Fireworks

[KBScobravert]

I know we have a few vets and contractors on here that have spent time deployed to Afghanistan/Iraq and even past wars. I can not be alone in hating holidays like this when your neighbors start blasting off fireworks for hours into the night. I know exactly what it is that I am hearing but the part of my brain that says it is harmless isn't telling the other parts that control the physiological shit. Maybe it is just hearing them laying in bed that puts my body back to the same conditioning I had when these same noises were not harmless for so many years.

Sorry to rant but I am awake, sober and my nerves are twisted.

[dsrtuckteezy]

i love it. i dont like when one of my buddies lights an artillery shell on my front porch at 4 am while i'm asleep.

[motoman]

My dad received a Christmas card on the door with a note inside the card from a veteran who lived in down the street that did 3 tours overseas. He'd just returned 6 weeks earlier and asked that people be mindful of shooting off fireworks with veterans in the neighborhood. I don't remember it what it said word for word but it was a card written very well.

[Cooter]

my dog sure as shit hates it!

[Slow Five-O]

my dog sure as shit hates it!

Went to get a refill on heartworm stuff the other day, and they were saying July 5tg is one of their busiest days because dogs freak out and hurt themselves.

[Denny]

I hate that stupid ring tone that sounds like an incoming alarm. Fireworks are okay for me.

[KBScobravert]

I hate that stupid ring tone that sounds like an incoming alarm. Fireworks are okay for me.

When I came home in July for R&R my wife had it as her morning alarm. I came out of fucking skin when it won't off for the first time.

[KBScobravert]

Went to get a refill on heartworm stuff the other day, and they were saying July 5tg is one of their busiest days because dogs freak out and hurt themselves.

Maybe I should get a thunder shirt.

http://www.thundershirt.com/

[Nash B.]

It freaks out some of my horses. Luckily not to the point that they'll run through the fence, but they pace around in their pens whenever one goes off.

[03trubluGT]

I still remember the incoming alarms from the SCUD attacks in Desert Storm.

I remember the night I was just too damn tired to run to the bunker and woke up the next morning to learn the SCUD went over us and hit an Air Force installation killing several Airmen.

Needless to say I ran my ass to the bunker until I came back to the States.

[Leah]

I had never thought about this. Thanks for bringing it up. I know our dog loses her damn mind, but hadn't thought about our human protectors.

[KBScobravert]

I had never thought about this. Thanks for bringing it up. I know our dog loses her damn mind, but hadn't thought about our human protectors.

I have talked thus over with close friends who worked/served in the same areas I did. For some it passes. But some of us spent too long around getting hit numerous times a week and even numerous times a day. I noticed after driving convoys for a year in Kabul. For many trips home I would drive around at home with similar thoughts and anxiety that I had in Afghanistan. I would catch it and laugh it off. After I stopped driving convoys the head games stopped after a short time. But I have never been able to shake off the explosions in the distance or firecrackers. My 10 month break in 2012, they didn't go away. And haven't gone away in the past four and a half months I have been home.

Shitty thing is, gun ranges etc I am fine. I enjoy the shit out of fireworks and I am fine watching them. It is just when I am home. Thunderstorms are just as bad though, no matter where I am.

[Strychnine]

This was our neighborhood last night. Holy shit it was crazy.

10 minutes of this nonstop.

[jw33]

If you need air, call it in.....

[Mike K]

I have never had a problem, even when I was in Afghanistan. I spent a lot of time at Shank and Bagram, and both got hit quite a bit. Leatherneck was a nice respite, as the only explosions were outgoing, but I was only there for the last 6 months I was in Afghanistan. The only thing that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up now is the damn incoming siren if I hear in a song/movie/etc.

*EDIT* I did want to add that I have anxiety in other areas; maybe I am weird. My problem has always been walking around everywhere overseas and almost never getting in a vehicle. Then, when I get picked up at DFW airport we immediately hop on the highway and I am white knuckles for 5 minutes until I get used to it.