A Day I Will Never Forget, A Day Burned Into My Soul

July 30th, 2003.  The day the course of my life irrevocably changed.  The day that I remember every year with trepidation, sorrow, guilt, anger, and gratitude.  It made me question everything I believed.  It shattered my psyche, shredded my soul.

Quite honestly, I am surprised I survived long enough to make it home.  Every day after became harder and harder to bear.  The horrific scene that haunted my mind, the smell and taste of blood...

Yet here I am, writing about how that experience and others that followed after changed me.  I don't want to remember what I experienced, yet I am afraid to forget.

Change the date and any veteran could have shared this.  The scary truth: Every veteran with PTSD I know has an anniversary.  A day that makes them pause, unwillingly, and remember horrific experiences.  A day they can't reconcile with physically, mentally or spiritually.

I have had many people ask me why I mark this date on the calendar.  They don't understand why, when it is so horrific, that I am forced to remember.  The answer I give them is always the same - Because I still am unable to accept what happened.  That, to me, accepting it would feel like a betrayal of those that died.  After almost a decade, I still feel this way.  I feel this so strongly that you might call it conviction.

My answer leaves many people shaking their heads in incredulity.  They ask me why I punish myself this way.  The answer:  I don't know.  Is it self-imposed punishment for surviving to talk about it when others never had the chance?

I'll make you all a deal.  When I figure it out, I will let you know.