Flashbacks

I have flashbacks sometimes and I'll, I'll feel like I'm, I'm in Croatia sometimes and it's, it could be anything. Could be a noise, could be just, could be, often it's a loud noise or something of that nature, but it, it, I, I can be transported back there and it's like I'm back in a second and it's, it's very difficult. There was nothing in, you know, there was nothing in place, but you know we were all feeling, it wasn't like I was alone. There's, I've gotten a lot of help like, since, when I went for help there was systems in place and I, I received a lot of help. So I've got no complaints that way, but back then there wasn't and a lot of people, you know, I didn't go for help until I got back from Afghanistan, but there was a lot of people that there was nothing in place for them. I, I lost a good friend of mine to suicide. He went after Croatia ‘cause he couldn't go back. His unit, like I said, we were there with 3rd battalion. Our unit was, was 2nd battalion and they were overseas when we got back. They were in Croatia and a lot of us felt like we were letting them down by coming back and a good friend of mine killed himself ‘cause he couldn't face the fact. He was, he felt he was letting them down and he couldn't go back to Croatia. I mean, it affected everybody differently, but it, it did affect everybody. There's no doubt in my mind.

Mr. Grossinger talks about having flashbacks and how difficult it is to deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He also talks about how he lost a friend to suicide who suffered from PTSD.

Darcy Grossinger

Mr.Grossinger was born in 1969 in Germany, and was raised on army bases around the world due to his father’s service in the Canadian Forces. Seeking adventure and the opportunity to travel, Mr.Grossinger enlisted in the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in November of 1989. He became a rifleman and climbed the ranks quickly becoming a corporal. In the fall of 1992, Mr.Grossinger was given his first assignment overseas in Croatia with the United Nations Peacekeeping operations. Over the course of the six month tour, Mr.Grossinger did many jobs, including releif convoys, escorts and patrolling missions. It wasn’t until 1997, and again in 2000, Mr.Grossinger would return to that area, only this time he was stationed in Bosnia under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Shortly after his 2000 tour in Bosnia, he was sent as part of an American brigade doing sensitive site exploration in the challenging mountains of Afganistan.