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My mind went back to Afghanistan...

David Carpentier, US Army 1977 - 2009, talks about how he knew he had PTSD.

Transcript

I got stopped by a state tropper

because I was on a rural, rural highway,

and I veered onto the oncoming lane

because I saw a trash bag sitting on the

side of the road, on my side of, my lane.

But there was no traffic coming,

I just, my mind went back to Afghanistan,

and roadside bombs, IEDs,

so I veered into the oncoming lane.

And I was so wrapped up in my mind

as being back in Afghanistan that I didn't realize

the trooper had been coming behind me.

He pulled me over,

asked me what was wrong and I apologized.

I said, hey, I just got back

from Afghanistan not too long ago.

You know, I saw that trash bag,

reminded me of a,

to be cautious about IEDs, roadside bombs,

and he was really cool about it, you know.

Wrote me a warning ticket and said,

hey, you're gonna be fine, you know,

just take care.

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