WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — We first met Emily Adams as a parent at a Jeffco Public Schools Board of Education meeting Thursday night over proposed school closures. She was there to speak out on behalf of her son’s school, giving one last plea to keep its doors open.
But we soon saw Adams in her role as a veteran when she, in the middle of the meeting, stepped up out of her seat and quietly exited the room.
“I could feel all the adrenaline,” Adams said. “And adrenaline, in itself, is a trigger for me.”
Adams has suffered from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for nearly two decades now, ever since her deployment in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Her triggers are numerous, and both big and small. The backfire of a car can mimic the sound of a gun, an obvious trigger for PTSD. So to, nerves from public speaking at a school board meeting can send her body into a "fight or flight" response that can be so intense, it causes her to abruptly leave the area.
During Thursday night’s meeting, Adams only needed a few minutes out in the hallway to collect herself. She remembers well, though, the times in her life where her trauma and anxiety felt like too much to bear.
“My body remembers when I’ve had adrenaline in the past, and that provokes responses that are very uncomfortable,” Adams said, adding that it has resurged even stronger in her life since the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan last year dominated global headlines. “When I saw people flooding the gates of Kabul International [Airport], and desperately passing their babies over concertina wire… I’ve witnessed that type of desperation, and I was seeing that play out on TV again, and it directly reminded me of seeing it in person."
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs estimates as many as one in five veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan experience PTSD in any given year. Veterans are at a 57% higher risk of suicide compared to the general population, and Adams knows that headspace well.
“I would have those thoughts for sure. ‘How many more years can I go through this? How long can I really feel this way?’” she recalled. “I lost my dear service brother Brian Turchiano on Memorial Day, and he’s not an isolated case. We need to stop losing people. We’re losing more people here at home than we did in the battlefield, and that’s just crazy.
“If you have a veteran friend, talk to them and tell them: there’s hope, and if you need me, I’m here for you.”
If you or someone you know is a veteran struggling, there are resources to help. You can reach the Veterans Crisis Line at no cost at any time by calling 988 and then pressing 1. You can also text 838255.