EAST TEXAS (KYTX) -- From the workplace to the classroom to home, PTSD can affect us all in one way or another. But none more so than East Texas heroes, like Bobby Rutherford.
She's the apple of his eye and his wife is the love of his life.
"I just hope to have a healthy family," Bobby said. "There's really nothing else I can ask for."
But it's a family Bobby didn't have until he finished two tours in Iraq. He said he wishes they could have known the man he was before combat.
In Balad, Bobby and his team, called a Bradley Unit, intervened in Sunni and Shiite Muslim battles.
From improvised explosive devices to fire fights, Bobby saw it all.
"They were always bombing each other and kidnapping each others kids," he said. "I think my Bradley took 13 or 14 IED's. There were times when I'd think, 'am I going to get back from patrol? Please just let me get back from this one raid without getting hit.'"
The post traumatic stress disorder brought on by the stress of combat changed Bobby.
"Before I was deployed, I was an easy going guy," he said.
These days he's jumpy.
"Anyone dropping a book or something falling over -- it scares you a lot," he said. "My temper can get the best of me, it can get the best of me sometimes but I hate it."
Bobby, like others with PTSD, worry how that could affect the relationships they fought for in the blazing Iraqi desert; the bonds of love they now live for.
"My mission now is to keep providing for my family as best I can," he said.
Toni Dowdy, with ETMC, counsels people with PTSD.
"It's to make them feel safe back in the world again," she said. "To help them adjust."
It's a disorder she says leaves people hypervigilant; essentially frozen in the same, on-edge mentality they had during combat. And PTSD brings on nightmares and flashbacks of horrors few others can understand.
"They're loners," she said. "It's hard for them to get back into society."
If not treated, PTSD can lead to suicide.
"ETMC has treated it's fair share of PTSD cases," Dowdy said. "But they expect to see more in the next few years..."
...As more people realize they need help.
"A person can be good about hiding it but we need to look for the signs," she said.
Dowdy says medications can help, but group therapy sessions for veterans are some of the most effective.
"The people they trust the most are their peers and they need to be around peers," she said.
And the people these wounded warriors fought for can do something to help. All it takes is a little sensitivity -- whether you're a husband or wife, a boss or a colleague.
"Sometimes they just need a moment, so they can walk around and cool off for a minute," Dowdy said.
Bobby says he's one of the lucky ones; surrounded by people who care and understand his PTSD the best way they can.
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates there are hundreds of thousands more treated elsewhere or not at all.
