"Everything feels urgent"

During the brief ceremony Whanja watched families pressing retuning soldiers to their bosoms, kissing and crying tears of joy. Nobody was there to welcome her home. She waited around the bus to return to the barracks to prepare for being processed out of the Army. In her medical appointment, she was finally diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. She had experienced the symptoms since deployment to Iraq three years earlier.

Whanja still suffers from those same symptoms. “I have been feeling overwhelmed over little things, not being able to multitask, not being able to focus and concentrate, because of the anxiety, stress and tension. I am still feeling intense pressure, even if I am in a different environment. Sometimes if it is really bad, I am very emotional, not being able to sleep. Everything feels urgent, because that is how we are programmed in the Army,” she says. 

Whanja was given medication and she talked to the chaplain and counselors. She says small routines helped her make sense of her life. “I try to do things to keep my mind and body healthy. I am honest about my feelings. If something is bothering me, I make sure I go and talk to someone.”

Whanja left the military just weeks after the end of her deployment, but she had nowhere to go. Used to looking after herself, she asked for accommodation from the U.S. Vets homeless centre at Long Beach.