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Permalink Reply by larry cooke on May 9, 2012 at 8:56pm

 

Firemoose, some time you will have to tell how you got that name,

PTSD is PTSD. It doesn't matter how you got it but you did and have to deal with it. I also experienced some incidents that I don't wish on anyone. I had to extricate my best friend from a fire truck accident. He was hit by a city snow plow when half the crews were in training. I heard the call tones and before the dispatcher could give us more than the address we were enroute. My crew and I were first on scene except for incident commander. The B/c assigned us the driver of the truck who ran a red light and broadsided the engine. We were pissed so we stabilized the idiot and left him on a backboard in the street to assist in the extricattion. I cut the door off and my best friend kept calling my name and telling me he couldn't feel his legs. He ended up a parapelegic due to a broken neck and I had to call his parents from the scene. After he was d/c from rehab. I had to go to his house while on duty and remove his gun b/c he was threatening suicide.. I can see that incident today like it was yesterday but it was abt. 20 years ago. PTSD is real no matter how you aquired it. It is a normal response to an abnormal event. I went on to do CISD for 15 trs, the last one being the Colorado Columbine shooting. I still have nightmares, intrusive thoughts, substance abuse and depression. The best intervention for me was EMDR, but it didn't take away everything.. It is quite effective for some but not for others.

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Permalink Reply by Ian Thompson on July 21, 2012 at 7:11pm

I was in Mekong Delta, Vietnam as a rifleman and squad leader with the 9th Infantry for tet in 1968. I have some difficulites from then, friends left behind.

33yrs with L.A. County Fire Dept, 1 as a fireman, 8 as a medic and 24 as an Engineer.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Ainsworth on July 22, 2012 at 7:32am

I spent 12 years in the USMC active and 4 reserve. With 8 months in Desert Storm. I have 17 years as volunteer FF and K9 Search Specialist with Delaware Search and Rescue. I was diagnosed 2 years ago. Dr's believe it is a cumulative effect or combination of all that I have seen. It is toughest on my wife though! We have all seen our fair share of some really bad things. I am curious as to why some suffer more than others. Thanks for reaching out on this often misunderstood condition.

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