06/03/2026
June is National PTSD Awareness Month.
But this June, we’re not interested in empty awareness slogans or performative posts.
We’re interested in real conversations. As, PTSD doesn’t always look like what people think it does.
Sometimes it looks like:
➡️Irritability
➡️Isolation
➡️Hypervigilance
➡️Emotional numbness
➡️Overworking
➡️Sleep disruption
➡️Chronic pain
➡️Alcohol use
➡️Relationship strain
➡️Feeling “off” for years
For Veterans and First Responders, those symptoms are often normalized. Minimized. Buried under dark humor, overtime, adrenaline, and the tall tail of “I’m fine.”
Surviving is not the same thing as healing.
This month, BRAVE is going to talk honestly about PTSD:
🧠 The science
📊 The statistics
🚑 The impact on Veterans & First Responders
⚠️ The overlap with mTBI (“getting your bell rung”)
💬 The stigma
🛠️ The treatments
🤝 The hope
Because PTSD is not a weakness. It is not failure.
And it is not something people should have to carry alone.
According to the National Center for PTSD, about 11–20% of Veterans who served in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom experience PTSD in a given year, while rates among Vietnam Veterans remain significantly high decades later.
Research also continues to show elevated PTSD prevalence among active First Responders exposed to cumulative trauma and repeated critical incident stress.
The reality is this:
Many people are still suffering silently because they don’t recognize the symptoms, don’t think treatment will help, or fear being judged for asking.
So for this month, we are to go deeper.
Less lip service. More truth. More education. More conversations.
