Hurricanes are so devastating, I don’t think anyone really understands unless they’ve gone through it. I’ve lost a few neighbors to a few different hurricanes, because evacuation orders never seemed to keep up with the changes to direction and speed. People absolutely go feral trying to survive, and I’m not saying that I blame them, but it adds an extra layer of brutality when you are in an isolated community and it often takes a week for help to arrive. A week without safe drinking water, fears of electrocution from downed power lines, no medical aid, and the stink of rotting animals (in my case it was always fish who got stranded when the water receded), and worse.

I served in the Navy, but I’ll always remember how hard the Guard and the Coasties fought to bring comfort. Even if it’s just the comfort of knowing you can bury family and friends, that’s still a gift/sacrifice they can give us. I wish non-combat PTSD was spoken about more often, especially because people tend to avoid getting help without the combat label.