"You have got to be kidding me!"
That was my exasperated cry when I realized that all of the pain I had been through since 2006 had to deal with the fact that my husband, my veteran and warfighter, was simply not treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The emotional upheaval in my house, the fact that he couldn't remember half of what we talked about, and the tension that was always in the air hoping he would not explode was not because he was a jerk after all. The fact that everything in the world was blamed on my failures, was actually not all my fault. And my only reaction to finally having all this fall into place was shock and disbelief.
When I became a military wife I expect that my husband would be gone for long periods of time and that he might come home with some haunting war stories, missing a limb, or not at all. I came in prepared for the basic things all military wives should be prepared for, but I certainly had no idea to expect any of what I have been exposed. The utter shock of what I have observed as a military wife is still taking its time to wear off, if it ever will.
Many warfighter's wives have remained silent for quite a long time about what we have gone through. Keeping our pain within the military community and away from prying eyes. Now a new breed seems to be coming out of the woodwork about two years after I was very vocally criticized for speaking up. No I am not bitter, I say it is about damn time! Many of the warfighter wives turned caregiver feel like they have to take up the fight where their veteran left off, but instead of defending America as a whole, we are defending the defenders. Kind of reminds me of that move "The Watchmen." Who watches the watchmen? We do.
You will find many blogs now by military wives hoping to relate their lives to that of civilians around the world. To let you see into our private club and welcome you into our community as friends. We have become warriors of words, of public relations, of love, and of activism. We are becoming caregivers for our entire veteran community. Our husbands were left by the government and the people to endure torment, and while we will never know what they went through we are ready to pick up the standard and fight the best way we know how. I am a warfighter's wife!
That was my exasperated cry when I realized that all of the pain I had been through since 2006 had to deal with the fact that my husband, my veteran and warfighter, was simply not treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The emotional upheaval in my house, the fact that he couldn't remember half of what we talked about, and the tension that was always in the air hoping he would not explode was not because he was a jerk after all. The fact that everything in the world was blamed on my failures, was actually not all my fault. And my only reaction to finally having all this fall into place was shock and disbelief.
When I became a military wife I expect that my husband would be gone for long periods of time and that he might come home with some haunting war stories, missing a limb, or not at all. I came in prepared for the basic things all military wives should be prepared for, but I certainly had no idea to expect any of what I have been exposed. The utter shock of what I have observed as a military wife is still taking its time to wear off, if it ever will.
Many warfighter's wives have remained silent for quite a long time about what we have gone through. Keeping our pain within the military community and away from prying eyes. Now a new breed seems to be coming out of the woodwork about two years after I was very vocally criticized for speaking up. No I am not bitter, I say it is about damn time! Many of the warfighter wives turned caregiver feel like they have to take up the fight where their veteran left off, but instead of defending America as a whole, we are defending the defenders. Kind of reminds me of that move "The Watchmen." Who watches the watchmen? We do.
You will find many blogs now by military wives hoping to relate their lives to that of civilians around the world. To let you see into our private club and welcome you into our community as friends. We have become warriors of words, of public relations, of love, and of activism. We are becoming caregivers for our entire veteran community. Our husbands were left by the government and the people to endure torment, and while we will never know what they went through we are ready to pick up the standard and fight the best way we know how. I am a warfighter's wife!
