PTSD Awareness Month
June Story Spotlight
For our June Story Spotlight, we spoke with retired U.S. Army Veteran, Matt Pech – founder of Operational Athlete Inc. and Ruck for Veterans. Matt is a former Green Beret from Southern California who served for 15 years with 12 of those years on a Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA). During this time, Matt experienced nine deployments, four of which were combat rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan. As we continue to raise awareness of PTSD and Veteran suicide, Matt shares his experiences with post-traumatic stress, his own personal growth, resiliency and motivation. Matt is passionate about Veteran-centric non-profits, wellness, fitness, PTS awareness and Veteran suicide prevention.
Depicting The Invisible | A Closer Look
In recognition of PTSD Awareness Month, our Exhibitions Team shares a closer look at Depicting The Invisible: A Portrait Series of Veterans Suffering from PTSD. Each week, hear from a featured Veteran in their own words about their experiences with Post Traumatic Stress. Depicting The Invisible shines a light on these Veterans as they share their personal narratives in order to help other Veterans tell their own stories and seek treatment when they need it most.
Connect with Josh’s Story
This week, we hear from Josh – a U.S. Army Veteran who was diagnosed with PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated under his vehicle on a routine mission in Iraq.
Connect with Danielle’s Story
Danielle never deployed overseas. Her PTSD stems from military sexual assault (MSA). Danielle shares that, “PTSD from MSA is treated totally different from PTSD from combat. Our stories are very private. But I’m telling my story for my daughter and my daughter’s daughter.”
Connect with Ken’s Story
Ken is a U.S. Army Veteran and Purple Heart recipient. His unit was tasked with locating IEDs and landmines and then detonating them. On June 18, 2004, Ken was in a Humvee (HMMWV) when his arm was hit and severed in an attack. Each year since then, Ken celebrates his Alive Day – the day he didn’t die.
Connect with Rusty’s Story
We close out this four-part series with words from Rusty, who enlisted in the U.S. Army and was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds he sustained in Afghanistan in June, 2010. Months later in January of 2011, the truck he was traveling in went off a bridge and fell fifty feet down a ravine. Rusty spent 16 months at a VA hospital and is paralyzed from the neck down. Rusty says that he, “…would rather have physical injuries than mental injuries any day.”
Inspiring Stories of Service
Josh Sandor
Former U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Joshua Sandor was born and raised in the town of West Milford in northern New Jersey. After graduating from high school in 2001, Josh joined the Army at age 17. In August, he attended basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, to become a cavalry scout. “I remember my recruiter trying to tell me about all of these great jobs and career paths I could take, and I had to stop him mid-sentence,” Sandor recalls. “I wanted to be a scout. I already knew that was what I wanted to do.”
On September 11, 2001, Josh found himself on the qualifying range for rifle marksmanship when the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center began to unfold. In his words, “Our chaplain came out to our range after a post-wide cease-fire was directed for all range operations. We all felt something was wrong and later, as our chaplain spoke, we knew our time on the range was not just to qualify, but to prepare for war…
Joseph Whitaker
I led what many would consider an idyllic childhood, the second child of a growing family playing in the apple orchards of Pennsylvania with my siblings and friends. I was struggling inside, however, to win the approval of my disciplinarian father, which did not come easily. I preferred theater to sports, loved being gregarious and making others laugh, and while I had meaningful relationships with women, I knew I was gay from an early age.
I was not always comfortable in my own shoes, but I always knew them to be my shoes and owned my circumstances. Although it took decades for me to fully understand this, accepting my circumstances allowed me to persevere through my many challenges. I felt bullied, unwanted and a failure to my father, yet I continued to fight those feelings, as hard as that would be, and for as long as it would take.
In part, to demonstrate my resolve to myself and others, I enlisted in the U.S. Navy and trained in Pensacola, Florida. I graduated first in my class in 1967 with my father standing beside me. While my older brother avoided the draft and railed against the war, I felt a call to serve in a leadership capacity…
PTSD Awareness Month | What We’re Reading
As we continue to amplify awareness of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), this month’s reading recommendation is dedicated to the military spouses and families who experience secondary traumatic stress, (emotional stress that results from indirect exposure to PTSD and traumatic events). “Arsenal of Hope: Tactics for Taking on PTSD, Together,” co-authored by Jen Satterly and Holly Lorincz serves as a guide to empowering families to work together to heal their individual and collective traumas. In this book, Jen shares countless hours of research and real-life examples from her own personal experiences with PTSD to help Veterans, first responders, civilians, and their families work together to overcome trauma.
Jen Satterly is a compassionate advocate for Veterans and their families. As CEO and co-founder of the All Secure Foundation, she works alongside her husband, Command Sgt. Maj. Tom Satterly, U.S. Army (Retired) who served for 25 years, 20 of those in 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Delta Force). Jen served as director of film and photography embedding with Special Operations units during realistic training missions for three years before founding All Secure to help warriors and their families heal from war trauma on the homefront. This month, Meagan McGowan, our digital exhibitions manager, had the opportunity to connect with Jen about her experiences writing “Arsenal of Hope” following the release of Tom’s book, “All Secure,” published in 2019…
