IN SERVICE TO THEIR NATION
AHERO ’ s Mission and the Reality of PTSD
By Gordon Gaston , President , Yancey Construction Services
We and all our employees Yancey Construction Services fully support our Veterans AHERO and its mission to help stop Veteran suicide . On a personal level , I have had numerous friends over the years who have come back from serving in the military and then taken their own lives indirectly through substance abuse or deliberately through suicide . I firmly believe that whatever I can do to help make a difference , that ’ s what my team will do to support the mission of trying to prevent these tragedies .
A lot of people say that they support the military , but Yancey Construction Services will continue to do so through AHERO and its programming . We look forward to assisting this all-volunteer organization with its future expansion and allowing the wounded Veterans who are helped by AHERO ’ s programs to hunt our property .
Both my father and my grandfather served in the military . During World War II , my grandfather was part of the first unit to cross the Rhine River in a state-ofthe-art diesel locomotive . He hauled in supplies and brought out those soldiers who unfortunately died in combat .
The only time I ever saw my grandfather cry was while he told me about the tragedy he witnessed firsthand in Germany . He saw women and children the Nazi ’ s had killed . The impact those scenes had on him and the terrible memories they left him with showed me that PTSD is a very real issue . The fact that this trauma is something my grandfather suffers through even now , decades after the war , shows me that unseen wounds like his are deep and absolutely real .
We are proud to be a part of the AHERO family and want to encourage everyone to do their part to help our Veterans heal from the adversity they faced during combat operations and still struggle with today .
18 AHERO MAGAZINE SUMMER 2021