Book Nook: Moving Past PTSD - Consciousness, Understanding, and Appreciation for Military Veterans and Their Families

From World War I through the present, the United States has neglected to provide adequate transition support to millions of veterans leaving military service. Instead of meaningful jobs, access to quality healthcare and education, and fair and equitable housing, what our veterans find when they return home is a new battle — against a failed bureaucracy that has let them down for the past 100 years.

As a nation, our misguided perception is that GI Joe and Jane can simply return home and pick up right where they left off. In truth, the military member who deployed overseas is often markedly different than the one coming home. The Joe and Jane who joined the military in the first place are gone, and they're not coming back.

In his compelling new book, Moving Past PTSD: Consciousness, Understanding, and Appreciation for Military Veterans and Their Families, retired Lieutenant Colonel Jaime B. Parent tackles many issues facing our nation's veterans, including mental illness, unemployment, discrimination, and many other challenges related to transitioning to civilian life. Using thought-provoking interviews with veterans, caregivers and family members, Lt. Col. Parent hopes to break the relentless cycle of misunderstanding that prevents far too many veterans from successfully reintegrating themselves into family lives and careers. Moving Past PTSD aims to change our understanding of who the 21st century veteran is. Through this understanding, we can change their lives — and the lives of those who love them — for the better. 

I had a chance to interview him to learn more.

1. Why did you write this book?

I’m a retired Lieutenant Colonel having served in the United States Air Force for 20 years.I was also Vice President of Information Technology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.Being a military retiree and veteran myself, I was trying to answer some questions that had puzzled me.Questions like:

- Why are so many veterans committing suicide?

- Why is the unemployment rate higher than civilian counterparts?

- I don’t really hear the voices of minorities in the narrative.What is going on with women, persons of color, members of the LGBT community.What really happens to a Gold Star Mom?

- Does our society’s knowledge and response to PTSD match what is really going on, and how does it affect families?

I was finding jobs for veterans in healthcare information systems, but during my discussions with veterans, family members, minority groups and mental health specialists, I started to put together the pieces that mainstream society was not getting.I discovered things about these groups and about myself, so I put this book together to share what I learned and move the narrative beyond Chicagoland so that others could pick up the ball on their own and help veterans in their own communities.

2. Why are families important when treating PTSD?

When GI Joe or Jane come back home from battle with “invisible wounds” such as PTSD, the whole family and local sphere of that veteran are affected.A veteran with PTSD becomes a family with PTSD.The person that deployed overseas no longer exists; he or she is replaced by this new person, unfamiliar to family, friends and loved ones, and perhaps, even themselves.And no one understands each other.

Studies show that when families are involved in the counselling and therapy sessions, the recovery for the veteran increases dramatically. You see, therapy sessions last an hour, maybe two.And after therapy, everybody comes home and carries on.The veterans and the family need strategies inside and outside the clinic, often times 24/7/365.This type of issue needs everybody to be all in all of the time, for the triggers that bring on PTSD can come anytime and anywhere.Often times, the night terrors happen in the middle of the night and the veteran and the family need to be trained on what to do when they do happen.

3. Can PTSD be cured?

In the book, I describe the story of Marine Corporal Bea Kenny.Bea was an ammunitions expert in the marines.Her job was to bring ammunition and weapons to the front lines where marines were fighting.Bea told me that she never expected to come home.If something happened, her job was to save as many marines as she could mostly because in her mind, she wasn’t going to make it home anyway.

Bea saw some horrible things overseas.When she came home, she stayed mostly inside, avoided crowds and treated strangers with suspicion.When she began the EN-Abled Vet (http://en-abledvet.net) internship (a 13-week fast track on the job training program I started), she struggle with the 2 hr. train ride back and forth to work, always on guard, always suspicious.

One day, she came running into my office. “Jaime, you’re not going to believe it.I went to lunch today!”

“So?” I said.

“No, you don’t understand!I went to lunch and people were talking to me.They had questions, like ‘where do you like to shop? or what programs do you like to watch.Have any hobbies?”

“And?’ I said.

“Don’t you get it!?!They wanted to know about ME!When people first meet me, they say, ‘So you’re a marine, huh?Did you ever kill anybody?What’s it like to be with all those guys?’They didn’t ask me any of that.They treated me like a person.I haven’t been treated that way in a long time.”

Bea did very well in our program.As she continued to learn and grow, her psychiatrist cut her medications in half.One day, Bea came into my office proclaiming that this internship had cured her PTSD.I was highly flattered but also highly skeptical.But she was insisting her PTSD was cured.I said, “Well Bea, you’re doing great.I think cure is a strong word but if it works for you, that’s great!” I am not a psychologist, but it seemed clear to me that a work therapy program, designed to teach IT skills, could hardly result in a cure.

ItoldDr.Karnik, a staff psychiatrist at Rush University Medical Center where I worked about Bea, and to my surprise, he said that the internship probably did cure her PTSD. I was floored!

Dr. Karnik explained that her EN-Abled Vet internship was therapy forBeaandalongwithherparticipationinotherprograms,herPTSD couldbecured,orattheveryleast,becamealotmoremanageable.It was at his point that I realized that a compendium of modalities and treatments were key to treatment, including family, evidenced base practice, and new strategies.

So, you be the judge. What about this veteran? Is her PTSD cured?"

4. How does society fail military veterans and what contributes to the rate of veteran suicide?

The United States has been unsuccessful in reintegrating military personnel for over 100 years.Back in WWI, we used terms like “battle fatigue,” “combat stress” of “shell shocked.”PTSD is essentially the same thing.While treatment strategies and new medications have made tremendous progress with these returning warfighters, many issues remain the same:lack of affordable housing, not enough college programs to go around, high unemployment and a general misunderstanding that the person who left is not the same person that came back home.Many veterans told me that their deployment to the warzone was harder than coming back home.Hard to believe, maybe, but that's why so many veterans redeploy one, two, three times and more.The battlefield is their new home, their war buddies, their new family.

Many veterans come home lost.Without hope, is it any wonder then why 20+ veterans become so overwhelmed and depressed that they take their own lives?

5. How can veteran hiring processes be improved to better serve our military?

First off, there is no one to blame here.Mistakes are made by veterans and employers.Some veterans feel they are entitled to a job; some companies are afraid to hire disabled veterans.It is wonderful that Fortune 500 companies such as Boeing, Walmart and Coca-Cola have given job to thousands of veterans.But giving a job is not enough.We were successful with the EN-Abled Vet internship because we created a receptive and nurturing environment which you saw with Corporal Kenney.

In looking for a job, veterans do not want sympathy or charity.They want to compete like everyone else.They just don’t know how.Think about it for a moment.A military member doesn’t have a resúme, doesn't go to a job interview.They just get up and go.So many veterans lack the skills needed to put a resúme and the soft skills and social cues necessary to land a job.They skills have to be practiced, have to be learned.One frustrated veteran complained to me that he sent his resúme to 100 potential job openings and hadn’t heard back from any of them.“I know what’s going on.They just don’t want to hire veterans like me.”

“No,” I said.“Chances are most if not all of those resúmes you sent never met a pair of human eyes.This is the new normal you have to understand son,” I told him.

Military members have a strong sense of purpose and strong sense of service.They have been given jobs and responsibilities at a very young age.Many want to continue to serve and not work in a warehouse or fast food place.I’m not knocking these jobs at all; they are a great fit for some.But many veterans want more responsibility.That is why veterans make great teachers, police officers, fire fighters and other community service careers.Hiring organizations need to better understand this and like Bea, create an environment where they can grow and survive.

Author Jaime B. Parent is a retired Lieutenant Colonel, Biomedical Science Corps, United States Air Force. He continues to serve by creating a unique fast track IT career internship, the EN-Abled Vet, which has been adopted across 15 states. Lt. Col. Parent is a passionate advocate for inclusive communities. He now writes about his experiences with his fellow veterans. He is also a sought-after speaker at veterans and disability events as well as conferences in healthcare, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.