Transcript
When you join the military they're going to break you down
and build you up into what they want you to be, and that's
somebody who's going to push through the pain, suck it up,
soldier on, and finish until the mission is complete.
Nowhere in that guidance and nowhere in that building up
does it say, "Acknowledge weakness," and, "You have to
acknowledge pain so you can heal from it."
That's not in the mentality.
And I think it's especially difficult for women
because we spend our whole careers trying to let people
forget that we're women, trying to let them understand
that I'm Staff Sergeant Stacy Pearsall,
not Staff Sergeant Female Stacy Pearsall, that I'm
a Combat Photographer and not a Female Combat Photographer.
And by acknowledging that I may have PTSD
or that I got wounded so I'm injured, does that make me weak?
Or, was that because I was a woman or a female?
So you hide those things, and you hide those emotions,
and you tuck them away, and you tuck away the pain,
and you keep that to yourself and, especially,
away from your male counterparts.
When I did go to therapy and I was on active duty,
I went to the Vet center and became a little bit more
guardedly open to some of the other gentlemen in my unit.
And much to my surprise, they acknowledged back
that they had issues and I was there for them and that
I could direct them where to go and link them up with
a counselor and that they could get care for themselves.
And it kind of became this little society within our unit
and helping other people get help because that stigma
that had been so cemented in our conscious
was as hard as a wall, and we were, brick by brick,
trying to break it down.
And I think it's still a very big wall, and I think
it's going to take a lot more of us to help break it down.