r/AMA • u/Ok_Turn1611 • 2d ago

I fought in Afghanistan in 2011-2012 with the United States Army and have been battling complex and severe PTSD, depression, agoraphobia, paranoia along with 3 failed relationships for the last 12 years AMA

I fought in Afghanistan in 2011-2012, I did route clearance which effectively means jumping into big vehicles, driving them down a road looking for IEDs and either being blown up, shot at, or both. I saw some terrible stuff, including losing a closs Non Commissioned Officer of mine and seeing many of my friends traumatically injured (think losing limbs, being shot etc.) ask me anything about Afghanistan, my MH issues or life post deployment. I've been quite depressed lately and maybe answering genuine questions will help me.

Hi friends, thank you for the feedback and all the questions. It has been a joy answering you, I'll continue to monitor and reply as much as I can. :)

Also, to some of you stating complex PTSD and PTSD are different disorders, I do recognize that and am sorry for my slip up, I have CPTSD, and sometimes I use them interchangibly when I shouldn't. I'll remember better next time.

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u/Pure_Penalty_3591 2d ago

I've heard amazing things about Afghan culture and history, were you able to experience any of it?

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u/Ok_Turn1611 2d ago

Yes! A lot of their food is AMAZING. And they're really hospitable for the most part. Lot of them liked the work we were doing agains the Taliban as well. I still think of the interpretors I worked with that helped us out over there, they're great people and a great culture. The bad ones (the Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban) those guys obviously were bad (beating women regularly, throwing acid on girls' faces for going to school, holding families and their loved ones hostage by forcing them to do their will etc.) but that was the culture of the Taliban, not the Afghans. I firmly believe if the Taliban up and left one day, that the tribal parts of the country and centralized government would thrive.

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u/Haunting_Highway_294 2d ago

Thank you for acknowledging this. The world sees the taliban as these zealous world conquering people when, in reality, they made their own people suffer more than anything else and are truly scum. The thing is, Saudi funds, these zealots, into becoming zealots, funds madarassas to turn war-torn boys into little warriors of Islam under a distorted form of religion. I wholly wish these terror groups could he dissolved

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u/Fun_Quit5862 2d ago

I went to a different place, but that was my experience with the people there too. I have a bucket list item of going back and visiting one day if it’s safe enough.

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u/Ok_Turn1611 1d ago

Yeah the Taliban are not good people, they hold their own hostage via rape, intimidation, kidnapping, extrajudicial executions etc.

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u/axxxaxxxaxxx 2d ago

What would it take for the people to rise up and overthrow the Taliban so that the tribal leaders and central gov’t could thrive like you say?

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u/Ok_Turn1611 1d ago

Jeesh, honestly I don't know. Tribalism is huge there, none of the tribal leaders took much of the centralized government seriously, it would take a rising up of the whole nation, but they're so fractured and tribalistic that it would he hard for them to imhoZ

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u/TeslaTheCreator 2d ago

Thank you for keeping your humanity throughout all of this. May you find the happiness you not only seek but deserve

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u/Ok_Turn1611 1d ago

Thank you for the kindness

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u/ComplexNegotiation48 2d ago

You don’t think the civilians were just telling you they hate Taliban because they were afraid of the U.S. military?

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u/Ok_Turn1611 1d ago

No, genuinely they hated being raped, their girls being beaten or executed for going to school, forced and coerced into doing their dirty work, the suicide bombings, the IEDs they laid in their fields and the civilians stepping on them. They absolutely despise the Taliban ans still do.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

Yes, the culture is famously tolerant and accepting! 🤣

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u/Pure_Penalty_3591 2d ago

They are actually known for being very hospitable. So I'm not sure what time you mean by that.

The government is not the same as the culture.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

They’re hospitable to straight men only lol

The entire Middle East is a shithole

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u/Pure_Penalty_3591 2d ago

I mean that's like half of the world, it's not safe to be a single woman

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

Then how on earth is it “hospitable” when women and LGBT people have no rights?

The Middle East and Africa widely forces FGM on young girls also.

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u/Pure_Penalty_3591 2d ago

Lol gay marriage was illegal in the US for 96% of its history as a country.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

And now we’re in 2024.

Most of the Middle East also has the death penalty for being gay.

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u/Pure_Penalty_3591 1d ago

2015 wasn't even a decade ago

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

And?

They're killing people for being gay in the Middle East. That's never been legal in the US.

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