Traumatic Events

Yesterday while riding my RoadKing with my wife, we were witness to a lady falling off the back of a motor cycle. I heard the bike scream by, through the intersection. I was watching the light and other trafific when my wife started yelling, “she fell off, over there, that lady just fell off of that bike!!!”. Needleless to say, we stopped, so did a car or two. Someone had gauze she could use and I called 911. We all stayed until the EMTs, Fire and Police arrived. She'll be ok. Lots of road rash and a big gash in her forehead.

On the way home afterward, I drove a little slower. Even today, riding into work, I had that little heart race feeling as I accelerated to pass a car on an urban 4-lane.

All of this has me thinking about PTSD - Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. We have experienced Traumatic stress. Different from PTSD in that it does not last for an extended period of time. When I leave work tonight, I suspect the heart race will be less than this morning and even less, if not gone, by this weekend. So, my thinking... imagine our troops...

My heart goes out to all Veterans. What little ‘trauma’ we experience is SO minimal compared to what they live with day in and day out.

IEDs...

Being shot at...

Rocket propelled grenades...

God bless our troops! You all are in my thoughts and prayers!