by Ruben Rosario, 31 January 2017
“Am I going to die,”
were not the words 19-year-old Joe Williams thought when he woke up on December
19, 2009.
He woke up, went to the gym, showered, shaved, brushed his teeth, ate breakfast, and started his day, like he did every other day, but that day would prove to be different.
A deafening explosion, accompanied by the world spinning, smoke all around him, sharp pain, ringing in his head, and as he lingered on the edge of unconsciousness came the screaming.
“I was in a giant cloud of dust and smoke. My throat burned, like I was trying to breathe in fire. I felt pain in my mouth and tasted blood. I smelled diesel fuel, and then I was out,” he said. “I woke up for a few seconds, and I wasn’t in control of my body. I remember screaming uncontrollably. I tried to tell my body to stop, but I couldn’t stop screaming. My buddy eventually calmed me down, and when I could talk. I just started apologizing. I thought it was my fault.”
Over 30,000 Americans die in automobile accidents in the United States each year according to the National Highway Traffic Administration, but Joe wasn’t in an accident. Joe wasn’t even in the U.S.
Joe was in Kandahar, Afghanistan, a soldier in the U.S. Army. Insurgents targeted his vehicle with a 250 lb., deep-buried, command-wire improvised explosive device (IED). The insurgent waited until Joe’s vehicle, a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle passed over the IED, and then he triggered the device, intending to kill Joe and his friends with an explosion full of molten metal, liquefied by the heat of the blast.
Joe and his buddies were fortunate. They did not die that day. Their physical wounds would heal, but Joe was left forever changed. While you cannot tell the ordeal Joe survived by looking at him, eight years later, he still bares the emotional and mental scars of the day a stranger tried to kill him.
Joe now stays away from crowds. Unexpected loud noises can cause him to panic. He remains hyper-vigilante, always looking for a threat, worrying that another stranger is waiting to kill him, and can you blame him? How would you feel knowing a stranger tried to kill you?
Joe often feels isolated, but he is getting help. He receives treatment for his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Additionally, Joe is participating in a study conducted by the Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium. He wants to help others who live with PTSD.
You can help people suffering from PTSD.
“Be there for them. Listen to them, and treat us as normal,” Joe says. “We are people, too, and we want the same as anyone else. We’ve just been through different things.”
Contact the National Center for PTSD at (802) 296-6300 for information on how you can help. You can find them online at ptsd.va.gov.
Help those like Joe who live in pain, facing the constant reminders of their ordeals, not because you support their cause. Help them because, in Joe’s words, “we’re human, like you.”
Leave a comment below if you suffer from PTSD or know someone who does.
About the author:
Ruben Rosario is a PTSD survivor. He also suffers from PTSD from combat operations during his deployments to Afghanistan in the U.S. Army. He now lives in Florida and produces music. He enjoys spreading PTSD awareness because he understand the impact PTSD has on those who experience PTSD and their families.
For more information
about Ruben and his music, visit his website at RezVidal.com.