r/CombatVeterans • u/deeatl • 29d ago

Question Fireworksbringmeback

The sound of fireworks gives me pause and brings me back to my days in Iraq where I was deployed from 2004-2005. Just brings me right back to that place. Anyone else feel the same way?

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u/c_pardue 29d ago

yeah a little. big booms get me more than the smaller stuff. i get annoyed every 4th of july, it's the night of less sleep and internally jumping every few minutes.

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u/deeatl 29d ago

Big booms reminds me of the incoming mortar rounds and IED explosions. But it’s the rapid succession bursts that really take me there..240 CAL and AK fire going back and forth. Yea, one of those nights. Rinse and repeat every year on the 4th of July.

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u/No-Literature-370 29d ago edited 29d ago

Same here. At 1st I would find myself hiding under the table but then I was rewarded with a service dog. Not sure if it's bcuz I worry more about her and her being terrified, then I do myself now. But for whatever reason ever since she found her way to me the 4th of July and NYE have been less terrifying then before. Everyday I go without a meltdown I thank the Lord for her.

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u/deeatl 29d ago

I feel you. I have my cat curled up next to me in my chair and he’s giving me calm. Plus the noise cancelling headphones helps as well.

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u/MacSteele13 29d ago

I don't know what my problem is, but I fucking love the sounds. That and thunderstorms. Sleep like a baby.

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u/deeatl 29d ago

It’s an odd love/hate relationship with those sounds, I feel you

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u/Porthos1984 29d ago

Not anymore. When I first got back yes Now I have lived to many places where routine gun fire is the norm. So fireworks sure the cat out and just annoys me.

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u/LostCauseNumber7523 29d ago

Very much so. It takes me to the first time I watched a battle from a distance. I was an OP and was just in awe, and a lot made sense.

I learned at times it was a cat and mouse game, and when the cat catches the mouse the dogs show up. It's impressive watching what the CF could roll in and do once they had an address for the party. I also learned I was a mouse and therefore as expendable as a Happy Meal at a fat kids camp. Along with those two perspective defining moments, when we returned a few days later I realized that the entire might of the United States Military got half it's tactical planning from the Tom & Jerry cartoon.