Returning to friendly diggs and nice people

Hello everyone,

I have been blessed with being able to correspond with some of my readers. I have had the privilege of corresponding with a particular Dad located right here in the Bay Area of San Francisco who enjoyed a great R&R with his soldier these last 18 days. The purpose of my post is this, many of our guy's are coming home and maybe affected with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. I am not trying to be negative, I am just trying to be positive here.

My new friends son returned recently for R&R after a long tour in Afghanistan and has returned just a few days ago to the same country. As most of you know I do withhold certain information when asked to, so in this case I will not be revealing any names. I promised the soldiers father that I wouldn't and so I won't, however this should not take away the importance of my topic here.

P.T.S.D. is real but the good news is it can be treated with just a few days home with friends and family and in some cases with medical help. So that you know the government has passed a law that Veterans are now afforded help for 5 years after discharge from the Army.

Now back to my real story, so my new friends son returns for some R&R and has a great time visiting friends and family. During his leave he attends a Track & Field event as his Dad has some involvement with. It's suppose to be a great day meeting new people and seeing his Dad doing what he loves. At the beginning of the meet a starters pistol fires and they are off and our soldier is doing what any other soldier does serving our nation, reacting to enemy fire. Ladies and Gentleman, this is classic sign of some level of P.T.S.D. My own son displayed some classic signs of this when he came home. although those symptoms were not present when he left one only wonders.

They will be in Italy for at least 30 days before being allowed to return home for leave some maybe they will be adjusted before returning home but please monitor them. Get them help if need be, these soldiers are so reluctant to seek help so they need us to to help them.

To the father that has shared with me, thank you Sir. I hope your soldier returns ready to face a life of happiness. My son also experienced some bad moments while traveling home. I think I understand these moments and want to help you all if I can. Read a previous post on P.TS.D I wrote, I hope it helps.

Larry Arnone
San Francisco

A Blue Star Dad (I want to keep it that way)

Thank you to all of our troops