Mental Assessment
This is the mental assessment phase. Many veterans have little or no documentation because they were trained to keep it hidden. This step focuses on documenting symptoms, daily impacts, and stressor evidence.
Military culture, for better or worse, trains us to internalize our struggles. We are told, directly or indirectly, “Don’t go to Mental Health,” “Suck it up,” and “Don’t let this ruin your career.” So, you did what you were trained to do: you kept it secret.
Emotional & Mood Symptoms
Are you constantly irritable or angry? Do you have sudden mood swings? Do you feel numb or disconnected from others? Do you feel persistent sadness, guilt, or hopelessness?
Anxiety & Fear Symptoms
Do you feel constantly on edge or “keyed up”? Do you have panic attacks? Do you avoid certain places or situations? Do you have an exaggerated startle response?
Re-experiencing the Trauma
Do you have unwanted, intrusive memories of the event? Do you have vivid flashbacks where it feels like it is happening all over again?
Cognitive Symptoms
Do you have trouble concentrating or focusing? Do you have memory problems, especially related to the traumatic event?
Emotional: Do you cry at stupid commercials? Have you lost your sense of purpose? Not sure why you even get up in the morning? Things that you used to enjoy now seem boring or like a big ass waste of time? Everything around you seems to be fake, too colorful, and absolutely unimportant?
Anxiety: Feel like you are always checking your six? Your kid drops a book or pops a balloon and you low-crawl screaming “Get down!”? Do you feel like everyone is not really real? Do crowds make you want to crawl into a ball in your nest of a bed?
Re-experiencing: Do you wake up bathed in sweat? Do you wake up feeling horribly guilty but cannot really figure out about what or why? Do you feel like you should have died or been blown up and not your cool buddy with the perfect family?
Cognitive: Do you feel like if you think about it or talk about it, then it will just get worse? Do you have intrusive thoughts where you have the sudden urge to do something absolutely inappropriate totally out of the blue?
Sleep Log Example
Monday: Took me two hours to fall asleep because my mind was racing. Woke up at 2 a.m. in a cold sweat from a nightmare about the convoy attack. Could not get back to sleep for another hour.
Morning Example
Felt exhausted and irritable when I woke up. Snapped at my wife when she asked what I wanted for breakfast. Had to sit in my car for 10 minutes to calm down before walking into work.
Daytime / Evening Example
During the morning meeting, I completely lost focus and could not remember what my boss asked me to do. Felt a wave of anxiety when a car backfired outside. Had plans to go to my son’s baseball game, but the thought of the crowd was too much. I stayed home instead and felt guilty all night.
Police or Military Police reports
Social Media Posts or Messages of the event (By the base, yourself, friends)
Letters sent home about the event or how you were feeling after
Obituaries
News Articles
Police Reports (civilian or otherwise)
EPRs, Performance Reports, Write Ups, ect... (these show mental/performance was affected by XYZ event)
Buddy Statements (crucial for MST or combat events that were not officially documented)
Combat awards or deployment orders to a hostile area
The hardest part is giving yourself permission to be honest.
For years, your survival and career success depended on keeping this information locked away. Admitting it now can feel like a betrayal of your training, a sign of weakness, or a breach of your own pride.
Remind yourself the examiner is not there to judge you. They are a clinician whose job is to listen, document what you say, and compare it to the diagnostic criteria for conditions like PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
That is it. They are a temporary, neutral tool in your process.
You will walk out of that room and likely never see them again, but the information you provide in that hour can impact the rest of your life. Do not let a lifetime of support be blocked by one hour of discomfort.