Adjustment of your vehicle

Realignment

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
November 25, 2018

I had to get new tires for my car. In the process, they put the car on a machine to do an alignment. 

WHAT IS TIRE ALIGNMENT?

Alignment refers to an adjustment of a vehicle’s suspension – the system that connects a vehicle to its wheels. It is not an adjustment of the tires or wheels themselves. The key to proper alignment is adjusting the angles of the tires which affects how they make contact with the road.

That got me thinking about how veterans can do an alignment of their lives. They can adjust the angles and make different contacts with other veterans on the road.

Right now the most powerful tool to prevent suicides if not being used. Too many have just jumped on the "suicide awareness" stunts while veterans are left wondering where hope is.

What is going on? We see so many groups talking about veterans killing themselves, but the outcome is more suffering and less healing.

Do these people really care? That is clear for most involved that they do. The problem is, they did not care enough to know what to do to change the outcome.

The answer was already inside of them. 

First, here is something inspiring about a veteran.

Boot Campaign Hero Ambassador and executive director for 22Kill Jake Schick didn't let his 2004 combat injury end his happiness. His love story and dedication to ending veteran suicide is nothing short of inspiring.

His story itself is empowering because he talks about not giving up, looking to the future with his family. 

This is where his story went wrong.

"It has been a passion of my since I got the phone call one of my brother's took his own life. So I jumped right in."  22Kill Executive Director Jacob Schick

It is easy to see he does have a passion for this "brothers" and wanted to do something to help them. But the problem is, jumping in is what caused the results we see, instead of learning what was needed to change the outcome from suicide into healing.

I am glad I found this video from Jake Schick because there is real power in his story. Watch it and skip the part about "raising awareness."

So, how do these groups do a realignment? How do they make the journey safer and smoother for veterans looking for hope?

They stop doing the stunts and "having fun" with parties. They take a serious look at what the results have been and change how they approach the only kind of awareness veterans need to have. That they can heal!

PTSD should not have the power to define them. They need to know that power is within their reach and they can realign the everything!

To all the groups out there, if you want to really prevent veterans from committing suicide, then stop just jumping in to do something and start doing the right thing!

There is nothing more powerful than talking to them about how you did it, how you discovered you could #TakeBackYourLife.