers, thank you for giving of yourselves to help each of us realize our dreams.

To the students of the University of Connecticut, thank you for your hospitality and warm welcome to the UConn family. I only ask that you pay it forward and tell everyone you know about the course and the great people at the School of Business. Next time you meet a veteran, shake his/her hand and thank them for their selfless service to our nation. No matter your political, social or religious views, these fine men and women give of themselves to protect the very blanket of freedom you sleep under every night.

Joe Nunez