TOM CASEY

HUSBAND / ROCK-CLIMBER / VETERAN


Tom didn't know what he wanted to do after school, but he knew he wasn't the person he wanted to be: “I was exactly average.” Wanting something different, he enlisted at 19. 

“I don’t like swimming, so the Navy was out...” He joined the Army, was sent to Afghanistan and embedded with the unit coming out of Restrepo. Your focus narrows, he says: “The reason you are there is the people next to you. You are focused for your brothers and sisters (there) with you.” 

Excited at the prospect of regaining some individuality after nearly 4 years of “being molded into an interchangeable object,” coming home felt awkward. He’d lived a completely separate life and no one back home shared that experience. 

While PTSD is an important part of the equation, it’s not the whole picture. Being in a warzone doesn’t automatically equal PTSD. “I don’t want people to think that it’s because of that only. There is trauma and difficulties ongoing and fluid in everyone’s life.” Don’t assume, he says. 

He wants people to understand that veterans come from all walks of life and bring with them a myriad of experiences and belief systems:  “Veterans are not heroes, though they may perform heroic acts. Veterans are flawed, complex, brave, unique, young, and old. Just like everyone else.”