To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
July 4th should be PTSD Awareness Day
Ask Congress and President Obama to formally honor our veterans and the costs of service they still bear by declaring July 4th to be not only our nations birthday, but also "PTSD Awareness Day."
Why is this important?
I work for the VA treating our veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Many of the vets I see are from the Vietnam War, and they were treated quite badly when they got back to the US, and have suffered in silence for decades. Sudden loud noises are still triggers for their nervous systems, and can bring on panic. So when July 4th comes around and most of us are saying "oohh!!...ahhh!!" when the fireworks go off, they are struggling to hang on, wishing desperately for the noises and the terribly hard memories they bring to stop.
Declaring July 4th as PTSD Awareness Day can raise public awareness of this condition, inviting more public dialogue, supporting research for treatment, and educating the public to understand some of what our vets struggle against every day. We need to support our ALL our veterans as they struggle to heal, both from conflicts decade past, and our new generations of vets from the current wars, many of whom have not yet returned home.
This is also fitting as our nation began with a war, and those who survived fighting it likely held a similar burden until they too passed away in time.
Declaring July 4th as PTSD Awareness Day can raise public awareness of this condition, inviting more public dialogue, supporting research for treatment, and educating the public to understand some of what our vets struggle against every day. We need to support our ALL our veterans as they struggle to heal, both from conflicts decade past, and our new generations of vets from the current wars, many of whom have not yet returned home.
This is also fitting as our nation began with a war, and those who survived fighting it likely held a similar burden until they too passed away in time.