During her transition from the Army, Tessa found it hard to deal with knowing her Army buddies were in Afghanistan. She began to withdraw from others and sometimes felt annoyed with civilian friends who didn't seem to truly understand the sacrifices made by Service members and Veterans.
View Video TranscriptTessa:
All of my close friends that were in the Army with me I had just seen them go off to Afghanistan. Knowing the depth of that sacrifice and just how deep everything goes in the Army. That I think was the worse thing because I am looking at my friends in the civilian world and they are like what do you want to do today, let’s stay in bed all day or let’s go get a movie, let’s go do this or let’s go do that. It is not their fault they have no way of knowing the sacrifices that the people in the Army and the people in the service make. It is so hard to just try to connect with them once you know what you know and it is almost kind of annoying in a way, too. Seeing your friends just be so carefree when you know that your friends are in Afghanistan right now like literally being bombed or taking care of somebody that just had their leg blown off. So, it is a big difference.
I have kind of felt myself withdrawing a lot and I was getting really annoyed I think.
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