Michael

“I joined the Navy right out of high school and worked on fighter planes and anti-submarine aircraft as an in-flight troubleshooter. That is, if a plane had a problem and we couldn’t replicate it on the ground, I went up with the crew and recreated the scenario so we could figure out what the issue was. After serving for 11 years, I went back to school, got my degree, taught Special Ed for fifteen years and built furniture on the side. I was a workaholic; that’s how I coped with my military memories. Then, in 2004, I lost my dad. He was my support system, the one I had always talked to, and after his death I began having flashbacks to some really bad stuff that had happened during survival skills training. I’d wake up at night feeling my skin being burned---actually being able to smell burning flesh---and having sensations like I was buried up to my neck in sand. The stress of the flashbacks caused both a heart attack and a stroke, and I ended up in a wheelchair and diagnosed with PTSD. That and other health issues meant I had to resign from my job. I promised God that if he would get me out of that wheelchair, I would do whatever I could to help veterans. I was homeless for eight months waiting on a spot to open up at the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and it took another six months of intense treatment there---classes, education about PTSD, group therapy, and individual therapy---to come to terms with what had happened and to deal with it. I learned a lot about myself during those months, like how to forgive, how to look at things differently, how to disarm situations rather than engage, how to recognize things that were my fault and accept responsibility for them, and how to forgive myself. I learned who I really was and came out with some coping skills I hadn’t had before. So many veterans suffer from PTSD, turn to drugs to self-medicate, and end up homeless. The only difference between them and me is that my drug of choice was work. I came out of treatment knowing that we need to educate, not medicate. Veterans need support and help dealing with things that happen during the course of military service, whether it’s stateside or an overseas deployment. Families have a very difficult time understanding what a serviceman or woman goes through during a tour of duty. Thankfully, my family has always been very supportive and they stuck by me.

“I just completed my Master’s in Public Administration at the University of Memphis and I’m working now on getting a nonprofit off the ground to help homeless veterans here in our own city. The board is made up of professors, veterans, aldermen, ministers, and a nationally recognized PTSD researcher. I've spent a lot of time working with the younger vets at the University of Memphis and Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center, and I see the psychological effects of war in the stories of these young men and women who have served as many as five tours. They have sacrificed for this country and now they need our help. I want to fulfill the promise I made to God to do everything in my power to help them.”

Click HERE or on the image below to read the complete article from The Daily Helmsman, a University of Memphis publication:

Interview with Hope For Life:

Interview with Alex Coleman and Marybeth Conley, WREG TV:

Michael Sasseen, Veteran's Education & Transitional Services
Website:  http://www.vetsservices.net/
FB:  https://www.facebook.com/msasseen9999
Email:  [email protected]
Phone:  (901) 443-0847

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