You Were Trained to Survive. Now It’s Time to Heal. By Juen Arzadon, USMC Veteran, AMFT/APCC
- Juen Marc Arzadon
- Jun 29
- 3 min read
A Message for Active Duty Military and Veterans
There’s a reason you don’t talk about what you’ve been through. You were trained to compartmentalize. To stay focused. To keep your emotions out of the way so you could get the job done.
And you did.
But now—whether you’re still in uniform or years out of the service—you’re feeling the weight of all that strength. And it’s getting harder to carry it alone.
The Battles No One Sees
While many focus on the physical toll of military service, the invisible wounds—like trauma, anxiety, moral injury, and depression—often go unnoticed.
For some, the hardest battles come after deployment ends:
Trouble sleeping or constant hypervigilance
Feeling emotionally distant from family or partners
Sudden anger or irritation that’s hard to explain
Numbness, guilt, or not feeling like yourself
Using alcohol, sex, or distractions to cope
You might think, “Other people had it worse,” or “I should be able to handle this.”
But trauma doesn’t work that way. It’s not about comparison. It’s about how your nervous system has been impacted—and how you deserve to heal.
PTSD, Moral Injury, and the Military Mind
Not every wound bleeds. Some wounds are buried in your nervous system. In your muscle memory. In the flashbacks, the shame, the guilt, the silence.
You may be carrying:
PTSD from combat, accidents, or witnessing violence
Moral injury from doing things you never thought you’d do
Survivor’s guilt because you're alive when someone else isn’t
Relationship trauma from years of emotional suppression
Anger and rage you don’t understand but can’t seem to stop
You might’ve never told anyone. Not even your spouse. Not your buddies. Not your commander. Not your therapist—because maybe you’ve never had one.
You Have the Right to Heal
Here’s what I need you to know:
If you’re on active duty, you can access mental health care confidentially through military behavioral health clinics, chaplains, or Military OneSource.
If you’re a veteran, the VA, community-based care, and therapists like myself who work with Tricare, TriWest, Aetna, Optum, Blue Shield, and others can provide support.
Your sessions are protected by law under HIPAA—your information stays private.
And no—talking to a therapist does not mean your career is over.
You fought for freedom. That includes your right to live free from the chains of unhealed pain.
“But I Don’t Want to Talk About It.”
Good. You don’t have to say everything.
As a military veteran myself, I understand the culture, the pressure, and the cost of silence.
This space is different. It’s not about retelling every detail. It’s about processing what’s stuck—the guilt, the fear, the anger, the grief—so you don’t have to carry it for another decade.
You won’t be asked to open up before you're ready.
You won't be told to “just move on.”
You’ll be met where you are, with tools that work.
What Therapy Can Actually Do for You
In therapy, we don’t erase your past. We help you retrain your nervous system, rebuild your relationships, and reclaim your sense of peace.
We work on:
Releasing trauma from the body
Managing anger and impulsivity
Reconnecting emotionally with your loved ones
Restoring sleep and reducing anxiety
Addressing guilt and moral injury without shame
Learning how to feel again—without it overwhelming you
You trained your mind and body to fight. Now you can train them to feel safe again.
This Is the Call You Answer for Yourself
You’re used to being the one others depend on. But right now, this is your mission.
To fight for yourself.
If you’re tired of trying to figure this out alone, I invite you to start with one simple, private, no-pressure step:
Let’s talk. Just you and me. No rank. No uniform. No expectations.
Just the beginning of something better.
Final Words: You Are Not the Enemy. You Are the Survivor.
You are not broken. You are not weak. You are a soldier, a protector, a warrior.
But you are also a human being.And healing is not just allowed—it’s necessary.
You didn’t fight this hard to live a life full of silence, rage, or disconnection.
You fought for freedom. Now it’s your turn to feel free.
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