RECOGNIZING PTSD
Training helps police handle veterans with disorder
WILTON, N.Y. » A Great Dane named Dash is more than Scott Aubin’s best friend.
She’s his constant companion because he literally can’t live without her.
The gentle canine is a specially-trained PTSD service dog who helps Aubin, an Iraq War Air Force veteran, handle situations commonplace to others, but extremely upsetting to him.
“I don’t like people coming up behind me or loud noises,” he said. “When I’m having night terrors she wakes me up, turns on the light with a push-button and just lays there till I calm down.”
Aubin, a Plattsburgh resident, almost became a statistic several years ago, one of the 20 U.S. veterans and military personnel who commit suicide daily. Fortunately, the attempt failed.
“The only reason is because I joined the Air Force and not the Navy, so my knot-tying skills weren’t up to standards and I hung for a matter of seconds before I hit the floor hard,” he said.
Aubin’s life had spiraled out of control, marked by alcohol abuse -- sometimes drinking 30 or more beers per day to numb PTSD’s emotional pain. This led to petit theft and a month in jail.
Today, after obtaining help he didn’t previously know was available, Aubin is an instructor for the state Department of Criminal justice on PTSD awareness and suicide
prevention. With Dash at his side, he travels around the state telling his story in hopes of helping both law enforcement and veterans recognize the symptoms of PTSD in themselves and others.
His life has gone from “Mess to Message.”
“That’s my motto,” Aubin said.
On Thursday, he was among the more than 50 people on hand for a special training session designed to help police better understand and help veterans who get in trouble with the law. The event, at SUNY Adirondack’s Wilton campus, was co-hosted by Saratoga County Veterans Service Agency, the county Sheriff’s Office, an Stratton VA Medical Center.
“The hope is that if we can educate law enforcement on issues specific to veterans and resources available to them, this will translate into more positive outcomes in the end,” said Frank McClement, county Veterans Service Agency director.
Aubin said officers should ask if a person is a veteran, if they served in combat, and if they’re involved with substance abuse. For firsttime offenders, especially, a sympathetic ear and directing people to helpful resources, is much more productive than a strongarm approach, which only leads to confrontation and more serious consequences, he said.
“As veterans we’re used to fighting,” Aubin said. “It’s flight or fight. We’re going to fight back.”
Iraq War veteran John Greene is now a sergeant with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Police, responsible for protecting VA facilities and clients.
“We try to get out of the revolving door of arresting someone,” he said. “If we can solve the situation without slapping the cuffs on, and direct people to treatment, isn’t that what we’re there for? To help people?”
Many police have served in the military and understand a veteran’s mindset.
“So they already have a took kit they can use to deescalate a situation before it becomes a crisis,” Greene said.
Greene said military recruiting standards were lowered during the Iraq War troop surge of 2007, in order to “put more boots on the ground.”
“People we wouldn’t have taken before with issues such as substance abuse, criminal histories and minor mental problems, were enlisted,” he said. “Some of them we made a little worse. That’s going to lead to more assaults and altercations with police.”
Greene said offenses ranging from aggressive driving to domestic violence are sometimes byproducts of a soldier’s war zone survival techniques. In Iraq, for example, he routinely drove at high speeds, sometimes on the wrong side of the road, to avoid enemy attacks.
Likewise, he was used to giving and having orders followed at his command.
“A lot of behavior that kept me alive did not translate well to civilian life,” Greene said. “Some of the problems I didn’t realize I had from being overseas.”
But when people pointed it out and suggested he get help, Greene did.
His message is much like Aubin’s -- that veterans aren’t damaged goods, and can lead healthy productive lives if given the chance and right help.
“I’m a fully-functioning member of society and law enforcement, even with PTSD,” Greene said.