Transcript
That's one of the biggest successes I got out of therapy,
was learning a new sense of purpose.
His thing was, "Let's see how we can curb these things
that are affecting your day-to-day, namely your aggression,
your lack of emotions with love, those things."
He actually helped me deal with that, he helped me find
a way to feel happy, and that's hard for anyone
when you're feeling that sense of hollowness
because you don't have that purpose you get
from being in Iraq or being in combat,
where you have a sense of purpose.
What you do every day in Iraq and Afghanistan
had a sense of purpose, had a greater good.
Regardless of how little it was, you had a sense of purpose.
And you come back to the States, and that sense of purpose
leaves your body, and it leaves it like an addiction.
You fiend for that sense of purpose, that combat,
that urge to go after something, to have a higher meaning.
And necessarily, what you do every day does have that meaning.
Being the father to your children, being the husband
to your wife, those all have a sense of purpose.
Going to work every day, showing up for duty,
training other soldiers, that all has a sense of purpose.
And you don't have to do that in combat to feel that,
and that's one of the things I learned in therapy from him,
was gaining a better sense of purpose, feeling that
just because you're not in combat anymore, and you're not
affecting people, and you're not out there shooting bad guys
or kicking down doors and getting that adrenaline rush,
doesn't necessarily mean when you come back here,
you have no purpose in life anymore.