Rollover Drill

“Scoggins, Get out of the damn truck!”
PVT Cooley, gunner in the HMMWV (Hum-v) during rollover drills, after being told that gunners are the last to exit the vehicle.

PTSD creeps up on you slowly. Well it did for me anyway. It felt like a wet blanket was put over your body and everything just kind of slowed down. One day things are fine and the next feels like your life is out of control. I feel like I am cheating . Maybe I am not really entitled to have PTSD. After all I wasn’t kicking in doors or watching my friends getting hit with VBIED’s like some of the guys I know. I had my share of close calls and that was enough for me. But why is it that some people can have a world of shit dumped on them and walk away eating ice cream, and others react like they just walked out of the Ardennes forest after the Battle of the Bulge? People have different reactions to the stress they experience. Some, like PVT Colley react strongly in a training environment. Almost to the point of panic. The HMMWV rollover drill consists of 5 soldiers getting into a HMMWV simulator, strapping into the seatbelts and getting flipped 2-3 times to disorient you. You are left inverted 180 degrees (read, you’re upside down). You are then required to unhook from the seat and exit the vehicle. Not a very tough thing to do in training. There is no blast, no debris being thrown into the crew compartment, no screaming. Just unhook and get out. My platoon got through the drill with no incidents until the last group got hooked up. PVT Colley is a small female. She has had a sheltered life for the most part. She Joined the Army at age 18 and deployed to Iraq 9 months later. As she was getting into the vehicle, you could tell that she was not up for it. She was shaking. And as the simulator started its rotation her screaming got louder. She was begging us to let her out. Most of us were laughing pretty hard. I admit I was laughing as well. Soldiers have a very morbid sense of humor. As the simulator came to a stop, I could see the rubber ducks (rubber weapons used in training) bouncing around the inside compartment. This is an indication that people weren’t doing as they were supposed to. You are told to hold onto the rifle with your legs. If the rifles are bouncing around the crew compartment things went wrong inside. As the command to egress the vehicle came, I could hear soldiers falling out of their seats as they unhook. PVT Colley, who was in the gunners turret, starts to move her way to the rear door to get out. She is obviously scared and just wants to end this drill. She reaches the door and as she is getting ready to exit the instructor tells her that as the gunner she is the last to leave. The look of shock on her face was indescribable. She turned back into the truck and not knowing what else to do, started screaming at SPC Scoggins. “Scoggins, get out of the damn truck” At the time this was the funniest thing I had heard in a long time. It was classic. It summed up the day. But now, looking back and thinking about my dealings with PTSD and stress I see how terrified she must have been stuck inside that overturned vehicle. Why was this so horrifying for her?