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I wasn't the same person as I was before I deployed…

Eddie Hoffman, US Marine Corps, 2001 - 2010, talks about how he knew he had PTSD.

Transcript

So I felt as if I wasn't
the same person as I was

before I deployed or before
I went over to

Parris Island

from Third Battalion,
Seventh Marines.

And a lot of the things
that wouldn't

bother me before

were starting to bother me.

A lot of things that,
small decisions,

or things that I thought
were small decisions

and easy to make became
difficult, and I

scrutinized 'em.

I was afraid to
make a decision.

And suddenly I went from
making life or

death decisions

to deciding which uniform
to wear or trying

to remember

what exactly my leaders
told me I was supposed

to do on an event, and then
it just sent me

into a spiral

where that was probably,

it felt like the worst
thing in the world,

when it was really just
a minor detail.

And it was definitely...

I did not feel as if
I was capable

of doing a lot of the
things that I was doing

when I was in my old unit,

and that was very
disconcerting.

And that just added to the
depression and the anger.

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