March 13, 2025 • 46 mins
Post-traumatic stress disorder affects thousands of veterans, with approximately 35 veterans committing suicide every day due to PTSD-related issues. We explore the realities of PTSD among veterans, sharing real stories of how this mental health condition impacts lives and discussing effective approaches to treatment.
• Combat exposure is the primary cause of PTSD, but non-combat trauma can also trigger the condition
• PTSD manifests through social withdrawal, relationship difficulties, employment problems, and anger management issues
• Veterans can receive VA ratings from 20% to 100% depending on the severity of their condition
• Secondary depression and anxiety often develop from service-connected physical limitations
• Seeking professional help is crucial—diagnosis typically requires multiple sessions with a social worker
• Treatment options include counseling, medication, and developing effective coping strategies
• The path to diagnosis and benefits can be challenging, with some veterans waiting years for approval
• Warning signs include social isolation, relationship breakdown, and inability to manage anger
• Extreme cases can lead to violence or suicide if left untreated
If you're struggling with PTSD or other mental health issues, don't wait to get help. Contact the VA Crisis Line or reach out to mental health professionals who specialize in veteran care. You're not alone, and treatment can make a difference.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
J Basser (00:03):
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of
Exposed Vet Productions.
My name is John Stacy, I'mExposed Vet.
That's wwwexposedvetcom.
My co-host, as always, mr RayCobb of the great state of
Tennessee.
How are you doing, ray?
Ray Cobb (00:18):
I'm doing great, I think.
I hope I got this computerturned on and working right.
J Basser (00:24):
Oh yeah, you got it looking pretty good, man, but
I'm sitting here in my man cave.
You're sitting in your man caveand we're going to discuss a
topic that's kind of been taboofor many, many years.
It's post-traumatic stressdisorder, ptsd and we're going
to discuss basically what it isand we're going to give a couple
of examples of what to do andwhat not to do.
Ray Cobb (00:48):
Sounds good to me.
J Basser (00:49):
Yeah, ray.
He did a show earlier in theweek on your show and you guys
discussed this poor guy ineastern Tennessee and he had
PTSD.
Can you explain to the masseswhat this poor fellow did?
Ray Cobb (01:04):
Yeah, it was kind of an unusual.
It's the only situation I'veheard of like this.
This happened back in I believeit was 2018.
A young man he came, he servedover in Iraq, did two tours of
duty over there, served over inIraq, did two tours of duty over
(01:27):
there and he was diagnosed withPTSD After he got back and got
out of the service after sixyears.
I think he's in six years, maybeeight years, I'm thinking six
years of service and he got outand was having a problem holding
(01:48):
a job and was married, had twochildren and you know he had
some of the basics that you knowabout with PTSD, got diagnosed,
got rated 100% for PTSD and hereached out on Facebook and made
contact with a lot of old highschool friends and one of them
(02:09):
happened to be an old highschool girlfriend that he dated
his junior and senior year inhigh school and then they kind
of went their separate ways andhe ended up going to the
military and she married anotherguy and living out in Dallas,
texas, and what he did?
She started we don't know why,she never said why, but she
(02:32):
started playing off of him andeventually convinced him to get
rid of her husband.
She convinced him that herhusband was abusive to her and
her children.
She was actually in a car wreck, took some photographs of that
(02:52):
car wreck, which had happenedtwo or three years earlier, but
posted them or sent them to him,stating that her husband had
beat her that weekend, or he cuther with a knife or he did this
, and she had a black eye onetime and a big bruise on her
back and evidently almost all ofthese occurred from this car
(03:14):
wreck.
And her husband had a good jobworking for American Airlines.
They lived just outside ofDallas.
Had a good job working forAmerican Airlines, they lived
just outside of Dallas.
Financially they were fine.
(03:34):
But he convinced her that shewas being abused and how she
hated him.
Now she claimed she went to thepolice and the police wouldn't
do anything.
And he told her to take out arestraining order.
She scared to do it, says he'llkill me and my children and you
know all these type of things.
And he believed her.
And it kept going on and goingon and going on and finally he
(03:57):
said I'll take care of it.
So we learned how to take careof our own.
Um, now you got to understandanother part.
This young, young man was bornand raised in East Tennessee and
you being up there from EasternKentucky, where I am down in
Southern Tennessee, back in theold days, if I'm going to call
it the old days, back in the 30s, if a guy was ugly and beating
(04:22):
his wife or whatever, some ofthe other friends would go and,
like a better term, take him outbehind the woodshed and teach
him a lesson.
You know, that was just kind ofthe way it was done back there.
Well, this guy carried it tothe far extreme.
He got in his vehicle and droveto Dallas, went to where she
lived, never saw her, hadn'tseen her since she was in high
(04:45):
school.
She hid out at a vacant house,a couple of doors down, and
watched for two or three daysand got his pattern.
This guy would come out at 7o'clock in the morning to walk
the dog, then would go in andcome back out at 20 till 8 and
go to work, and that was aneveryday routine.
The kids would come out at 7, 7,30 and would get on the school
(05:06):
bus to go to school.
So he got the routine down andabout three or four days after
getting that down he hid in thebushes beside the house and he
came out at seven o'clock towalk the dog.
He stepped out of the bushes,shot him three times, killed him
.
Him, ran back into the back,jumped over the fence, got in
(05:28):
his car on the roads, parkedbehind him and took off and came
back to Tennessee.
So they were able throughemails because they were looking
at her.
He had a pretty good lifeinsurance policy and stuff.
So in looking at her they foundthese emails about him and so
(05:51):
they tracked him down and headmitted what he did.
But he said that was my PTSDthat kicked in.
And he said the military taughtme how to kill and how to
protect people I love and toprotect my country.
And that's what I was doing.
I was protecting somebody thatI loved.
And the jury didn't buy it.
(06:13):
He ended up, I think, withabout 50 years up here in prison
now.
But that's sometimes, you know,do I believe PTSD did it?
It?
J Basser (06:25):
was premeditated.
Ray Cobb (06:27):
Probably played a part in it, but you got to learn to
control it.
You know, and that's probablyone of the most important things
we can share with our listenersis that you know there's
different levels, everythingfrom a 20% to 100%.
J Basser (06:47):
They tried him in Texas.
Ray Cobb (06:49):
Yeah, they got him in Texas and he's serving in a
prison out there in Texas.
J Basser (06:55):
Well, he's lucky to be serving time at all.
In Texas.
You do something like that.
In Texas it's usually Mr Stick.
You're the electric chair,isn't it?
Ray Cobb (07:03):
Well, I think they usually give him a shot there
now.
But, that being said, if ithadn't been for her involvement
and her trying to convince himto do it and the fact that he
did have records of beingmentally unstable, that probably
kept him from getting the shot,the needle in the arm, that's
(07:27):
probably the only thing thatkept him from doing that.
But I think he got somethinglike 55 years and she got 15
years for setting it up andconvincing him.
So kind of an interesting storyabout PTSD, and I don't know
how many others around thecountry are like that.
I just happened to run intothat one and it caught my
(07:50):
interest.
J Basser (07:52):
I met several.
Ray Cobb (07:54):
And you know I've heard of an awful lot of
suicides.
I mean somebody.
The other day I was down inMurfreesboro at the VA hospital
and was talking to a publicrelations gentleman there and he
looked real proud.
He said, yeah, we have PTSD,we've got that down to somewhere
(08:17):
around 35 a day.
Well, he's right, that's betterthan the 44 that it was just a
year or so ago.
However, 35 is still too many.
That means at least you knowwhat every 50 minutes somewhere
along an era that a veteran hascommitted suicide from PTSD.
So that's still outrageous.
(08:37):
And that doesn't take intoaccount.
I mean, I know another gentlemanright here in Franklin County,
tennessee suffered from PTSD andhe had an anger management
problem.
He actually went around andmowed yards because he couldn't
hardly work with anybody or getalong with anyone and his wife
(09:00):
had a good job at one of thebanks locally and his wife had a
good job at one of the bankslocally.
He caught her with another guyand beat her up and killed the
other guy and we got one of hisfriends to bury him and the
other friend got scared and wentto the police and told them
about what happened.
So he's now serving time herein Tennessee.
(09:23):
I think he got 75 years, if I'mright For an accessory.
No, he was the one that did it,the guy in the accessory, the
guy that helped him bury the man.
He got 10 years and five yearsprobation.
So he had to serve five yearsand he got probation.
So he had to serve five yearsand he got probation.
(09:45):
So you know, you never knowwhere this PTSD can take you
guys.
So you need to be aware of it.
You need to face up to the factthat you may have it.
To what degree?
Only a psychologist and goingthrough counseling can actually
determine to what level and whatdegree you need and whether or
(10:05):
not it's something you canhandle with counseling and
talking to other vets that haveit, or whether or not you need
medication.
There's not any shame inadmitting it and going into that
.
Everybody says well, they'lltake my guns.
Well, unless you show and statea fact that you're going to try
(10:33):
to hurt somebody or harmsomebody or make a threat
against somebody, they're notgoing to take your guns, not in
Tennessee anyway.
I don't know about other states, but in Tennessee they're not
going to do that.
They probably wouldn't do it inTexas either.
J Basser (10:50):
But in any case, guys, you know Well there's a
stipulation with that as far asPTSD, mental health issues, I
mean you can be 100% mentalhealth.
You don't have to have PTSD.
You can have a severedepression and things like that,
as long as you're pretty muchcognitive and when you go you
(11:11):
know you're like your exam thatgives you your rating.
The psychiatrist is going toask you this and this and he's
going to make the determinationif you can pay your bills or not
.
And if you cannot pay yourbills, they go to and they
assign you a judiciary to payyour bills for you, and usually,
in most cases it's your spouseor somebody like that.
(11:32):
But sometimes they have to usea law firm or an attorney to do
that and that rolls the ballright there.
Because you have to have ajudiciary, you don't have the
responsibility to pay your bills.
They don't think you have theresponsibility to own a firearm,
and I've known four or fivethat had that situation and they
sure enough, had to turn themin.
But there's bills now passed indifferent states to get that
(11:55):
overturned, not to stop it, butsay if they improve and get
better, then they get theirfirearms back.
But that's the key point.
It's like when we talk aboutspecial monthly compensation.
The door that opens up thevault to the higher levels of
special monthly compensation isSMC level L, which is aid and
(12:18):
attendance right.
Ray Cobb (12:20):
Right.
J Basser (12:21):
Well, the bad door is, if you get stuck in the
judiciary, then that opens upthe door to a whole host of
problems, one of them being, ifthey will, they can come and
confiscate your weapons.
You know, yeah, okay, butthere's a lot of doors in the VA
.
I'm going to crack some hoopstoo, but you know how that hits
(12:42):
trains.
Yeah, let's talk a little bitabout I'm going to crack some
hoops too, but you know how thathits brains.
Let's talk a little bit aboutPTSD in itself.
Now, post-traumatic stressdisorder.
Okay, some of the main causesfor PTSD.
The main cause is combat.
You know somebody's trying tokill you and you're trying to
kill them.
I mean, it can leave a lastingimpression on you and that's
(13:05):
pretty much you know.
If you're a combat veteran andyou claim that, then the result
if you got the right paperworkand it shows you were a combat
vet, then they have to take yourword for it.
You know, all they have to dois justify the severity of the
case.
Then there's other ways you getPTSD too.
You don't have to be a combatvet.
You say, for example, youworked on board, say you was at
(13:32):
a base that transferred thebodies from a port, to a ship or
whatever.
You've done that and you handleall that.
That's kind of gruesome too, oran error.
You know the error, that takingthem back and forth and things
like that or anything.
That's traumatic, and that'sanother issue.
The military is a dangerousplace.
(13:53):
Contrary to popular belief,there are bad eggs in the
military.
The military does have issueswhen it comes to everyday life.
Back when I was in, they had alittle bit of a drug problem.
Of course, it all started inVietnam.
You remember those days, don'tyou Ray?
Ray Cobb (14:10):
Oh, I do.
J Basser (14:13):
You've got to be careful because if you do
something the wrong way and youtip off the wrong people
especially if you're in the Navyyou might go swimming or
they're going to try to beat youto death.
So you've got to be careful.
And I can call PTSD, too, apersonal assault, and things
like that.
It's combat-related becausethey're trying to kill you.
(14:33):
If you get beat up by a pieceof equipment that belongs to the
military, According to James,it's kind of a combat injury.
Ray Cobb (14:42):
That's yeah when you get into it.
There's not any difference asfar as treatment or severity
between combat veteran and anindividual, for whatever reason,
(15:04):
that has severe depression withhigh anxiety attacks.
Now how can that happen?
I know of one or two that theywere.
They were athletes growing up,they were strong, they had a lot
(15:26):
of physical ability and thenthe exposure to Agent Orange in
one guy's case was to the AirForce exposure to Agent Orange,
and one guy's case was throughthe Air Force.
It caused him to come down withdiabetes and stent, heart
(15:47):
disease and all the things thatgo along with it, and he became
depressed because he couldn't dowhat he had planned his whole
life doing in retirement.
You know, fishing, playing golf, playing with his grandkids all
of that stuff went by thewayside.
So he became pretty depressedbecause his lifelong dreams and
(16:12):
ideas were shattered.
Well, he finally got counselingand he's doing a lot better
today.
He still doesn't go out inpublic very much, he still
doesn't participate in a lot ofactivities in groups, but
(16:34):
overall I think he's acceptedhis condition pretty well.
And then another one that we'vetalked about before on this show
, who just recently his job hehas 100% PTSD and his job was he
was an intelligence guy and hisjob was he was an intelligence
(16:58):
guy and he was over in Iraq orAfghanistan and he read
newspapers and figured out.
He had names of individualsthat our forces were looking for
and he would report where theywere, what they were doing, if
they were going to make a publicappearance, appearance and then
(17:21):
, um, four or five days later hewould be reading the newspaper
and see where they had beenassassinated or killed in a car
wreck or fell off of the roof.
Um, you know things of thatnature and, um, you know when,
when, when that happened, uh,that that kind of created a
total different atmosphere forhim.
He wasn't in combat but he knew, by these guys' names, that he
(17:45):
had destroyed that family.
I remember he told one of agentleman that had actually had
I think it was a wife and fouror five children, and the
picture that they chose to runin the paper was that of his
(18:06):
wife with the five childrentrying to hold on to his casket
as he came out of the church orwhatever, and the kids bawling
and crying, and he said thataffected him a lot.
Um, so he, you know, he went.
He wasn't seeing anyone when Ifirst met him and I convinced
(18:30):
him to go to counseling and tohear him talk.
Today his voice is so muchbetter, so much stronger.
He has accepted his situationand I think he's going to be
okay now.
But that's the case that he hadgone.
(18:51):
He couldn't understand why hecouldn't get along with people
and he couldn't understand whyhe couldn't hold a with people
and he couldn't understand whyhe couldn't hold a decent job.
J Basser (19:00):
That's true.
I know I had a vet that I helpedout 10 or 15 years ago.
He lived down south of you,down there in northern Alabama
toward Florence.
He was on the USS Lexington,which is the hat that I got on
tonight.
(19:20):
I'm going to do that in memoryof him.
He actually was on board theLexington.
In fact, when he was on boardit was a training carrier.
That's where everybody thatbecame naval aviators made their
first carrier landing was onboard the Lexington.
They'd take off and fly themtraining planes in there and
(19:40):
they'd land on the plane, on thecarrier and his job on board
the carrier.
He was a catapult operatorcaptain and on one certain day
he was in charge of catapultnumber two and they're expecting
this plane to come in.
This guy's plane came in and hewas getting off the glide path,
so the signalman waved him offand somehow the guy panicked and
(20:04):
instead of using the stick tomove the rudders, he used his
feet to hit his brakes while hewas driving his car and the only
thing he did was invert theplane upside down and he crashed
right before the tower on topof everything, killed several
people, and that explosion waswent a little place.
So he dove over the rail andjumped up and got a fire suit
and went in trying to help outthe fire and stuff and he messed
(20:28):
him up pretty bad and that washis first time for PTSD.
He filed his claim and theylaughed at him but he got Social
Security orders for it.
But they denied his VA claims.
They said we can't prove youwere there and anything else you
know.
So he was talking to me one dayand asked me to give me the
story so I could, you know, gethim to.
(20:49):
You know, open up a little bit,and I was going to put him with
the right, you know the rightperson to help him do the claim
and do his appeal.
And he said in all carrierlandings taped.
He says, yeah, it is.
And sure enough, he went tovideo, did a search for it and
there was an accident on theinternet and it showed a big old
(21:10):
dude standing there, rightthere when the plane started to
crash.
It shows a big old dude divingover into the basket, getting
out of the way and then flamesgoing right across his head.
So he jumps up A few secondslater, comes in and they're
trying to fight the fire and,you know, save people.
He said what am I going to donow?
I said, well, you go ahead anddownload that video, save it on
(21:32):
a thumb drive and send that intothe VA and link that as
evidence.
Yeah, and he had a bunch ofbuddies in there that went
through the video.
So that's him, that's him,that's him Buddy status.
So he got connected to that.
Unfortunately, it didn't lasttoo long, though.
His PTSD was really bad.
It cost him his family, hishouse, his boats and everything,
(21:55):
and he wound up gettingmurdered over some kind of
stupid argument.
He got into the gut, hecouldn't let it go and the guy
shot him.
Ray Cobb (22:02):
So it's pretty sad and that's one of the side effects
that people don't realize canhappen.
I mean, there's this gentlemanthat I just started helping a
month ago and I could tell bytalking to him that he had some
PTSD.
Sure enough, he had done twotours in Iraq.
He was on the tank.
(22:22):
He had actually broken hisankle three times and he now
can't move that ankle, that foot.
So we were talking about doinga claim for that.
But in our conversation I couldtell he had some other problems
.
So I started asking him.
I said well, do you go out withfriends and stuff on Friday?
(22:45):
Oh no, I don't do that.
No, I'm pretty much a homeboy.
Or if it's hunting or fishingseason, I may go out hunting or
fishing, but I just do itusually by myself, or maybe my
son might go with me.
And then I said well, okay,where do you go to church?
He said well, he says I do.
He said but I go to a littlesmall church up here on the
(23:07):
mountain.
We only got 10 members and hesaid you know there's seven or
eight there on Sunday not verymany.
And I kept talking to him andfinding out more and more.
And then I said well, you saidyou have a son.
Where's your wife?
Oh, she left me about a year orso after I got back.
I said, really, he said, yeah,we got to where we didn't see
(23:30):
eye to eye, we couldn't makeheads or tails, and I said, so
you guys got a divorce.
Yeah, we got a divorce.
I don't want anything to dowith her anymore.
So all these things add up, oneby itself maybe not, but four or
five things that are common inindividuals that are suffering
(23:54):
from PTSD.
You just got to connect thedots.
I mean, is he more than 60percent?
Maybe 70, probably more like 50.
You know, I don't think he hasthreatened to beat anybody up or
(24:14):
he doesn't get in fights.
He's a big old guy.
If he ever got in a fight he'dhurt somebody bad, you know.
And uh, you know, he's probablyabout six two and probably
weighs close to 300 pounds and,uh, just almost all muscle.
He's a.
He's a electronic engineer, Imean electronic electrician.
(24:36):
Let's say it right in a minute.
He's a licensed electrician buthe does a little handy work and
stuff like that around for guysthat need stuff done, does a
lot of work for veterans in thecommunity here.
But anyway, I'm hoping thatthings go right and we can get
(24:56):
him into the system and get himdoing what he needs to do.
J Basser (25:08):
That's right, ray, you do got to do.
You know you can do whateveryou need to do to help these
vets out.
Do what you got to do.
I mean, basically, you know wereally you know we don't really
do veteran claims ourselves.
I mean, you know, we're justkind of like when we come on the
map, you know A, b, c, d, youneed to go here here here and
see these people.
You know that's what we do.
We kind of specialize in that.
(25:29):
Then when we do that and getsituated, we make sure that you
know the people we recommendthem to go to.
They'll take care of things andsee their paperwork and things
like that.
Get them done.
Then, of course, we've alwaysdone that and we'll continue to
do that, you know, because Ihave no wants or needs to be a
(25:50):
claims agent or anything likethat, you know.
I mean I just want to make aveteran smile and make his life
better.
Ray Cobb (25:57):
Well, right, that's what it's all about.
I mean, I'm like you there andone thing I've noticed in this
particular case which you'rejust talking about, the guy
didn't know, he doesn't have adiagnosis, he's never sat down
with a social worker and that'sthe first thing that he needs to
do.
And guys, normally it takes aminimum of three, most of the
(26:22):
time five or six visits withthat social worker.
You may see them once a week or, if it's real severe, you'll
see them twice a week.
But, once they get thatevaluation and they give you the
diagnosis, then they will comeup with a plan or a way to treat
you.
And that's the key right there.
J Basser (26:41):
That's true.
I mean, if you've got any typeof mental health issue like that
and you're saying you'regetting VA care, you might have
PTSD.
They're going to ask youquestions probably every other
time you go in of how you'vebeen treated and things like
that.
They talk to you all the time.
Usually the intake nurse doesit, but it might help to speak
(27:03):
to a mental health specialist.
It's a see you and have themtalk you out like that, and then
you know if you think you'vegot it and they think you've got
it, you go ahead and file aclaim.
There are certain, you knowthere are certain aspects of
PTSD and mental healthconditions that you know that
should be pretty, pretty, prettyopen to getting a claim passed
to get it through.
And one of the most commoncalls you know people getting
(27:27):
connected for mental health isif you're high rated, say, well,
you don't have to be high ratedbut say you're 7% for a certain
issue and maybe your leg can'tuse your leg or something like
that, and you got a 60% for thatleg and maybe 10% is not enough
.
Well, if you can't walk likeyou're supposed to and run and
(27:48):
play with your kids and thingslike that, that can cause issues
.
So you can file that, as youknow, just depression and
anxiety, secondary to that, theservice-med conditions, and that
you know that might get you to.
Well, it depends on how severeit is.
You know you can go to 100%PTSD, but you know they don't
like giving that off the bat.
You know, unless you meet thecriteria.
(28:09):
It used to be.
They changed the criteria,folks, last year on PTSD.
It used to be you had to bepretty severe, suicidal just to
get 100% or you couldn't.
Basically it was like totaloccupational and social
impairment.
It means you had to stay awayfrom people and work, and so
they've changed that a littlebit and they've added some
caveats in there.
Now you guys ought to look itup Title 38, part 4, scattered,
(28:31):
afraid and Disabilities.
Look it up PTSD.
You can read it and of courseyou know still pretty severe
criteria to get there.
But I think it's easier now toget certain levels and I know
several folks that are 100% PTSDhave been away for years.
Ray Cobb (28:49):
You know you're talking about this one guy here
I know he told me this story.
He was 80% PTSD.
And he said yeah.
He said I got that pretty quick.
I said you did.
I said what makes you think yougot it?
How did it happen so fast?
(29:09):
He said well, it was about mythird visit and I went in and
I'm talking to the social workerand she asked me if I'd ever
thought about committing suicide.
And I said, yeah, I thoughtabout it last week.
And she said, well, how did youplan on doing it?
He said well.
(29:29):
He said well, he said that wasthe easy part and she said okay,
what was?
He says well, you know, we havethis little boat right close to
my house called devil's step,and it's where you can launch
your boat and stuff.
He said I figured I'd just godown there and take my shotgun
and wait out about waist deep,put, put that shotgun underneath
my chin and pull the trigger.
He said that way the catfishwould have something to eat and
(29:51):
it wouldn't mess up the wife'sliving room.
Well, he got his 80% prettydamn quick.
With that type of thing,whenever you have thought that
much into doing it, that's anindication that you're on your
way of actually committing that,that making that happen?
J Basser (30:15):
Yeah, because how are you going to do it?
It's a step, you know, andpeople do it all the time and we
just had a kid across thestreet here last year that did
it and he just he had it realbad, his mom passed away and he
just he overdosed on fentanyland drugs and it's pretty sad,
(30:38):
but it happens.
You know, and you're right, 44veterans a day, that's kind of
an estimated number.
They're thinking it's two and ahalf times the number of what
the press is reporting.
They're reporting like 20, 22 aday, and so I say 44 is the
actual number and that's whatthe charts show, and so that's
what we're.
1,600 vets per that's a lot ofvets every year.
(31:00):
It is One is too many.
You know what I mean.
Ray Cobb (31:08):
Yeah, what's interesting to to me, we're
seeing more now of the youngersoldiers, the guys coming out of
Iraq and Afghanistan andthey're getting out now that are
in their, you know, late 50s,early 60s.
Because of the fact that mostof the ones which they never
kept record of they didn't wantto admit it from right after the
(31:32):
Vietnam War, those never gotproperly recorded.
So we don't know how many cameout of the Vietnam era.
We know that some of them inlater years, you know, once they
got into their 60s usually thelast five or 10 years of their
work history it really startedsetting up pretty strong.
(31:54):
I know it was again.
I know of a local gentleman.
He was fine until about twoyears before he retired.
Then he just lost interest andthe PTSD just came on pretty
strong and pretty quick and itwas a Vietnam era veteran and
served in Vietnam.
So you know there's a lot of,there's a lot of that, though,
(32:19):
from the Vietnam era thatactually never got properly
diagnosed and recorded becauseit was still I guess, probably
until what?
2010?
Diagnosed and recorded becauseit was still uh, uh, well, I
guess, probably until what,2010,.
It was still kind of somewhatbrushed under the rug from uh,
by the VA, yeah, you know.
(32:41):
And then, finally, they camealong and uh, what was it in
2021 that they passed?
Did the PAC act?
and that identified it more.
J Basser (32:52):
Well, it did to a certain extent, but they're kind
of packed back for moreexposure, anything, any type of
airborne hazard.
Now it started out years agowith the lady and her husband in
Texas.
He got some kind of cancer orwhatever and she started suing
everybody for the burn pitexposures and so Congress got
together and made this thing up.
(33:12):
And it's kind of funny howCongress would make something up
like that and they'll stick itin the VA and dump it on them
and the next thing you know theVA is having to scramble.
As soon as they have toscramble they've got to get a
bunch of new people and help dothese claims and it takes at
least two or three years to getpeople up to speed and it's
pretty sad.
(33:33):
But the PACT Act itself I mean,with all these cuts coming down
the pipe, of course it's goingto slow it down a little bit
because the court ruled todaythey couldn't do it.
So we'll see what happens.
But anyhow, with all the PACAct it's just going to cause the
claims to be ungodly longprocessing.
You know like it used to beback in the old days.
(33:56):
It took you seven, eight yearsto win a claim.
Remember those days, right?
Ray Cobb (33:59):
I was in them.
I did that.
It took me eight years to winmy first claim In 2014.
Yeah, to win my first claim2014.
J Basser (34:06):
Yeah, and I was direct service connected, believe it
or not.
So pretty sad and that willgive you PTSD.
Fighting the DA will give youPTSD, in my opinion.
Ray Cobb (34:16):
I agree with that.
J Basser (34:17):
Yeah.
Ray Cobb (34:19):
I agree with that and I think there's a lot of social
workers that believe in that,and you know what's kind of
interesting.
Now we're going to see, I think, if what I'm beginning to hear
down the pipe most of the peoplethat you get your evaluations
(34:40):
from at first are your socialworkers that are assigned to
your primary care doctors, areyour social workers that are
assigned to your primary caredoctors, and if they're going to
cut back on these socialworkers what's going to happen
(35:01):
to your PTSD patients?
J Basser (35:02):
That's true.
I don't know if that's going tobe a good question.
Social workers have a lot to dowith it, but usually your
primary care doctor and yourspecial care doctors can bypass
that.
You can go straight to seemental health.
A social worker might assessyour living situation, things
like that.
Or if you need the caregiveract and of course, they handled
(35:27):
the caregiver and that's anotherthing that was built to
anybody's lap.
Yeah, without funds.
Without funds, it's pretty sad.
It is pretty sad, but that'sthe way it is.
You know it's pretty sad.
Most social workers that I knoware pretty decent people.
You know I don't hear a lotabout the caregiver act.
(35:48):
Workers that I know are prettydecent people.
You know I don't hear a lotabout the caregiving racked up
here.
I know they've got a few ofthem, but I don't think we've
got as many veterans that aremessed up as, for example, say,
as other places do.
That are bigger cities, youknow.
Ray Cobb (36:03):
Right.
J Basser (36:04):
And so you know that all depends on the population.
I would say there's probablyquite a few in the state of
Florida, because that's her.
You know, that's the retirementcapital of the world.
Everybody wants to go toFlorida.
Everybody wants to go toFlorida.
Ray Cobb (36:30):
You're bringing that up about cities, major cities.
You know major cities alwayshave a homeless problem yes,
they do I'm wondering how manyof these homeless veterans are
actually service connected orcould be service-connected for
PTSD.
But because of what you said amoment ago, the anger of trying
(36:52):
to work with a VA, they justthrow their hands up and say I
quit.
J Basser (36:57):
Yeah, they just throw their hands up and say I just
quit.
Of course, now it all dependson the job market.
You know, sometimes the jobmarket is pretty much wide open
and people can go work wherethey want to work and do what
they want to do.
Then, once they get her done,then they can get another job or
(37:26):
do whatever.
But I mean, sometimes thesedegrees you get, like social
work and other things like that,you know you're kind of trapped
because in order to get a jobwithin the government or
teaching, you have to have amaster's degree or above.
You know, and it costs a lot ofmoney to get a master's degree
now, buddy, and a whole lot toget a PhD.
(37:47):
But you know social workers aregood.
You know they've got theirpurpose.
You know it's kind of like alaundry hamper, you know, as
long as you get the right one,you know you got one for your
whites, your colors and yourjeans.
You know you put the rightlaundry in the right basket.
That's VA claims.
You put the whites in thewhites, you put the colors in
one and you put the jeans in theother one.
(38:08):
I mean, if you're like somepeople, I know, you know you've
got a delicate one and you'vegot special clothing stuff.
You don't have to be handledwith kid gloves.
You put them in there and youwash them on a delicate cycle,
you know.
Ray Cobb (38:24):
You're liable to get in trouble tonight Probably, oh
man, you're liable to get introuble tonight?
J Basser (38:27):
Uh-huh Probably.
It won't be the first time andI guarantee you it will not be
the last time.
Ray Cobb (38:38):
Oh man, I got a big dog house in the backyard and he
hadn't had a dog in 30 years.
J Basser (38:47):
You got Sarah Shavings in it.
Huh, we got everything.
Man, you just have to spidersand would-be's out of it.
Guys, I won't be serious for aminute.
I mean, yeah, we cut up alittle bit.
I'm going to tell you something.
If you've got mental healthissues and PTSD, get help.
Talk to somebody.
Don't clam up and things likethat.
(39:09):
Don't take it out on yourfamily.
If something happens where ittriggers your PTSD, just take a
walk and get out of there and dosomething.
Go up there and get in the room, do something like that.
Just leave everybody alone.
Get some help.
You are tasked with remainingin control as best you can,
(39:30):
because if you don't remain incontrol, you lose control and
wind up like that poor guy thatRay talked about first the show.
You know he went out andbelieved this little girl
telling lies and he went out andbumped off her husband.
Okay, don't let it run yourlife.
Get treatment, get the rightmedication, Get treatment, get
the right medication, Get help.
It will help you, you know, andanxiety is definitely Well, you
(39:52):
know.
Ray Cobb (39:53):
John, you need to learn.
That's a great point.
And, guys, you're not the onlyone affected.
Your spouse, your children,your in-laws, your best friends,
they all said if all of asudden you havelaws, your best
friends, they all said if all ofa sudden you have a whole bunch
of friends, the next thing youknow you only have one or two.
(40:14):
You need to ask yourself howcome?
What am I doing to run thesefolks off?
And more than likely, theunderlining cause is some minor
form or some form of PTSD orsome type of a mental problem,
whether it's depression withanxiety attacks or what.
(40:34):
But get help.
That's all we can say is gethelp.
J Basser (40:42):
You're exactly right, ray.
Get as much help as you can.
There's stuff out there.
If you're thinking suicide, youcan call the suicide hotline,
call the crisis line.
They'll help you out.
I worked for the VA.
One of my units was 2 North,which is here in Lexington, and
that was the psych unit.
That place stayed full of, youknow, of veterans and I had to
(41:08):
go up there several times a week, you know, to do rounds and
stuff and talk to people andtake care of you know, business
stuff.
It wasn't anything to do withthe medical side, but I see
people who went to high schoolwith us in there and everything
else, you know, and they'drecognize me and I'd shake my
head at them, you know.
But as soon as I come out ofthe door I was kind of happy.
We had one guy that was inthere.
(41:28):
We had a long-term mental healthfacility across town.
It was an old World War II VAand there was a guy on the
second floor and I worked overthere too and this poor guy
would run around the halls andwe're talking, you could walk
and build a building and they'vegot tunnels under the ground
and it's a beautiful facility.
(41:49):
This guy would run around witha cape on and thought he was
Superman.
That's how bad.
He was.
Nicest guy in the world, but hewas Superman, and so don't look
down on somebody that's gotPTSD.
You know, be nice to everybodyif you can be, you know, and uh,
(42:10):
you see people having issuesall the time.
You know, blow up some thingslike that, but once you let your
emotions take a hold, it's hardto gain control of it.
You know what I'm saying, right?
Ray Cobb (42:18):
I do, yeah, I do you, and I've seen it more than we
need to.
I guess we see it so much thatsometimes, when we bump into a
guy, a veteran, that just ingeneral conversation, by the
time you talk with him for fiveor ten minutes and leave, you
(42:39):
realize he has a level of PTSDor mental problems.
You don't know a level of PTSDor mental problems, you don't
know.
You know, I mean, I'm not apsychologist and I don't know at
what level he has them, but Iknow he has them.
J Basser (42:54):
Yeah, that's also too, when y'all realize too you're
talking to the vet, mr Vet, andthey've got PTSD.
You know you can ask a coupleof questions or whatever you
know and nobody knows for sure.
I mean nobody will know.
I mean the guy can tell you hewas this and that and this and
that he may not have been.
You never know.
You get a lot of folks likethat.
But what's a gut PTSD?
(43:15):
In my opinion, PTSD itself is.
It is a medical diagnosis, butit is basically a diagnosis
based off of the examiner andthe treating physician's word,
because there's not really anymedical tests to physically show
(43:36):
PTSD, like there is a heartcath or lung problems or
whatever MRIs and things likethat.
So basically it's kind of aneducated gift by the docs and
what you've been through as towhat's going on with you now.
As you put A and B together,your chance to get rated is
pretty good, but you have tohave some kind of event or
(43:57):
something for PTSD.
Anyways, you got to have sometype of stressful event to make
it happen, like combat, personalassault, mst or anything like
that.
You know, fear of your life Ifyou hear somebody trying to kill
you.
That's basically what you'relooking for.
You know that, ray.
Ray Cobb (44:13):
I did.
J Basser (44:14):
Yeah, I did Mm-hmm.
But anxiety and depression isdifferent because it can be
based off of certain types ofdisabilities.
And I want to tell you, themajority of vets are probably
having anxiety and depressionbecause you can't do what you
used to do and you're stuck in awheelchair or you're stuck here
and stuck there.
You know it's depressing as allget-up because your life's
changed, you know.
(44:36):
I mean you don't see Ray upthere playing the drums anymore.
Ray Cobb (44:40):
No, couldn't even hold a set of drumsticks anymore.
I know it.
J Basser (44:47):
You know you don't see me on lake bass fishing, much
more do you I throw every rod Ihad in the water.
I've done that enough.
That's how I found out about myservice.
Connected issues in my left armstart throwing rods in the
water for no reason, so butthat's the way it is.
(45:11):
Well, I think, guys, we're outof time.
I want to thank Ray for comingon and being a co-host.
We're going to have a good shownext week.
We're going to try to discussthe VA court, what goes on at
the VA court.
So, if I can get somebody tocome on, I've got a couple
feelers right now, but I want todiscuss this issue since it's
kind of an interesting subjectright now, and right now
everybody's in kind of turmoil.
So you know, it's kind of I'dlike to see what they do.
(45:34):
You know, look at the courtcases and things like that.
But I just want to go with thatprocedural thing that face that
me.
I might get alex to come onmaybe in that and we'll walk and
walk us through it and whathappens when you do your
paperwork and who to file andhow you get an attorney and
things like that and paperwork,and how much you got to pay and
the perks of getting to courtand winning your claim and
(45:58):
having the government pay yourbill, which is pretty good.
Yeah, so we need to discussthat and other than that.
Well, it's been a good show.
Folks, you can watch this onYouTube If you want to go back.
It's under Jay Basher ExposedVet page on YouTube.
It'll be audioed up to ApplePodcasts and maybe a couple
(46:19):
other places, but that's on this13th day, which is Thursday the
13th and not Friday of March.
That's a good thing.
Yeah, 2025.
This is John on behalf of RayCobb and Expose that Productions
.
We'll be signing off for now.
Ray Cobb (46:38):
Good night guys.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of
Exposed Vet Productions.
My name is John Stacy, I'mExposed Vet.
That's wwwexposedvetcom.
My co-host, as always, mr RayCobb of the great state of
Tennessee.
How are you doing, ray?
Ray Cobb (00:18):
I'm doing great, I think.
I hope I got this computerturned on and working right.
J Basser (00:24):
Oh yeah, you got it looking pretty good, man, but
I'm sitting here in my man cave.
You're sitting in your man caveand we're going to discuss a
topic that's kind of been taboofor many, many years.
It's post-traumatic stressdisorder, ptsd and we're going
to discuss basically what it isand we're going to give a couple
of examples of what to do andwhat not to do.
Ray Cobb (00:48):
Sounds good to me.
J Basser (00:49):
Yeah, ray.
He did a show earlier in theweek on your show and you guys
discussed this poor guy ineastern Tennessee and he had
PTSD.
Can you explain to the masseswhat this poor fellow did?
Ray Cobb (01:04):
Yeah, it was kind of an unusual.
It's the only situation I'veheard of like this.
This happened back in I believeit was 2018.
A young man he came, he servedover in Iraq, did two tours of
duty over there, served over inIraq, did two tours of duty over
(01:27):
there and he was diagnosed withPTSD After he got back and got
out of the service after sixyears.
I think he's in six years, maybeeight years, I'm thinking six
years of service and he got outand was having a problem holding
(01:48):
a job and was married, had twochildren and you know he had
some of the basics that you knowabout with PTSD, got diagnosed,
got rated 100% for PTSD and hereached out on Facebook and made
contact with a lot of old highschool friends and one of them
(02:09):
happened to be an old highschool girlfriend that he dated
his junior and senior year inhigh school and then they kind
of went their separate ways andhe ended up going to the
military and she married anotherguy and living out in Dallas,
texas, and what he did?
She started we don't know why,she never said why, but she
(02:32):
started playing off of him andeventually convinced him to get
rid of her husband.
She convinced him that herhusband was abusive to her and
her children.
She was actually in a car wreck, took some photographs of that
(02:52):
car wreck, which had happenedtwo or three years earlier, but
posted them or sent them to him,stating that her husband had
beat her that weekend, or he cuther with a knife or he did this
, and she had a black eye onetime and a big bruise on her
back and evidently almost all ofthese occurred from this car
(03:14):
wreck.
And her husband had a good jobworking for American Airlines.
They lived just outside ofDallas.
Had a good job working forAmerican Airlines, they lived
just outside of Dallas.
Financially they were fine.
(03:34):
But he convinced her that shewas being abused and how she
hated him.
Now she claimed she went to thepolice and the police wouldn't
do anything.
And he told her to take out arestraining order.
She scared to do it, says he'llkill me and my children and you
know all these type of things.
And he believed her.
And it kept going on and goingon and going on and finally he
(03:57):
said I'll take care of it.
So we learned how to take careof our own.
Um, now you got to understandanother part.
This young, young man was bornand raised in East Tennessee and
you being up there from EasternKentucky, where I am down in
Southern Tennessee, back in theold days, if I'm going to call
it the old days, back in the 30s, if a guy was ugly and beating
(04:22):
his wife or whatever, some ofthe other friends would go and,
like a better term, take him outbehind the woodshed and teach
him a lesson.
You know, that was just kind ofthe way it was done back there.
Well, this guy carried it tothe far extreme.
He got in his vehicle and droveto Dallas, went to where she
lived, never saw her, hadn'tseen her since she was in high
(04:45):
school.
She hid out at a vacant house,a couple of doors down, and
watched for two or three daysand got his pattern.
This guy would come out at 7o'clock in the morning to walk
the dog, then would go in andcome back out at 20 till 8 and
go to work, and that was aneveryday routine.
The kids would come out at 7, 7,30 and would get on the school
(05:06):
bus to go to school.
So he got the routine down andabout three or four days after
getting that down he hid in thebushes beside the house and he
came out at seven o'clock towalk the dog.
He stepped out of the bushes,shot him three times, killed him
.
Him, ran back into the back,jumped over the fence, got in
(05:28):
his car on the roads, parkedbehind him and took off and came
back to Tennessee.
So they were able throughemails because they were looking
at her.
He had a pretty good lifeinsurance policy and stuff.
So in looking at her they foundthese emails about him and so
(05:51):
they tracked him down and headmitted what he did.
But he said that was my PTSDthat kicked in.
And he said the military taughtme how to kill and how to
protect people I love and toprotect my country.
And that's what I was doing.
I was protecting somebody thatI loved.
And the jury didn't buy it.
(06:13):
He ended up, I think, withabout 50 years up here in prison
now.
But that's sometimes, you know,do I believe PTSD did it?
It?
J Basser (06:25):
was premeditated.
Ray Cobb (06:27):
Probably played a part in it, but you got to learn to
control it.
You know, and that's probablyone of the most important things
we can share with our listenersis that you know there's
different levels, everythingfrom a 20% to 100%.
J Basser (06:47):
They tried him in Texas.
Ray Cobb (06:49):
Yeah, they got him in Texas and he's serving in a
prison out there in Texas.
J Basser (06:55):
Well, he's lucky to be serving time at all.
In Texas.
You do something like that.
In Texas it's usually Mr Stick.
You're the electric chair,isn't it?
Ray Cobb (07:03):
Well, I think they usually give him a shot there
now.
But, that being said, if ithadn't been for her involvement
and her trying to convince himto do it and the fact that he
did have records of beingmentally unstable, that probably
kept him from getting the shot,the needle in the arm, that's
(07:27):
probably the only thing thatkept him from doing that.
But I think he got somethinglike 55 years and she got 15
years for setting it up andconvincing him.
So kind of an interesting storyabout PTSD, and I don't know
how many others around thecountry are like that.
I just happened to run intothat one and it caught my
(07:50):
interest.
J Basser (07:52):
I met several.
Ray Cobb (07:54):
And you know I've heard of an awful lot of
suicides.
I mean somebody.
The other day I was down inMurfreesboro at the VA hospital
and was talking to a publicrelations gentleman there and he
looked real proud.
He said, yeah, we have PTSD,we've got that down to somewhere
(08:17):
around 35 a day.
Well, he's right, that's betterthan the 44 that it was just a
year or so ago.
However, 35 is still too many.
That means at least you knowwhat every 50 minutes somewhere
along an era that a veteran hascommitted suicide from PTSD.
So that's still outrageous.
(08:37):
And that doesn't take intoaccount.
I mean, I know another gentlemanright here in Franklin County,
tennessee suffered from PTSD andhe had an anger management
problem.
He actually went around andmowed yards because he couldn't
hardly work with anybody or getalong with anyone and his wife
(09:00):
had a good job at one of thebanks locally and his wife had a
good job at one of the bankslocally.
He caught her with another guyand beat her up and killed the
other guy and we got one of hisfriends to bury him and the
other friend got scared and wentto the police and told them
about what happened.
So he's now serving time herein Tennessee.
(09:23):
I think he got 75 years, if I'mright For an accessory.
No, he was the one that did it,the guy in the accessory, the
guy that helped him bury the man.
He got 10 years and five yearsprobation.
So he had to serve five yearsand he got probation.
So he had to serve five yearsand he got probation.
(09:45):
So you know, you never knowwhere this PTSD can take you
guys.
So you need to be aware of it.
You need to face up to the factthat you may have it.
To what degree?
Only a psychologist and goingthrough counseling can actually
determine to what level and whatdegree you need and whether or
(10:05):
not it's something you canhandle with counseling and
talking to other vets that haveit, or whether or not you need
medication.
There's not any shame inadmitting it and going into that
.
Everybody says well, they'lltake my guns.
Well, unless you show and statea fact that you're going to try
(10:33):
to hurt somebody or harmsomebody or make a threat
against somebody, they're notgoing to take your guns, not in
Tennessee anyway.
I don't know about other states, but in Tennessee they're not
going to do that.
They probably wouldn't do it inTexas either.
J Basser (10:50):
But in any case, guys, you know Well there's a
stipulation with that as far asPTSD, mental health issues, I
mean you can be 100% mentalhealth.
You don't have to have PTSD.
You can have a severedepression and things like that,
as long as you're pretty muchcognitive and when you go you
(11:11):
know you're like your exam thatgives you your rating.
The psychiatrist is going toask you this and this and he's
going to make the determinationif you can pay your bills or not
.
And if you cannot pay yourbills, they go to and they
assign you a judiciary to payyour bills for you, and usually,
in most cases it's your spouseor somebody like that.
(11:32):
But sometimes they have to usea law firm or an attorney to do
that and that rolls the ballright there.
Because you have to have ajudiciary, you don't have the
responsibility to pay your bills.
They don't think you have theresponsibility to own a firearm,
and I've known four or fivethat had that situation and they
sure enough, had to turn themin.
But there's bills now passed indifferent states to get that
(11:55):
overturned, not to stop it, butsay if they improve and get
better, then they get theirfirearms back.
But that's the key point.
It's like when we talk aboutspecial monthly compensation.
The door that opens up thevault to the higher levels of
special monthly compensation isSMC level L, which is aid and
(12:18):
attendance right.
Ray Cobb (12:20):
Right.
J Basser (12:21):
Well, the bad door is, if you get stuck in the
judiciary, then that opens upthe door to a whole host of
problems, one of them being, ifthey will, they can come and
confiscate your weapons.
You know, yeah, okay, butthere's a lot of doors in the VA
.
I'm going to crack some hoopstoo, but you know how that hits
(12:42):
trains.
Yeah, let's talk a little bitabout I'm going to crack some
hoops too, but you know how thathits brains.
Let's talk a little bit aboutPTSD in itself.
Now, post-traumatic stressdisorder.
Okay, some of the main causesfor PTSD.
The main cause is combat.
You know somebody's trying tokill you and you're trying to
kill them.
I mean, it can leave a lastingimpression on you and that's
(13:05):
pretty much you know.
If you're a combat veteran andyou claim that, then the result
if you got the right paperworkand it shows you were a combat
vet, then they have to take yourword for it.
You know, all they have to dois justify the severity of the
case.
Then there's other ways you getPTSD too.
You don't have to be a combatvet.
You say, for example, youworked on board, say you was at
(13:32):
a base that transferred thebodies from a port, to a ship or
whatever.
You've done that and you handleall that.
That's kind of gruesome too, oran error.
You know the error, that takingthem back and forth and things
like that or anything.
That's traumatic, and that'sanother issue.
The military is a dangerousplace.
(13:53):
Contrary to popular belief,there are bad eggs in the
military.
The military does have issueswhen it comes to everyday life.
Back when I was in, they had alittle bit of a drug problem.
Of course, it all started inVietnam.
You remember those days, don'tyou Ray?
Ray Cobb (14:10):
Oh, I do.
J Basser (14:13):
You've got to be careful because if you do
something the wrong way and youtip off the wrong people
especially if you're in the Navyyou might go swimming or
they're going to try to beat youto death.
So you've got to be careful.
And I can call PTSD, too, apersonal assault, and things
like that.
It's combat-related becausethey're trying to kill you.
(14:33):
If you get beat up by a pieceof equipment that belongs to the
military, According to James,it's kind of a combat injury.
Ray Cobb (14:42):
That's yeah when you get into it.
There's not any difference asfar as treatment or severity
between combat veteran and anindividual, for whatever reason,
(15:04):
that has severe depression withhigh anxiety attacks.
Now how can that happen?
I know of one or two that theywere.
They were athletes growing up,they were strong, they had a lot
(15:26):
of physical ability and thenthe exposure to Agent Orange in
one guy's case was to the AirForce exposure to Agent Orange,
and one guy's case was throughthe Air Force.
It caused him to come down withdiabetes and stent, heart
(15:47):
disease and all the things thatgo along with it, and he became
depressed because he couldn't dowhat he had planned his whole
life doing in retirement.
You know, fishing, playing golf, playing with his grandkids all
of that stuff went by thewayside.
So he became pretty depressedbecause his lifelong dreams and
(16:12):
ideas were shattered.
Well, he finally got counselingand he's doing a lot better
today.
He still doesn't go out inpublic very much, he still
doesn't participate in a lot ofactivities in groups, but
(16:34):
overall I think he's acceptedhis condition pretty well.
And then another one that we'vetalked about before on this show
, who just recently his job hehas 100% PTSD and his job was he
was an intelligence guy and hisjob was he was an intelligence
(16:58):
guy and he was over in Iraq orAfghanistan and he read
newspapers and figured out.
He had names of individualsthat our forces were looking for
and he would report where theywere, what they were doing, if
they were going to make a publicappearance, appearance and then
(17:21):
, um, four or five days later hewould be reading the newspaper
and see where they had beenassassinated or killed in a car
wreck or fell off of the roof.
Um, you know things of thatnature and, um, you know when,
when, when that happened, uh,that that kind of created a
total different atmosphere forhim.
He wasn't in combat but he knew, by these guys' names, that he
(17:45):
had destroyed that family.
I remember he told one of agentleman that had actually had
I think it was a wife and fouror five children, and the
picture that they chose to runin the paper was that of his
(18:06):
wife with the five childrentrying to hold on to his casket
as he came out of the church orwhatever, and the kids bawling
and crying, and he said thataffected him a lot.
Um, so he, you know, he went.
He wasn't seeing anyone when Ifirst met him and I convinced
(18:30):
him to go to counseling and tohear him talk.
Today his voice is so muchbetter, so much stronger.
He has accepted his situationand I think he's going to be
okay now.
But that's the case that he hadgone.
(18:51):
He couldn't understand why hecouldn't get along with people
and he couldn't understand whyhe couldn't hold a with people
and he couldn't understand whyhe couldn't hold a decent job.
J Basser (19:00):
That's true.
I know I had a vet that I helpedout 10 or 15 years ago.
He lived down south of you,down there in northern Alabama
toward Florence.
He was on the USS Lexington,which is the hat that I got on
tonight.
(19:20):
I'm going to do that in memoryof him.
He actually was on board theLexington.
In fact, when he was on boardit was a training carrier.
That's where everybody thatbecame naval aviators made their
first carrier landing was onboard the Lexington.
They'd take off and fly themtraining planes in there and
(19:40):
they'd land on the plane, on thecarrier and his job on board
the carrier.
He was a catapult operatorcaptain and on one certain day
he was in charge of catapultnumber two and they're expecting
this plane to come in.
This guy's plane came in and hewas getting off the glide path,
so the signalman waved him offand somehow the guy panicked and
(20:04):
instead of using the stick tomove the rudders, he used his
feet to hit his brakes while hewas driving his car and the only
thing he did was invert theplane upside down and he crashed
right before the tower on topof everything, killed several
people, and that explosion waswent a little place.
So he dove over the rail andjumped up and got a fire suit
and went in trying to help outthe fire and stuff and he messed
(20:28):
him up pretty bad and that washis first time for PTSD.
He filed his claim and theylaughed at him but he got Social
Security orders for it.
But they denied his VA claims.
They said we can't prove youwere there and anything else you
know.
So he was talking to me one dayand asked me to give me the
story so I could, you know, gethim to.
(20:49):
You know, open up a little bit,and I was going to put him with
the right, you know the rightperson to help him do the claim
and do his appeal.
And he said in all carrierlandings taped.
He says, yeah, it is.
And sure enough, he went tovideo, did a search for it and
there was an accident on theinternet and it showed a big old
(21:10):
dude standing there, rightthere when the plane started to
crash.
It shows a big old dude divingover into the basket, getting
out of the way and then flamesgoing right across his head.
So he jumps up A few secondslater, comes in and they're
trying to fight the fire and,you know, save people.
He said what am I going to donow?
I said, well, you go ahead anddownload that video, save it on
(21:32):
a thumb drive and send that intothe VA and link that as
evidence.
Yeah, and he had a bunch ofbuddies in there that went
through the video.
So that's him, that's him,that's him Buddy status.
So he got connected to that.
Unfortunately, it didn't lasttoo long, though.
His PTSD was really bad.
It cost him his family, hishouse, his boats and everything,
(21:55):
and he wound up gettingmurdered over some kind of
stupid argument.
He got into the gut, hecouldn't let it go and the guy
shot him.
Ray Cobb (22:02):
So it's pretty sad and that's one of the side effects
that people don't realize canhappen.
I mean, there's this gentlemanthat I just started helping a
month ago and I could tell bytalking to him that he had some
PTSD.
Sure enough, he had done twotours in Iraq.
He was on the tank.
(22:22):
He had actually broken hisankle three times and he now
can't move that ankle, that foot.
So we were talking about doinga claim for that.
But in our conversation I couldtell he had some other problems
.
So I started asking him.
I said well, do you go out withfriends and stuff on Friday?
(22:45):
Oh no, I don't do that.
No, I'm pretty much a homeboy.
Or if it's hunting or fishingseason, I may go out hunting or
fishing, but I just do itusually by myself, or maybe my
son might go with me.
And then I said well, okay,where do you go to church?
He said well, he says I do.
He said but I go to a littlesmall church up here on the
(23:07):
mountain.
We only got 10 members and hesaid you know there's seven or
eight there on Sunday not verymany.
And I kept talking to him andfinding out more and more.
And then I said well, you saidyou have a son.
Where's your wife?
Oh, she left me about a year orso after I got back.
I said, really, he said, yeah,we got to where we didn't see
(23:30):
eye to eye, we couldn't makeheads or tails, and I said, so
you guys got a divorce.
Yeah, we got a divorce.
I don't want anything to dowith her anymore.
So all these things add up, oneby itself maybe not, but four or
five things that are common inindividuals that are suffering
(23:54):
from PTSD.
You just got to connect thedots.
I mean, is he more than 60percent?
Maybe 70, probably more like 50.
You know, I don't think he hasthreatened to beat anybody up or
(24:14):
he doesn't get in fights.
He's a big old guy.
If he ever got in a fight he'dhurt somebody bad, you know.
And uh, you know, he's probablyabout six two and probably
weighs close to 300 pounds and,uh, just almost all muscle.
He's a.
He's a electronic engineer, Imean electronic electrician.
(24:36):
Let's say it right in a minute.
He's a licensed electrician buthe does a little handy work and
stuff like that around for guysthat need stuff done, does a
lot of work for veterans in thecommunity here.
But anyway, I'm hoping thatthings go right and we can get
(24:56):
him into the system and get himdoing what he needs to do.
J Basser (25:08):
That's right, ray, you do got to do.
You know you can do whateveryou need to do to help these
vets out.
Do what you got to do.
I mean, basically, you know wereally you know we don't really
do veteran claims ourselves.
I mean, you know, we're justkind of like when we come on the
map, you know A, b, c, d, youneed to go here here here and
see these people.
You know that's what we do.
We kind of specialize in that.
(25:29):
Then when we do that and getsituated, we make sure that you
know the people we recommendthem to go to.
They'll take care of things andsee their paperwork and things
like that.
Get them done.
Then, of course, we've alwaysdone that and we'll continue to
do that, you know, because Ihave no wants or needs to be a
(25:50):
claims agent or anything likethat, you know.
I mean I just want to make aveteran smile and make his life
better.
Ray Cobb (25:57):
Well, right, that's what it's all about.
I mean, I'm like you there andone thing I've noticed in this
particular case which you'rejust talking about, the guy
didn't know, he doesn't have adiagnosis, he's never sat down
with a social worker and that'sthe first thing that he needs to
do.
And guys, normally it takes aminimum of three, most of the
(26:22):
time five or six visits withthat social worker.
You may see them once a week or, if it's real severe, you'll
see them twice a week.
But, once they get thatevaluation and they give you the
diagnosis, then they will comeup with a plan or a way to treat
you.
And that's the key right there.
J Basser (26:41):
That's true.
I mean, if you've got any typeof mental health issue like that
and you're saying you'regetting VA care, you might have
PTSD.
They're going to ask youquestions probably every other
time you go in of how you'vebeen treated and things like
that.
They talk to you all the time.
Usually the intake nurse doesit, but it might help to speak
(27:03):
to a mental health specialist.
It's a see you and have themtalk you out like that, and then
you know if you think you'vegot it and they think you've got
it, you go ahead and file aclaim.
There are certain, you knowthere are certain aspects of
PTSD and mental healthconditions that you know that
should be pretty, pretty, prettyopen to getting a claim passed
to get it through.
And one of the most commoncalls you know people getting
(27:27):
connected for mental health isif you're high rated, say, well,
you don't have to be high ratedbut say you're 7% for a certain
issue and maybe your leg can'tuse your leg or something like
that, and you got a 60% for thatleg and maybe 10% is not enough
.
Well, if you can't walk likeyou're supposed to and run and
(27:48):
play with your kids and thingslike that, that can cause issues
.
So you can file that, as youknow, just depression and
anxiety, secondary to that, theservice-med conditions, and that
you know that might get you to.
Well, it depends on how severeit is.
You know you can go to 100%PTSD, but you know they don't
like giving that off the bat.
You know, unless you meet thecriteria.
(28:09):
It used to be.
They changed the criteria,folks, last year on PTSD.
It used to be you had to bepretty severe, suicidal just to
get 100% or you couldn't.
Basically it was like totaloccupational and social
impairment.
It means you had to stay awayfrom people and work, and so
they've changed that a littlebit and they've added some
caveats in there.
Now you guys ought to look itup Title 38, part 4, scattered,
(28:31):
afraid and Disabilities.
Look it up PTSD.
You can read it and of courseyou know still pretty severe
criteria to get there.
But I think it's easier now toget certain levels and I know
several folks that are 100% PTSDhave been away for years.
Ray Cobb (28:49):
You know you're talking about this one guy here
I know he told me this story.
He was 80% PTSD.
And he said yeah.
He said I got that pretty quick.
I said you did.
I said what makes you think yougot it?
How did it happen so fast?
(29:09):
He said well, it was about mythird visit and I went in and
I'm talking to the social workerand she asked me if I'd ever
thought about committing suicide.
And I said, yeah, I thoughtabout it last week.
And she said, well, how did youplan on doing it?
He said well.
(29:29):
He said well, he said that wasthe easy part and she said okay,
what was?
He says well, you know, we havethis little boat right close to
my house called devil's step,and it's where you can launch
your boat and stuff.
He said I figured I'd just godown there and take my shotgun
and wait out about waist deep,put, put that shotgun underneath
my chin and pull the trigger.
He said that way the catfishwould have something to eat and
(29:51):
it wouldn't mess up the wife'sliving room.
Well, he got his 80% prettydamn quick.
With that type of thing,whenever you have thought that
much into doing it, that's anindication that you're on your
way of actually committing that,that making that happen?
J Basser (30:15):
Yeah, because how are you going to do it?
It's a step, you know, andpeople do it all the time and we
just had a kid across thestreet here last year that did
it and he just he had it realbad, his mom passed away and he
just he overdosed on fentanyland drugs and it's pretty sad,
(30:38):
but it happens.
You know, and you're right, 44veterans a day, that's kind of
an estimated number.
They're thinking it's two and ahalf times the number of what
the press is reporting.
They're reporting like 20, 22 aday, and so I say 44 is the
actual number and that's whatthe charts show, and so that's
what we're.
1,600 vets per that's a lot ofvets every year.
(31:00):
It is One is too many.
You know what I mean.
Ray Cobb (31:08):
Yeah, what's interesting to to me, we're
seeing more now of the youngersoldiers, the guys coming out of
Iraq and Afghanistan andthey're getting out now that are
in their, you know, late 50s,early 60s.
Because of the fact that mostof the ones which they never
kept record of they didn't wantto admit it from right after the
(31:32):
Vietnam War, those never gotproperly recorded.
So we don't know how many cameout of the Vietnam era.
We know that some of them inlater years, you know, once they
got into their 60s usually thelast five or 10 years of their
work history it really startedsetting up pretty strong.
(31:54):
I know it was again.
I know of a local gentleman.
He was fine until about twoyears before he retired.
Then he just lost interest andthe PTSD just came on pretty
strong and pretty quick and itwas a Vietnam era veteran and
served in Vietnam.
So you know there's a lot of,there's a lot of that, though,
(32:19):
from the Vietnam era thatactually never got properly
diagnosed and recorded becauseit was still I guess, probably
until what?
2010?
Diagnosed and recorded becauseit was still uh, uh, well, I
guess, probably until what,2010,.
It was still kind of somewhatbrushed under the rug from uh,
by the VA, yeah, you know.
(32:41):
And then, finally, they camealong and uh, what was it in
2021 that they passed?
Did the PAC act?
and that identified it more.
J Basser (32:52):
Well, it did to a certain extent, but they're kind
of packed back for moreexposure, anything, any type of
airborne hazard.
Now it started out years agowith the lady and her husband in
Texas.
He got some kind of cancer orwhatever and she started suing
everybody for the burn pitexposures and so Congress got
together and made this thing up.
(33:12):
And it's kind of funny howCongress would make something up
like that and they'll stick itin the VA and dump it on them
and the next thing you know theVA is having to scramble.
As soon as they have toscramble they've got to get a
bunch of new people and help dothese claims and it takes at
least two or three years to getpeople up to speed and it's
pretty sad.
(33:33):
But the PACT Act itself I mean,with all these cuts coming down
the pipe, of course it's goingto slow it down a little bit
because the court ruled todaythey couldn't do it.
So we'll see what happens.
But anyhow, with all the PACAct it's just going to cause the
claims to be ungodly longprocessing.
You know like it used to beback in the old days.
(33:56):
It took you seven, eight yearsto win a claim.
Remember those days, right?
Ray Cobb (33:59):
I was in them.
I did that.
It took me eight years to winmy first claim In 2014.
Yeah, to win my first claim2014.
J Basser (34:06):
Yeah, and I was direct service connected, believe it
or not.
So pretty sad and that willgive you PTSD.
Fighting the DA will give youPTSD, in my opinion.
Ray Cobb (34:16):
I agree with that.
J Basser (34:17):
Yeah.
Ray Cobb (34:19):
I agree with that and I think there's a lot of social
workers that believe in that,and you know what's kind of
interesting.
Now we're going to see, I think, if what I'm beginning to hear
down the pipe most of the peoplethat you get your evaluations
(34:40):
from at first are your socialworkers that are assigned to
your primary care doctors, areyour social workers that are
assigned to your primary caredoctors, and if they're going to
cut back on these socialworkers what's going to happen
(35:01):
to your PTSD patients?
J Basser (35:02):
That's true.
I don't know if that's going tobe a good question.
Social workers have a lot to dowith it, but usually your
primary care doctor and yourspecial care doctors can bypass
that.
You can go straight to seemental health.
A social worker might assessyour living situation, things
like that.
Or if you need the caregiveract and of course, they handled
(35:27):
the caregiver and that's anotherthing that was built to
anybody's lap.
Yeah, without funds.
Without funds, it's pretty sad.
It is pretty sad, but that'sthe way it is.
You know it's pretty sad.
Most social workers that I knoware pretty decent people.
You know I don't hear a lotabout the caregiver act.
(35:48):
Workers that I know are prettydecent people.
You know I don't hear a lotabout the caregiving racked up
here.
I know they've got a few ofthem, but I don't think we've
got as many veterans that aremessed up as, for example, say,
as other places do.
That are bigger cities, youknow.
Ray Cobb (36:03):
Right.
J Basser (36:04):
And so you know that all depends on the population.
I would say there's probablyquite a few in the state of
Florida, because that's her.
You know, that's the retirementcapital of the world.
Everybody wants to go toFlorida.
Everybody wants to go toFlorida.
Ray Cobb (36:30):
You're bringing that up about cities, major cities.
You know major cities alwayshave a homeless problem yes,
they do I'm wondering how manyof these homeless veterans are
actually service connected orcould be service-connected for
PTSD.
But because of what you said amoment ago, the anger of trying
(36:52):
to work with a VA, they justthrow their hands up and say I
quit.
J Basser (36:57):
Yeah, they just throw their hands up and say I just
quit.
Of course, now it all dependson the job market.
You know, sometimes the jobmarket is pretty much wide open
and people can go work wherethey want to work and do what
they want to do.
Then, once they get her done,then they can get another job or
(37:26):
do whatever.
But I mean, sometimes thesedegrees you get, like social
work and other things like that,you know you're kind of trapped
because in order to get a jobwithin the government or
teaching, you have to have amaster's degree or above.
You know, and it costs a lot ofmoney to get a master's degree
now, buddy, and a whole lot toget a PhD.
(37:47):
But you know social workers aregood.
You know they've got theirpurpose.
You know it's kind of like alaundry hamper, you know, as
long as you get the right one,you know you got one for your
whites, your colors and yourjeans.
You know you put the rightlaundry in the right basket.
That's VA claims.
You put the whites in thewhites, you put the colors in
one and you put the jeans in theother one.
(38:08):
I mean, if you're like somepeople, I know, you know you've
got a delicate one and you'vegot special clothing stuff.
You don't have to be handledwith kid gloves.
You put them in there and youwash them on a delicate cycle,
you know.
Ray Cobb (38:24):
You're liable to get in trouble tonight Probably, oh
man, you're liable to get introuble tonight?
J Basser (38:27):
Uh-huh Probably.
It won't be the first time andI guarantee you it will not be
the last time.
Ray Cobb (38:38):
Oh man, I got a big dog house in the backyard and he
hadn't had a dog in 30 years.
J Basser (38:47):
You got Sarah Shavings in it.
Huh, we got everything.
Man, you just have to spidersand would-be's out of it.
Guys, I won't be serious for aminute.
I mean, yeah, we cut up alittle bit.
I'm going to tell you something.
If you've got mental healthissues and PTSD, get help.
Talk to somebody.
Don't clam up and things likethat.
(39:09):
Don't take it out on yourfamily.
If something happens where ittriggers your PTSD, just take a
walk and get out of there and dosomething.
Go up there and get in the room, do something like that.
Just leave everybody alone.
Get some help.
You are tasked with remainingin control as best you can,
(39:30):
because if you don't remain incontrol, you lose control and
wind up like that poor guy thatRay talked about first the show.
You know he went out andbelieved this little girl
telling lies and he went out andbumped off her husband.
Okay, don't let it run yourlife.
Get treatment, get the rightmedication, Get treatment, get
the right medication, Get help.
It will help you, you know, andanxiety is definitely Well, you
(39:52):
know.
Ray Cobb (39:53):
John, you need to learn.
That's a great point.
And, guys, you're not the onlyone affected.
Your spouse, your children,your in-laws, your best friends,
they all said if all of asudden you havelaws, your best
friends, they all said if all ofa sudden you have a whole bunch
of friends, the next thing youknow you only have one or two.
(40:14):
You need to ask yourself howcome?
What am I doing to run thesefolks off?
And more than likely, theunderlining cause is some minor
form or some form of PTSD orsome type of a mental problem,
whether it's depression withanxiety attacks or what.
(40:34):
But get help.
That's all we can say is gethelp.
J Basser (40:42):
You're exactly right, ray.
Get as much help as you can.
There's stuff out there.
If you're thinking suicide, youcan call the suicide hotline,
call the crisis line.
They'll help you out.
I worked for the VA.
One of my units was 2 North,which is here in Lexington, and
that was the psych unit.
That place stayed full of, youknow, of veterans and I had to
(41:08):
go up there several times a week, you know, to do rounds and
stuff and talk to people andtake care of you know, business
stuff.
It wasn't anything to do withthe medical side, but I see
people who went to high schoolwith us in there and everything
else, you know, and they'drecognize me and I'd shake my
head at them, you know.
But as soon as I come out ofthe door I was kind of happy.
We had one guy that was inthere.
(41:28):
We had a long-term mental healthfacility across town.
It was an old World War II VAand there was a guy on the
second floor and I worked overthere too and this poor guy
would run around the halls andwe're talking, you could walk
and build a building and they'vegot tunnels under the ground
and it's a beautiful facility.
(41:49):
This guy would run around witha cape on and thought he was
Superman.
That's how bad.
He was.
Nicest guy in the world, but hewas Superman, and so don't look
down on somebody that's gotPTSD.
You know, be nice to everybodyif you can be, you know, and uh,
(42:10):
you see people having issuesall the time.
You know, blow up some thingslike that, but once you let your
emotions take a hold, it's hardto gain control of it.
You know what I'm saying, right?
Ray Cobb (42:18):
I do, yeah, I do you, and I've seen it more than we
need to.
I guess we see it so much thatsometimes, when we bump into a
guy, a veteran, that just ingeneral conversation, by the
time you talk with him for fiveor ten minutes and leave, you
(42:39):
realize he has a level of PTSDor mental problems.
You don't know a level of PTSDor mental problems, you don't
know.
You know, I mean, I'm not apsychologist and I don't know at
what level he has them, but Iknow he has them.
J Basser (42:54):
Yeah, that's also too, when y'all realize too you're
talking to the vet, mr Vet, andthey've got PTSD.
You know you can ask a coupleof questions or whatever you
know and nobody knows for sure.
I mean nobody will know.
I mean the guy can tell you hewas this and that and this and
that he may not have been.
You never know.
You get a lot of folks likethat.
But what's a gut PTSD?
(43:15):
In my opinion, PTSD itself is.
It is a medical diagnosis, butit is basically a diagnosis
based off of the examiner andthe treating physician's word,
because there's not really anymedical tests to physically show
(43:36):
PTSD, like there is a heartcath or lung problems or
whatever MRIs and things likethat.
So basically it's kind of aneducated gift by the docs and
what you've been through as towhat's going on with you now.
As you put A and B together,your chance to get rated is
pretty good, but you have tohave some kind of event or
(43:57):
something for PTSD.
Anyways, you got to have sometype of stressful event to make
it happen, like combat, personalassault, mst or anything like
that.
You know, fear of your life Ifyou hear somebody trying to kill
you.
That's basically what you'relooking for.
You know that, ray.
Ray Cobb (44:13):
I did.
J Basser (44:14):
Yeah, I did Mm-hmm.
But anxiety and depression isdifferent because it can be
based off of certain types ofdisabilities.
And I want to tell you, themajority of vets are probably
having anxiety and depressionbecause you can't do what you
used to do and you're stuck in awheelchair or you're stuck here
and stuck there.
You know it's depressing as allget-up because your life's
changed, you know.
(44:36):
I mean you don't see Ray upthere playing the drums anymore.
Ray Cobb (44:40):
No, couldn't even hold a set of drumsticks anymore.
I know it.
J Basser (44:47):
You know you don't see me on lake bass fishing, much
more do you I throw every rod Ihad in the water.
I've done that enough.
That's how I found out about myservice.
Connected issues in my left armstart throwing rods in the
water for no reason, so butthat's the way it is.
(45:11):
Well, I think, guys, we're outof time.
I want to thank Ray for comingon and being a co-host.
We're going to have a good shownext week.
We're going to try to discussthe VA court, what goes on at
the VA court.
So, if I can get somebody tocome on, I've got a couple
feelers right now, but I want todiscuss this issue since it's
kind of an interesting subjectright now, and right now
everybody's in kind of turmoil.
So you know, it's kind of I'dlike to see what they do.
(45:34):
You know, look at the courtcases and things like that.
But I just want to go with thatprocedural thing that face that
me.
I might get alex to come onmaybe in that and we'll walk and
walk us through it and whathappens when you do your
paperwork and who to file andhow you get an attorney and
things like that and paperwork,and how much you got to pay and
the perks of getting to courtand winning your claim and
(45:58):
having the government pay yourbill, which is pretty good.
Yeah, so we need to discussthat and other than that.
Well, it's been a good show.
Folks, you can watch this onYouTube If you want to go back.
It's under Jay Basher ExposedVet page on YouTube.
It'll be audioed up to ApplePodcasts and maybe a couple
(46:19):
other places, but that's on this13th day, which is Thursday the
13th and not Friday of March.
That's a good thing.
Yeah, 2025.
This is John on behalf of RayCobb and Expose that Productions
.
We'll be signing off for now.
Ray Cobb (46:38):
Good night guys.
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