PTSD Freedom Key #9 Bonus - Looking Straight Ahead

My drill instructor taught me a valuable lesson; how to solve a problem in a simple, yet effective way. It helped me to clarify my PTSD issues and allowed me my Freedom. Sometimes I confuse a problem even more by over-thinking the solution. To solve a problem, such as PTSD , stress, confusion, or anything else that prevents me from being happy or successful, I just remember the following story:

It was a hot, sunny, humid day in mid July and my company of 180 men were learning the finer points of " Marching and Drilling". We were hot, thirsty, dusty, drenched in sweat, and exhausted from a full day of training and now we were getting screamed at by the Drill Instructors. The D.I.'s never seem to tire, never run out of smart remarks, and never run out of opportunities to degrade us. They were not shy in expressing their displeasure of our drilling performance. They would shout " column left, column right, left flank, right flank, rear march!!" and so many other wonderful commands at the top of their lungs. For some unknown reason we couldn't remember our left from our right and continually bumped into each other. Then we would stop, start again, stop, start again, over and over.

The D.I.'s threatened us with no chow, no rest, no water, no showers, no nothing except more pain! An example of their " more pain policy" was to have all of us move together, shoulder to shoulder in a tight formation. The command " company.....mark time.....march" was given and, in perfect unison, we began lifting our feet to the left-right-left-right cadence of the D.I. Only we simply stayed in one place and didn't move forward. They made us raise our knees as high as we could and pound our feet hard into the ground. Over and over we did that in what seemed an eternity. The constant and rhythmic pounding created a plume of dust and dirt that coated our bodies , our sweaty faces, our parched throats, and our burning eyes. Breathing in dust and eating dirt is not fun!! They commanded us to halt and the cloud of dust was so thick you couldn't see 20 feet in front of you. It was like a fog.

The D.I. said he figured out what our problem was and how to fix it.
" Raise your right arm above your head!!" he yelled.
To some he shouted " Not that arm.......Your military right !!!"
"Now extend your right hand around your back and place it on the center of your but-tocks!"
"Now squeeze as tightly as you can "
"........and pull your head-out - ch'your-as_!!!!
"Place it between your left and right shoulders and screw it down nice and tight."
"Make sure your eyes are facing directly forward."
"Clear the crud away from your eyes so you can see clearly."
" Problem solved!!!!!" he said with pride.

To our surprise, it actually worked and we executed the commands perfectly !
Maybe this is another PTSD Freedom Key!

The Bottom Line: Sometimes the simplest answer is the best answer.