KHTS
By. Jade Aubuchon
Read the full article here.
In recognition of June as National Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Month, former U.S. Navy Pilot Congressman Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, sat down with KHTS to discuss public awareness about issues related to PTSD.
PTSD is a psychiatric condition that can occur when someone has seen or experienced a traumatic event and is often associated with military service, although it can affect anyone and can present itself in a variety of symptoms.
“It’s a spectrum, there are some people who just have a hard time dealing with say, loud noises, there are some people who have a hard time dealing with people and interacting socially, and then there are others that when it gets really bad they truly want to end their life,” Garcia said. “This is why we have to treat every case as if it was a more serious case until we know it’s not.”
A graduate of Saugus High School, Garcia began his military service in 1994 as one of the first F/A-18E Super Hornet strike fighter pilots in the Navy, flying over 30 combat missions during Operation Iraqi freedom over Baghdad, Fallujah, and Tikrit until 2009, after which he served for three years as a reservist instructor pilot.
“The fear was that people would treat you different, the fear was that you would be taken out of your job,” Garcia said of the attitude towards mental health during his time in the U.S. Navy.
“This is where a lot of the challenges with our veterans begin, it’s not a stigma necessarily, but it is something that folks don’t want to talk about. It’s not something that folks are comfortable sharing with other people that they’re having mental challenges,” Garcia said. “In the past — and I think this is changing a little bit, it is getting a little bit better as we put more awareness onto the problems — folks would see it as a weakness if you came forward and talked to your shipmates.”
The concept of PTSD is not a new one, it was referred to as “shell shock” during the World Wars or “combat fatigue,” but it was not until recent times that it really started to be acknowledged and treated in a systematic fashion.
“We didn’t acknowledge it after WWII, the Greatest Generation saw a war that was horrific, but that generation was almost entirely either compartmentalized or dealt with it in other ways and now we can really appreciate what that generation was going through,” Garcia said. “The Korean and Vietnam era we kind of turned our back on it and tried to dismiss it… We weren’t embracing our veterans, appreciating our veterans and that aggravated the problem. I don’t think it really was until the 1990s that we started to recognized what PTSD is and what our veterans went through.”
Garcia noted that the smaller, yet extended theaters of war experienced by modern soldiers on multiple deployments may change the way that current members of the military are impacted by the mental health effects of war compared to previous generations.
“Someone who joined the military in 2001 as an 18-year-old is probably still serving right now if they’re going a full career. If they’re a marine or an army infantry person they have seems five or six tours through these war zones,” Garcia said. “So pretty much their entire adult life has been in a warzone and they don’t realize necessarily the toll that takes on you mentally. They realize the physical challenges of that, their bodies feel it, but their minds and their spirits and their emotional sides are also getting taxed every time they go back.”
Garcia pointed out that awareness of mental health support and encouragement of getting help and building support networks are making a difference, but that there was a long way to go.
“I think it is getting better in the military because we have more awareness but the reality is that we’re still losing about 22 veterans a day to suicide, and in many cases, it’s going completely unnoticed,” Garcia said.
Garcia also pointed out that PTSD is not a condition that is exclusive to members of the military, but can affect anyone who has experienced a traumatic event of some kind.
“It’s not just folks in the military who suffer from PTSD, we as individual citizens see things, and unfortunately those tragedies around us on a daily basis,” Garcia said.
As a child of eight or 10 years old, Garcia had been attending a boat race on the coast when one of the race boats lost its rudder and ran ashore, nearly striking Garcia, and killing the young girl his age who had been standing next to him.
“The most devastating thing that you can see as a human being, and as an 8 or 10-year-old, the impact that it has on your life… so at a very young age I’ve always had that image and what I saw there and how fast things can go poorly,’ Garcia said. “But it gave me an appreciation for life, an appreciation for how quickly life can go from good to bad and we can’t take any day, anything for granted.”
Garcia noted that one of the greatest ways to support veterans experiencing mental health challenges is to get them in contact with a support system of other veterans, either through natural organizations or local chapters.
“There’s nothing more powerful than a veteran talking to a veteran,” Garcia said.
Anyone seeking information about mental health resources available in the Santa Clarita Valley can click here for a list of resources. There are 24-hour phone numbers available. In the event of an emergency, 911 should always be the first call. Those looking to speak with someone can call:
- 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Veterans can press 1 to be directed to the Veteran Crisis Helpline)
- 1-800-854-7771 for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health
- 1-800-784-2433 for the Treatment Advocacy Center
- 661-259-9439 for the SCV Child & Family Center
- 661-288-4800 for the Santa Clarita Valley Mental Health Center
- 661- 765-8445 for Insight Treatment Santa Clarita
- 800-852-8336 for the Teen Line Peer Suicide Prevention 6-10 p.m. or text TEEN to 839863
- 1-866-488-7386 for the Trevor Project LGBTQ suicide helpline
