4SEP2014

Currently I am unemployed. Since being diagnosed with PTSD I have had some issues. I am currently looking for employment that won’t set off my triggers. Right now and for the immediate future just finding a job that I can work without having an attack would be great. I am hopeful that eventually I will get better at managing my PTSD symptoms and be able to work as either a lawyer or possibly a professor at a college. I am working on my master’s in education and have completed law school. I haven’t taken the bar exam in Texas yet because of my PTSD symptoms. Once I have my other problems under control I would like to have the option of either taking the bar exam or getting a career in education.

Overall the type of work I want to do is focused on improving the community. After the Army I got my bachelors in criminal justice and then went to law school. The idea was to become a district attorney or assistant DA. What drove me towards this was the idea of getting the bad guys off the street. I thought about doing this in a more direct way such as police officer but I was attracted to the idea of how many people’s lives I could touch as an attorney. An average DA clears 10-15 cases a day, which is just a huge amount of people. If you do your job correctly as a DA, you can be a greater force for good in your community than anything else I can think of. The same ideas drew me towards education. How many lives does a teacher affect? If they teach three classes a week at an average of 20 students per class, that is a potential of 60 people per week. Admittedly both lawyer and teaching can be a positive or negative effect on the students or community, but that is really up to the teacher or lawyer.

I think I am developing the skills I need to proceed towards either of my goals when I graduate. I have the Juris Doctorate and am working on what I need for the teaching. My main hold up right now is my PTSD. I wish there was a way to just make it go away so I could get on with my life. I take pills every morning and every night before bed and they help. I have been to classes to teach me how to manage my symptoms and have been trying to get things under control.  Unfortunately I haven’t been very successful with this yet. I get worried about how well I will be able to cope with this when I see 50 or 60 year old men in group who are still dealing with PTSD. I worry that I will never be able to get past this and it scares me.

There are a lot of organizations that would help me professionally. The American bar association is the first that comes to mind. There is also the Veterans of Foreign War, and the V.A. I am involved with the V.A. and the VFW now, but not the ABA. The ABA fees are pretty high but they offer continued learning and a social network to help you with case law. It is more geared for practicing attorneys as opposed to people who do not have a license yet. I don’t think the benefit of professional organizations would outweigh the cost until I am ready to actively pursue a career in the field.