You don’t have to try and do it by yourself

John: 

My name is John.  I’ve been in the Air Force for 27 years, I retired as a Senior Master Sergeant.  I had no problems, being that I was Native American.  I was treated just like everybody else.

They blew up the barracks, I got a piece of shrapnel across my leg and then I got one in my stomach. They took x-rays of me and they found out that I had, you know, some shrapnel in my stomach. I stayed in after that. I went from Vietnam… I went to Germany and I did quite a bit of drinking while I was over there. I didn’t realize I had a problem. I didn’t think it was much of a problem to myself, but I did drink quite a bit.

After I got out, I went to the VA and I talked to some of the Psychiatrists and they were telling me how to deal with some of the stuff that I was dealing with. You come back to the States and people don’t realize that you need help, and so you just try to make things go by yourself. Everybody needs help, whether they know it or not. Go out there and seek help. Don’t try to do things by yourself like I did.