Central Florida veterans share struggles with PTSD

A common symptom of a vet with PTSD is avoidance. Many are not willing to leave home to deal with civilian life, but therapy for treatment is important.

Kevin Steinmann is a disabled Army sergeant who admits he has been dealing with PTSD for 25 years.

His friend Paul Mason also served in the U.S. Army, and he too struggles with PTSD.

Together, they stand side by side, working together to get through sounds and images that would or could trigger them.

Steinmann admits over the years he’s tried several different forms of treatment for PTSD.

“I had a service animal,” Steinmann said. “I had a service dog given to me. Medication, which all it does, is numb you, therapy that I have been going through.”

Steinmann says he gets triggered by the sound of helicopters after one of his roles while serving was responding to downed helicopters.

For Mason, who has physical scars as well as mental ones, he says he can be triggered by loud, surprising sounds.

Making the transition to civilian life is more challenging.

“Your infantry, your 11-Bravo, where are you going to have a job?” Mason asks rhetorically. “You are not a mechanic, not a medic, so you don’t have a job to transfer in to. You get out of infantry, you have security, cop, SWAT, that’s it.”

And what these two do together to help with their PTSD may surprise you. You can see them going through an active police training situation on a simulator at Decision Tactical in Sanford.

Read the full Spectrum News article about Decision Tactical’s aid for veterans with PTSD here.