As the Country ignored and refused to sacrifice, some even making handsome livings denying what always has been but not recognized, Veterans and some civilians, most back then from the anti-war movement, readily jumped in to help their brothers and sisters as we came home from Vietnam. Like those who've served before today's Veterans are once again doing same, and once again the country refuses to demand it sacrifice!
August 8, 2012 - Things probably should have turned out differently for Samantha Schilling.
The stories she tells have dark beginnings and could have had, under different circumstances, dark endings -- as so many stories for those in the military do.
Schilling, now 31, served in the U.S. Navy from 1999 to 2003. She was never deployed but worked as an information systems technician at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.
Several of her friends were killed during the 2000 al Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, which left 17 dead and at least 37 injured. Some of the injured were transferred to her base in Norfolk.
Many of the survivors suffered from mental trauma after the bombing. One of them, a man who had been aboard the ship, attacked Schilling and attempted to rape her.
That assault drove home the impact that active duty had on her colleagues' mental state.
"I experienced military sexual trauma, and that just inspired me," she said. "Coming back into civilian life, you're not the same person you were in the military. ... You carry with you all these burdens, all these stressors."
Schilling was released from service with an honorable medical discharge in 2003. Since that time, she has taken on a personal mission to help others who need counseling after military service. She's nearly completed a masters in a joint military psychology and neuropsychology program at the Adler School of Professional Psychology in Chicago and plans to finish her doctorate degree in 2015.
"I'm determined to be able to be helpful to others," she said. "Helping others helps me. ... I think therapy can help people adapt to civilian life again instead of maladapt. People who have PTSD and other (issues) can maladapt and cause trouble in the civilian world." read more>>>
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