Learning How to Talk About War Helped Their Family Heal
You can’t hide anything from your children, John Sims learned. When their family began talking openly about his three decades of service, the healing began.
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DonateJohn Sims served 30 years in the U.S. Army as both an Infantry NCO and Field Artillery officer. His assignments included command and staff positions from squad to strategic levels. His operational deployments include Desert Shield/Storm, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He was the senior operations officer in the National Military Command Center during the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon. John and his wife, Theresa, have four children, all serving in or in support of the United States military.
You can’t hide anything from your children, John Sims learned. When their family began talking openly about his three decades of service, the healing began.
Colonels shouldn’t appear to be traumatized, John Sims was told. But after decades of war he needed help if he and his family were going to survive.
“Colonels don’t bleed,” John Sims’ friend said before Sims deployed to Afghanistan. Shortly after, a suicide car bomber blew up the first SUV in Sims’ convoy.