Lori Barnes

Welcome to the Faces of Combat PTSD blog. Here we hope to not only help veterans and their families in finding the help that they need but to educate the general public on the necessity of resources to assist those who have served.

The stories told in Faces of Combat are heartbreaking and all too common. Each day we are reminded of the number of suicides perpetrated by both active service members and veterans. The common knowledge number of suicide by veterans is stated as 18 per day while the number of active duty suicides has now exceeded the number of deaths due to combat. These numbers are horrifying.

On this website, you will find links to various resources. Some may be of help to you and some may not. If you run into a resource that we do not have listed, please share it with us so that everyone can have access to all the help available. If you use one of the listed resources, please share your results with me. I hope that we can all work together to make this a useful site encouraging the free exchange of information.

And now a little about me…

I spent 23 years serving in a combination of the active duty Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard. I’ve been the soldier who deployed and I’ve also been married to a soldier who deployed while I stayed home with the kids. During my very first deployment, both my husband and I were deployed while the kids stayed with their Grandma. I share all of this so that you know that my experience comes from all sides. I’m now the mother of one soldier, and the mother-in-law to another so the legacy just continues on with all “the good, the bad and the ugly.” Oh yeah, and according to my kids, I am the rock that holds us all together.

Faces of Combat touched my soul. It taught me that we can never really move past things until we face them and talk to someone. Currently, I’m still working up the courage to do that talking, but I’m getting closer. It’s pretty tough being everyone’s rock and admitting to needing help at the same time. In the meantime, I keep all of my appointments with the VA and work the tips I learned in Faces of Combat to help move on each day. I know that there are others out there just like me. So this is me reaching out to all of you out there who know you should really be talking to someone but haven’t quite found the nerve. Let’s get a conversation going.

Are you struggling?