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I was having lunch with a friend...she insisted that I contact a friend of hers who's at the VA.

Mary Martin, US Air Force 1981 - 2005, talks about why she didn't ask for help with her PTSD right away.

Transcript

One day I was having lunch with a friend who works

at the VA now, she did work at the university with me,

and she noticed that I didn't look well.

And she pushed hard to get me to tell her the truth about

how I was feeling and a little bit about my story,

which is not, the story itself is not that important.

What's important is how I react to it, how we react to it.

So, she insisted that I contact a friend of hers

who is the Chief Nurse at the VA.

And I said, OK, I would do it, but then of course I didn't.

And a few days later she called me, and she told me that

if I didn't call this woman, that she was going to tell her

because she was very, very worried about me.

And so I did, and I immediately got invited to

come to her office, to the Chief Nurse's office, just to chat.

And so I did, and after we chatted for a little while

she called the personnel people and the disability people,

and she had them come get me, take me downstairs,

and walk me through the process.

And I broke down, I just broke down

because that part of the process really is intimidating,

and I understand if it's keeping

anyone else from wanting to come to the VA.

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