Fireworks Affecting Those with PTSD

Years after serving in the army and being honorably discharged, Nick Amsler still feels the affects of what it means, to be a combat veteran.

"Recognizing the changes that I have and still need to deal with is probably the hardest part of having PTSD", says Amsler.

Post traumatic stress disorder kicked in when Amsler returned to the states. He says, "I went through Fallujah back in 2004 in Iraq so that was a long three weeks, I lost a lot of people in front of me".

Amsler is now in paramedic training and in August of 2014 he married one of our producers Kristina, at a beautiful ceremony in Hawaii.

But he says that when summer time rolls around and fireworks start selling, the triggers begin.

"It’s really those instances that you really don’t expect that give you more of a heightened sense of security I guess", says Amsler.

"Loud noises, flashes and stuff could potentially trigger mortar attacks, different types of attacks for that specific veteran and their experience, while they were deployed overseas", says Rick Perales.

Rick Perales works as a peer mentor with the wounded warrior project and says that about 25% percent of the veterans he works with suffer from PTSD. many mentioning that fireworks or loud noises, trigger those reactions. "On average, it’s about every 2 to 3 veterans that serve will come back with some form of PTSD", says Perales.

Perales says that if you know of a combat veteran living nearby, to be cautious when it comes to setting off large fireworks that make a lot of noise, to buy only the safe and sane ground level explosives and to try and set them off at a time, when they’ll be expected.

Amsler says, "if it’s just somebody randomly at midnight in my apartment complex then ya it can startle me out of bed and get me to that heightened sense of what’s going on".

"Be mindful of their surroundings and if there is a veteran in their neighborhood and to be cautious of fireworks on that day", says Perales.

Video of the "Battle of Buhritz" shot by Dale Hiller.