PTSD Patrol, Get Out Of Neutral

PTSD Patrol Sunday Empowerment Zone
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
March 11, 2018 

Why is it the simplest message can also be the most powerful? Think about some commercials you see on TV and how some will just stick in your head. Now think of all the veterans needing to heal, but only hearing about the worst possible outcome. 

Isn't it a lot better, a lot more powerful, for them to know that from this moment in, they are in control and can choose to take their lives back, instead of taking them?

Yesterday, my buddy Jonnie Rodriguez had something he wanted to share. His simple, powerful message of healing. When he thinks about what his life was like when he had no hope of getting out of the hell he was in, and what his life is like now, he gets angry. Angry that others are settling for being defined by PTSD instead of taking control as a survivor.


The road ahead is yours! Stay in neutral, getting numb, feeling sorry for yourself, or get on the road paved by others who have gone before you.

It is a lot of work, but hey, training was hard work too. Your job is/was hard work. But as with any road trip, you can get help to get to where you want to go.

Think about every road has been laid out by someone looking at a forest and figured out how to connect one place to another. Same thing with healing PTSD. It took someone seeking a better way to get through what was keeping them out of where they wanted to go.

You can do the same thing.

PTSD Patrol Empowerment Zone-Healing

Don't be defined by what is wrong with you!
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
March 4, 2018

Yesterday I went to an event for this fantastic veteran!

Kelly Smith will not let anything stop her. You can see the video from the event on Combat PTSD Wounded Times later today.

For now, we need to talk about some of the conversations going on at the event. It was more about a veteran worried about another veteran, than anyone talking about themselves. AND THAT IS THE POINT MOST OF YOU MISS!

No one is in this after combat alone! The same people you would have died for, the same ones who would have died for you, still care! What the hell makes you think they wouldn't listen to you if you need them? What stops you from talking to them if you think they need help?

This video also introduces Murray! It is a glorious morning here in Florida and he wanted to get some fresh air. 
Don't settle for the way thing are today! TAKE YOUR LIFE BACK!

PTSD Patrol Sunday Mornings Empowerment Zone

PTSD Patrol Fuels Hope
Kathie Costos
February 25, 2018

We need to talk! How many times have you heard those words and thought, oh crap, bad news coming? This time, it is good news!

Starting today, PTSD Patrol is going to be changing the conversation from suicide to healing. We need to face the fact that we will never know how many took their own lives but we do know why they did it. They lost hope that the next day would be any better for them.

We're going to be changing that conversation and start giving them reasons to hope for a much better life even with PTSD.

Scream about healing...not suicides

I can't think of a better day to do this than Valentine's Day. It is the reason our veterans and military members risked their lives...for love. They loved so much, they were willing to die for someone else. 

That is the reason why they hurt so much afterwards. The depth of their emotional core is so strong, it caused them to want to serve in the first place, yet is also so strong it is trying to destroy them.

That is where PTSD lives. While there is no cure for PTSD, there is plenty of healing that is possible. They can live a better quality of life with the right help.

Join the fight to help them take back control over PTSD. After all, they defeated it when they survived the thing that started it, but no one told them that what they stopped being a victim and became a survivor!

From now until the end of February, there is a  campaign for this cause to go to Point Man International Ministries. It started back in 1984 working with veterans and families with Christian based support. We're not about raising money but about raising healing with peer support.

After the campaign is over, if you have a charity, I want you to take the design you see above and use if for your own campaign. The message needs to be spread out across as many places as they can find it!


Here is the link to the campaign page


Take your cell phones out, set it to video and start screaming about healing! Yell "defeat PTSD and fight to take your life back" or hold up a sign. Then add in whatever message you want them to know.

Contact me through any of those links and send me a link to your video or link it yourself if you can.

It is time we changed the conversation and put a new voice in their heads!
cross posted from Combat PTSD Wounded Times

PTSD? Need a tow?

PTSD: Sometimes you need a tow truck
PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
January 23, 2018


When you breakdown on the road, you try to figure out what went wrong. Out of gas? Overheated? Dead battery? Flat tires?If you can't fix it yourself, you make a phone call to get help. If you don't, then you will be stuck there until someone comes along to try to help you get out of where you are.

What if the person coming doesn't know anything more than you do? Your still stuck where you are.

So, you make the call to someone you know will fix your problem, or at least give you a tow. They may tell you that you'll have to wait a while, but you know they'll show up.

When they come, a sense of relief takes place of dread. You hope they find something simple and can fix it right away. The longer it takes them to figure it out, the more you get worried about what they'll find.

You smile when you find out it wasn't as bad as you thought. A battery cable was not making the right connection. Put back on tightly, you are good to go again. You get back into your car, start it up and your help leaves. No problem since you think you don't need help anymore. 

To get out of the breakdown lane, you need to proceed with caution. You can't just take off and fly down the road. What is behind you? What is on the side of you? What is ahead of you? Is it safe to move forward? What speed should you be in?

Strange how that works the same way with PTSD. Something went wrong. It was the one too many times you were in a place where something terrible happened. After about 30 days, if what you've been going through hasn't weakened, or even better, left you almost the same as you were, then you need to get help.

It means the event was too much for your engine (mind) to handle. When you breakdown, trying to figure out what to do next, can lead to a lot more problems.

You'll try anything to stop feeling the pain and having bad thoughts pop in and out between your regular thoughts. Sometimes you just want to stop feeling the pain, so you get numb with drugs, alcohol, playing games online, or doing other things that would be out of character for you.

The stuff you used to enjoy, you have no interest in doing at all. People may say that you are acting like a jerk or "not yourself" lately, and they are more right than they know.

Sometimes, you are really not "yourself" because surviving something that could have killed you, changes you. No one really escapes the "IT" the same way they were before.

You end up stuck on the side of the road while everyone else is passing you.  

So, do you pick up the phone and ask for help or just sit there waiting for it to suddenly show up? How long do you wait? Do you keep waiting until it gets dark and no one can see you?

Is it OK to ask for help when your car is broken? Then why isn't it OK to ask for help when you breakdown? Sometimes all you need is a quick fix, or a jump start. Sometimes you need a tow and taken to where they can give you tests to figure out what you need to get back on the road.

One way or another, it is always better to ask for help than take your chances on the side of the road.

It doesn't matter how tough or how big you are, there is always a way to get you to where you need to go.