Interesting concept ... self medicating with service. Looking back, I can see that applied to my dad. 26 years in the Marines, followed by 5 years in corporate banking. He died over 30 years ago. When he retired, he fell apart and into alcohol (again, a problem masked by work/service/belonging) which led to a head injury from a bad fall, brain damage ... the whole shebang. He never came back from that. He came from a generation that thought "if you see a psychiatrist you ought to have your head examined". Thankfully, societal thinking has progressed. Hopefully, the military will someday figure it out. Thanks for posting.
My 72 year old father killed himself almost 4 years ago. He was a Vietnam Veteran, a mining engineer, a genius who knew more about WWII, Napoleon, and middle eastern religion than anyone else I have ever met. But he suffered from undiagnosed ADHD, and he definitely suffered from depression. And he self medicated. After Vietnam, he did have PTSD - night terrors that he wouldn't talk to anyone about, but you are right...that isn't the reason he had mental health issues which limited his success in life, and were the death of him in the end. Those were already there before he started basic training.
As you know, my son is on a 504, and he is also a genius. One of his many, many dreams is to be a pilot someday. Should I take him off his 504 before the age of 14 so he can be in the military?
F*** that.
They would be lucky to have him.
Thank you for being direct and truthful, and for always seeing many sides.
I am sorry to hear about yet another loss on your team. How heartbreaking for all of you.
Interesting concept ... self medicating with service. Looking back, I can see that applied to my dad. 26 years in the Marines, followed by 5 years in corporate banking. He died over 30 years ago. When he retired, he fell apart and into alcohol (again, a problem masked by work/service/belonging) which led to a head injury from a bad fall, brain damage ... the whole shebang. He never came back from that. He came from a generation that thought "if you see a psychiatrist you ought to have your head examined". Thankfully, societal thinking has progressed. Hopefully, the military will someday figure it out. Thanks for posting.
My 72 year old father killed himself almost 4 years ago. He was a Vietnam Veteran, a mining engineer, a genius who knew more about WWII, Napoleon, and middle eastern religion than anyone else I have ever met. But he suffered from undiagnosed ADHD, and he definitely suffered from depression. And he self medicated. After Vietnam, he did have PTSD - night terrors that he wouldn't talk to anyone about, but you are right...that isn't the reason he had mental health issues which limited his success in life, and were the death of him in the end. Those were already there before he started basic training.
As you know, my son is on a 504, and he is also a genius. One of his many, many dreams is to be a pilot someday. Should I take him off his 504 before the age of 14 so he can be in the military?
F*** that.
They would be lucky to have him.
Thank you for being direct and truthful, and for always seeing many sides.
I am sorry to hear about yet another loss on your team. How heartbreaking for all of you.