While I was in Iraq I was the man! What I mean is I was a platoon Sergeant in a war zone.
When I gave an order it was followed without question.
When I got home I couldn't even get my kids to do what I wanted.
Needless to say it caused a lot of stress in the house along with a lot of arguments.
I couldn't always tell that I was going over board until my wife would pop off about not being one of my damn soldiers.
My kids of course would follow her lead and start the same thing like saluting and yelling "Yes Sir" very sarcastically.
That was usually a good sign that I needed to take a break and back off, of course that transition didn't always go smoothly.
I don't know if it was PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome) or not, all I know is that for a long time after getting back form Iraq I was angry most of the time and I couldn't have told you why.
Also every time I heard a loud noise I would jump usually causing my kids to make fun of me and start a whole new round of arguing.
After a couple of months of this I finally came to the realization that I needed to get a grip and move on, after all my family had.
I started by talking to my wife about how I felt and hearing from her on what she was going through.
I realized that compared to what she had gone through for the last 18 months I didn't really have it so bad.
I also talked to my kids about what was going on and asked them what they thought I should do.
Another realization I came to is that kids are pretty smart! They can have a no nonsense approach that can cut through all the Bull.
Ounce we got everything out in the open things immediately began improving; there were a lot less fights and everyone seemed to be getting along a lot better.
I say fewer fights because when you have teenagers there are always going to be disagreements.
We have been taking life one day at a time which I guess is the only way that you really can.
Things are going great, my wife and kids feel that they can come to me for help or advice without me going off.
It still takes work, and sometimes I slip back into that old mind frame but I guess everyone has that from time to time.
Right now things are going good, I'm still the man and I have my wife's permission to say so.
Life goes on and my kids are getting to the age where they have their own lives; friends, school and so on.
But they still have time to tell the old man that they love me or that they are proud of me.
And that's worth more to me then any medal I got serving in Iraq.
When I gave an order it was followed without question.
When I got home I couldn't even get my kids to do what I wanted.
Needless to say it caused a lot of stress in the house along with a lot of arguments.
I couldn't always tell that I was going over board until my wife would pop off about not being one of my damn soldiers.
My kids of course would follow her lead and start the same thing like saluting and yelling "Yes Sir" very sarcastically.
That was usually a good sign that I needed to take a break and back off, of course that transition didn't always go smoothly.
I don't know if it was PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome) or not, all I know is that for a long time after getting back form Iraq I was angry most of the time and I couldn't have told you why.
Also every time I heard a loud noise I would jump usually causing my kids to make fun of me and start a whole new round of arguing.
After a couple of months of this I finally came to the realization that I needed to get a grip and move on, after all my family had.
I started by talking to my wife about how I felt and hearing from her on what she was going through.
I realized that compared to what she had gone through for the last 18 months I didn't really have it so bad.
I also talked to my kids about what was going on and asked them what they thought I should do.
Another realization I came to is that kids are pretty smart! They can have a no nonsense approach that can cut through all the Bull.
Ounce we got everything out in the open things immediately began improving; there were a lot less fights and everyone seemed to be getting along a lot better.
I say fewer fights because when you have teenagers there are always going to be disagreements.
We have been taking life one day at a time which I guess is the only way that you really can.
Things are going great, my wife and kids feel that they can come to me for help or advice without me going off.
It still takes work, and sometimes I slip back into that old mind frame but I guess everyone has that from time to time.
Right now things are going good, I'm still the man and I have my wife's permission to say so.
Life goes on and my kids are getting to the age where they have their own lives; friends, school and so on.
But they still have time to tell the old man that they love me or that they are proud of me.
And that's worth more to me then any medal I got serving in Iraq.
Source...