I just could not stand the stress that I was under.

I attended my son's high school Homecoming game and we went back

to the house for Thanksgiving dinner.

My wife had gotten, my wife at that time,

had gotten everything ready.

My in-laws were over.

Sorry, sometimes you realize what you did to everybody.

Anyway, my wife went to take a shower and get cleaned up

and I walked out of the house and I showed up at the local,

if you will, mental hospital for lack of a better term,

on Monday morning with a bottle full of pills.

And it was only my counselor from the Vet Center who came

to see me, talked to me and got me into a three month program

at the West Haven Medical Center.

Once I came out of West Haven, I spent three months,

I learned a lot about myself, what I needed to do,

what I had done to people and when I came out,

I was in a little better shape I thought to deal with everything.

And that was gonna be the end of it

and I returned to work immediately.

That was a mistake.

I took no time to stop and decompress and think

about what had gone on.

Within two years, I had to leave work.

I retired.

I had no choice.

I just could not stand the stress that I was under.

I went back to the VA.

I went from the Vet Center to a counselor

at the local PTSD clinic and I spent several years

with that counselor dealing with the problems that I had.

And I think slowly but surely, I came to grips with most of them.