I noticed I would be more isolated and the nightmares were bad. But one major thing that would also happen to me is like I didn't want to get too close to people because they would either be leaving or I would be leaving. Even to this day, I have a hard time being friends with someone that's not even military. I felt lonely.
My name's Brennae, I served in the United States Air Force as an Engineer Technician from 2002 to 2010. Our squadron deployed a lot. And so my third deployment was going to be to Iraq in 2009. So Iraq was closing down, so I was like, okay, that won't be too bad. However, while in transition, we stopped in Qatar and at that point they changed my orders to Afghanistan. And I knew it was extremely dangerous there, so I was prepared for Iraq and not Afghanistan. And while there, it was rocket attacks, bombs all the time.
June 2009, that particular attack happened in the middle of the night and it resulted in a death of someone across the street from us. So that was pretty traumatic for me. I would have nightmares about it all the time. I remember getting back from that deployment, like when a door would close, I would just duck. And when I would go to a restaurant or someplace, I'm always watching a door. I would never let anyone walk behind me, basically. Things like that would happen and I wouldn’t know it, people would have to tell me. And so that encouraged me to start seeking treatment at the VA.
When I started talking about things, I felt better and sometimes I didn't have as many nightmares. They help you figure out what your stressors are too. And then they give you coping strategies for those stressors, and that has helped big time.
Going to the VA makes me happy. Just having somebody there listen to you, their recommendations was for me specifically. The number one tool I like to use is journaling. And then another thing is talking to other women Veterans, because I always seek out women counselors. And so that really helps me. I like bike riding. I am an entrepreneur, and my work actually helps. Every day my cases involve Veterans. I'm able to connect with them and it helps me. I'm helping somebody and it makes me feel good about life.
I saw one Make The Connection video and I just like what's being done. And it's encouraging people to just talk with someone because sometimes people don't want to talk about what's going on because they don't want to be judged. But everyone has problems or have something they dealing with and there's something that can help them.
