A Bakersfield College veteran returns home from war with post-traumatic stress disorder but still wants to help fellow veterans.
J.R. Browning, 29, history major, was in the military six and half years. “I joined when I was 18, and at that time we weren’t in combat,” said Browning who was part of the 2003 invasion in Iraq and did a second tour in 2005.
Going to college was something Browning decided to do after the military. “I wanted to get into a career path after the military because I had lived a military life for six and half years,” said Browning. He would like to become a history teacher and possibly a lawyer in the future.
Yet, returning to school was not an easy task. Browning suffers from headaches and reading gets hard for him many times. “It’s hard to deal with people because I become angry, I yell and take it out on anyone, without meaning to do it. I’m also uncomfortable in large groups of people; it gets intense,” said Browning.
Suffering from PTSD as well as from traumatic brain injury from a bomb explosion, Browning said his family began to try to understand what he was going through. “My wife went research frenzy and started educating herself to try to understand what I was going through because PTSD really affects my life negatively,” said Browning.
A BC faculty member who is a veteran but would like to remain anonymous said, “PTSD, from my limited experiences is anger, fear of crowds, lack of friends, nightmares, withdrawal, depression, loneliness, etc.”
Browning has also experienced these things.
“I had a mental breakdown during spring break this year,” he said. “I lost my mind. I held it in because I didn’t want to admit that I was a little different after returning from combat. I wanted to blame others for what was happening to me. I was in denial, but I had to admit I needed help.”
Getting help for PTSD and ways to make returning to school easier are available, but many veterans do not want to say they are veterans. “I call it the superhero syndrome,” said Browning. Veterans do not want to admit they are no longer in the superhuman image that many people expect of them when they are in the military.
“It’s hard living up to that standard. It’s hard to represent that once you’re back,” said Browning.
Browning gets help from the National Alliance on Mental Illness organization. NAMI is a non-profit, grassroots, self-help, support and advocacy organization of consumers, families and friends that helps people with different mental illnesses, according to the online website.
“It’s a second family to me because other veterans are there, and we talk about how we are feeling. It’s comfortable and crucial to my well being,” said Browning.
Everyday tasks for veterans can become difficult. Because of his own experience with PTSD, Browning would like to have a place for veterans at BC to vent.
“I had a meeting with Senator McCarthy a couple days ago on the lack of veteran support at BC. I told him how veterans need a minute to calm themselves down and have people there to help them calm down as well.”
Having a place at BC would help veterans feel support while going through school. “I want to start a non-threatening environment for BC veterans, because it’s not their fault they have PTSD,” said Browning.
According to Browning, “PTSD is a chemical change that happens in your brain. It’s not a weakness. It’s natural and there isn’t anything anybody can do to cure it, but help control it and help take off some tension.”
Matthew Morgan, philosophy professor at BC, said it is important for veterans to have a place to reinforce strategies of how to get through school and adapt to a normal life.
“As a teacher, what is important for me is that the veterans continue to advise me about ways I can work alongside them to accomplish these goals,” said Morgan.
It is important for all returning veterans to remember they are not alone and there are places to get help, even if it simply is to talk about their day and emotions.