# @myvpm on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CxDmI-YuYoS
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/8564834-myvpm-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/1d2dac8d74.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-09-11T15:19:22.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** VPM (@myVPM) — https://gondola.cc/myVPM

## Caption

“My very first deployment was to Iraq. We were the second rotation of boots on the ground after 9/11. For my second deployment, we traveled to Afghanistan in  2011. Everybody comes back from deployment different. None of us come back the same. You develop; you see  more; you experience more; you want to be more isolated or alone; there is less going out and doing stuff with my friends.

I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. You never think about suicide. You don’t understand it until it happens to you. I called the [Freedom Support Center], but not to get help from them. I called [the vet center] cursing [the therapist] out because I wanted her to tell my husband to give me my gun. She says, “No, I’m not doing that.” And I said, “How can you tell me I can’t take my own life? It’s my life. I do what I want to do with it. Tell him to give me  a gun.” She said, “You need to go check yourself in the hospital.”

I got some medications that work with me and help balance me out. I go to the Vet Center for individual therapy as well as group therapy. Every Monday, we get together a lot of female veterans. We have our room full of love. And we all get to share. We get to connect with each other. And we get to say: “sister, you are not by yourself. You are not alone. The same thing happened to me this week.” It is a no judgment zone. It’s validation for you. You’re not losing your mind. These feelings are real. The Vet Center helped me redefine myself and understand who I am outside of my uniform. They definitely saved my life.”

- Tamekia Studivant, Veteran, Virginia Army National Guard (joinvaguard) 

fscpetersburgva #myvpm #remembering911 #veteransupport

## Stats

- **Views:** 96
- **Likes:** 20
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 0

## Tags

myvpm, veteransupport, remembering911

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