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Long Live, Long Island.

My name is Frank Romeo and I am a PTSD Survivor.

Today I choose to tell you I have a mental disorder.

And I suffer PTSD.

Fifty years ago my journey began In the jungles of Southeast Asia And for fifty years Ive been dealing silently In my own mind.

I plan to carry the torch across New York State In solidarity, for all veterans who suffer with PTSD.

[Music] [Inhale] [Clapping] Taking that first step in saying, "I have mental illness" I've now crossed the line.

There's no turning back here.

Because when you say it out loud you hear it.

When you say it to yourself and not out loud its still in your head.

You know, it's a struggle.

The demons are all at it.

And sometimes you're the observer and youre watching the battle rage.

Good and bad, right and wrong.

Suicide, non-suicide.

Should I talk about it?

Should I keep quiet?

Should I take meds and just pass out and go to sleep so I don't have to visually watch that bad commercial repeat itself.

I think we need to understand how we got here.

[Music] It's almost like how do you know where you're going if you don't know where youve been?

you've been.

[Music] I had a great childhood.

Growing up on Long Island was great.

We lived on the ocean.

[Music] It was a small tight community Everyone knew each other.

[Music] We were very poor.

I didn't know I was poor.

I had no idea.

My father was a truck driver barely paid the bills.

[Music] The war was escalating.

It was during the height of the ground fighting and the fight against Communism.

[gun shot] I didn't really care about the politics behind the war.

polp I just knew my friends were there fighting.

These are the same kids in the neighborhood that I used to fight with and play ball with and it was a pride in our own community.

[Music] We didnt hold it against each other for being political in any way and I was not political.

[Music] Peter and I, we were very close growing up.

He lived only two blocks away from me and so our families were very close.

High school, we would party together and on a, like a three day bender of just partying and drugs and alcohol and everything we found ourselves sleeping in the street outside the recruiters office.

And when the recruiters came that morning came tha we went in and we enlisted together on the buddy system and I signed his papers to get into the military.

because he couldn't write, he was that wasted.

[Inaudible] [laughing] So, how do you feel?

I don't know.

How do you feel?

[Inaudible] [laughing] Alright, ready?

Okay!

Here we go [screaming] [celebrating] [clapping] [whistle] Seventy!

[clapping] The day came when you graduate from basic training and Peter had orders for Fort Lewis Washington in the state of Washington.

And I had orders for Oakland, California.

[Helicopter] I flew into Long Binh, and you know, the soldiers welcome you.

like welcome to Southeast Asia, you know welcome to the vacation spot you know, they would joke with you and just make you feel like you're in for it.

And then that night I went to get something to eat and there's Peter standing on the chow line.

Its like, you know what are the odds?

The next morning, sure enough they go, “Romeo, Frezzetto!” You guys are going up there and they put us in the same company.

[Music] You're going from five hundred thousand men down to a hundred thousand men our names kept getting called.

Then you get into a brigade of a couple of hundred men then to this one platoon of maybe 40 men then to this one squad of maybe six or eight men.

and there was Peter and I together.

I was in 199th light infantry brigade.

We were a light infantry unit.

Everything we owned was on our backs and we were trained to live off the land for long periods of time without any outside help.

We seem to get all the dirty work.

We had a mission.

A sister unit was taking heavy casualties they were really getting wiped out and the closest one to them was us.

We had to force march with full gear hackin our way through the jungle and we got there in the middle of the night.

It was pitch dark in the jungle, you cant imagine how dark it is The fighting had stopped and everyone was just laying down so we were so exhausted, we just laid down and went to sleep.

And when we woke up the next morning, we were sleeping with dead people.

Everyone was dead.

Now, weve got to get them out of there.

Besides your pack, you have to carry a person.

And Ill never forget that day.

That was a crazy day.

This will be my last comfortable place for a while with a bed and I rented an Airbnb so, you know, it would be kind of a family gathering and we had a nice weekend.

It was very emotional.

Do you have any plans for where you are going to stay or are you playing it by ear?

Paying it by ear.

Now a lady called me today from the National Hotline for Homeless Veterans.

I call her and she finds me a homeless shelter.

So I'll be staying in First night?

Wednesday night youll stay in a homeless shelter?

I don't know.

Wed have to see if there's any available.

Not every town has one.

No, no.

And if you don't stay in a homeless shelter?

It's an adventure.

If everyone would just see their lives as one adventure after another.

Right?

And enjoy it and embrace it.

We were protecting a village.

And these children befriended us I had one little boy that I loved he couldnt have been more than eight or nine years old.

[Music] We would play around in this watering hole.

We'd wash in this muddy, muddy watering hole but it was the only water around, so We didnt take sometimes a shower for a month at a time.

One day we caught this kid setting up a landmine so we turned him into the authorities and they killed his entire family.

They would leave the bodies lying in the road dead.

Swelling up in the heat.

If you claimed the bodies, you were a Viet Cong sympathizer.

So no one, even their own family wouldnt claim the body.

It's not bad enough that I have to think about it.

I have to think about it over and over and over and over again.

And it never seems to change and it never seems to go away.

This is it.

This walk is the culmination of everything that Ive worked for everything that I struggled for everything that Ive strived for to get my message out.

[Music] Ta da.

There it is.

Perfect.

What a great job.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Frank went dark for many, many, many years.

Drugs and alcohol for 20 years.

We had no idea where he was.

Well, here's what happened.

His daughters live in Asheville.

He has two daughters that live there.

And he started posting and I said to Mike "Oh my God, Frank Romeo is in Asheville.” And we were sitting around the dinner table and he said ”I wanna bounce something off you two.

What do you think of this?” And we were like, "Wow, really?"

"You want to do this?"

He said, "I think this is another way we can get the message out.” We looked at each other, we didn't discuss it We just said “Were In.

Whatever you wanna do, were in.” So that's why we're here.

Im gonna miss you.

Be careful.

I will, I will.

Alright.

I got t Alright.

Ive got to go.

Okay.

Let go of me.

Okay.

[Laughter] [Waking] [Cars Passing] [Music] We were on our second day of no food and water but supplies were being dropped at this clearing Our squad was asked, or told to go on this mission to go get the supplies.

And my feet had been wet for a month And I hadnt taken my boots off for a month So I had jungle rot halfway up my legs I told them that I just I needed to air out my feet.

So I would hold down this forward position by myself.

And I took off my boots And this is like the first no-no in a foot soldier is to take off your boots, but I peeled off my socks and my feet were just bleeding raw from my calves on down to my toes.

So I was in the middle of a Jungle - alone.

with no boots on [laughs] and my feet airing out And we got attacked.

[Gun Shots] [Explosion] I scrambled back.

The first one went through my face.

It was like a hot iron on my face.

I picked up my rifle.

I started returning fire.

I think I emptied two clips.

I got hit again.

I felt my leg.

It shattered my shin bone and my calf muscle balled up I got a charlie horse.

I knew that if I kept returning fire they wouldnt advance as long as they heard the gun going off, so I wasnt even aiming.

ggeven aimimg.

I was just randomly shooting.

And I knew no one was coming for me.

I was probably going to die.

But that feeling that no one was coming for me and being alone is probably one of my biggest issues in life.

As you can see, the snow is coming down.

Its starting to get heavy now.

Im at McKinley High School It's minus one with the wind chill factor and Ill be speaking to the junior ROTC this morning.

I left Buffalo and Its Murphy's Law.

The unthinkable happened.

The Arctic Vortex hit.

The snow is coming down pretty hard.

Its going to get pretty deep tonight.

I'm going to try to find a place to stay tonight I'm going to try to go downtown into one of the shelters.

So, check in with me before I get covered in snow and peace out from snowy Buffalo Peace out.

I had registered with the Homeless Coalition as a homeless veteran but I didn't call that first night I didn't call ‘till very late.

Its fifteen degrees tonight and Im in a shelter.

so, um There's no heat in the room.

It stinks.

It's really a smelly room.

I don't want to complain, but this is what were up against.

Holes in the ceiling and the walls [Music] If it's going to be like this the whole time this is gonna be tougher than I thought.

[Music] Throughout my life, whenever I come across that feeling of this is tougher than I thought, I always reflect on that day.

[Music] I was bleeding out.

I was bleeding bad.

I had so many holes in me.

And I started to, you know get that euphoria.

and everything went silent.

There was no sound.

There was no more gunfire.

I could see everything going on around me as if I was looking down on it.

[Helicopter] In Vietnam, the focus was to make it through to get out of there.

But when I left, I left my best friend behind in this hell.

And the guilt was overwhelming.

I felt like a loser for leaving Peter behind.

I felt that I had let him down.

[Music] And then I woke up in Japan.

[Music] It was a mash unit when I first went there it was that type of situation where anything goes to save the soldier.

And that means just getting in there and digging out bullets.

They started giving me heavy doses of morphine I was in really bad shape I hung on.

you know, I was probably in and out of consciousness.

Eventually, I worked my way to St.

Albans because that was was my home city.

I was all wrapped up in white.

The bandages were white.

My sheets were white.

The walls were white.

I thought it was Heaven.

I thought Id died and went to heaven.

So, here I am.

Its never ever going to be the same.

But I continually move forward.

He's constantly trying to reach out to different groups to see if they have any interest Trust me theres little in Western New York and it's hard to get a lot of support.

In order for this walk to work we need people.

The lack of energy its disheartening and it makes the walk harder.

[Siren] I'll be meeting Senator Ortt this morning a New York State Senator from this district and he'll be setting up the Art Of War exhibit with me.

Not only am I reaching out to the veteran community in New York State this is an education program this new first of its kind in the country curriculum called "The Experience of the American Soldier” that enhances mainstream education.

It could be used in Social Studies, American History World History, Psych classes.

And Bay Shore School District, my home town is piloting this and helping me carry it across New York State.

The students of North Tonawanda responded to me and they feel comfortable enough to share their story and thats when you know youre reaching someone and youre making an impact.

I'm excited to see what comes next.

I'm ready for it.

I thought it was gonna be you know, a struggle considering his history his injuries, and you know I call him Mr.

Weeble Wobble Wobble.

But I'll but Ill tell ya, each day he seemed to get a little bit stronger and stonger He did.

And he actually, I think, enjoys it.

He's doing it, guys.

Hello, we're out here.

Hes doin it with a smile.

[Laughs] I have prosthetics in my left leg I have a bullet in my spine which has caused some nerve damage and Ive been shot up in my legs, knees and hips.

I know I look like Im always walking the last mile, but Im ok.

[laughs] [Music] St.

Albans was almost a year there of undergoing different surgeries We were not allowed to be medically discharged at the time unless of course you had no arms and legs But the in-between guys even though they may have been psychologically unfit were kept in the military So, I left the hospital in uniform and there was an anti-war demonstration going on and they spit on me and called me a murderer and a baby killer.

And it was a total shock to me that I was being treated this way and I had no idea what was going on.

I just couldnt understand it.

That I was being spit on for what I did.

That was the first emotional setback I believe that triggered the beginning of my post trauma.

I've reached Rochester.

Up until now I've been alone in shelters but I'm going to be staying at a group home.

I have questions as to how it works Does it work?

Richard's house was a transition home.

where a veteran is you know, permitted to stay for a certain length of time.

people are always asking me can you cure PTSD?

I dont believe you can cure it I believe you can heal it.

It's part of who we are.

I believe you need to embrace it and learn more about yourself more about your trauma and learn to move forward.

It was inspirational to see how ever busy they were during the day they all took the time to come together at night at dinner time as a family unit.

-Chores -Yep -Chores, baby!

-Chores Ch [laughs] Everybody has them.

-Everybody has them.

-Yep When you come here you go over basically your goals, your long-term, your short-term Career Training.

You know obviously your own housing -Right -You know all the VLC programs Welding, Electrician, Security the, you know welding, electrician security guard license they pay for that.

-Nice -You know -Wow -Yeah The idea is to get my life squared away.

Im in school right now for nursing I also do the resident advisor position here which is really kind of cool helping out.

So you're the muscle one day and mom the next day?

I'm actually, yeah, Im more of the muscle I guess [Laughs] If they get hurt or if they need anything it's like, "Hey where's doc?"

We had a guy the other day he had an interview for a job and Doc took all of his clothes ironed ‘em out for him.

If you had a button missing he sewed his button on for him and he got him ready to go out the door.

With this place theres a consequence over our heads If you drink a drug then you find the road.

Yeah.

And I like that consequence.

-I like it too -Yeah It makes me think.

Cause right now, honestly?

Right now everything is going great.

Yeah.

Yeah The main reason that everything went to crap is the deployment to Iraq and some of I the things I did there as a medic and so I came back and, um started having bad nightmares and that type of thing and I was too stupid to go to the VA and get it checked out ‘cuz I was like "Ah, it's just part of the deal," you know.

Never even thought about PTSD I just thought I saw a lot of bad stuff and I was actually still as a paramedic on the street still seeing the same stuff.

So, I started drinking to sleep.

Self medicate.

And I did that from 2006 through all the way up to 2013.

Now, it wasn't as bad until like the end of it, but I went through two marriages.

I just got my kids back in my life.

It's been rough.

[Music] I'm not a doctor or a clinician.

I don't have a degree.

I didn't go to college.

I talk to people for what they are and who they are I would about my story and theyd talk about theirs and it seemed to work.

People just need someone to relate to.

Those years of my mental health Ive been battling with drug addiction.

Battling with drug addiction, the PTSD, Bipolar -You name it.

I got it all.

-Sounds like it.

I got it all, you know.

Each veteran I talked to had a had a traumatic event.

Each veteran I talked to had some level of PTSD.

What can you recommend me to succeed?

To be because, right now, I'm going to the hill and then rocks coming down the hill.

you know I've been getting hit you know, I've been getting hit knocked down, back up -keep, keep climbing -keep climbing keep climbing that hill.

But sometimes Frank, I get hit by asteroids, man [laugh] -I know -You know?

-And I want to like...[sigh] -I know -Can somebody put a bandage here -Yeah, I know What can you tell me Frank, man?

You have to believe in your own human spirit that you could do this Youve come so far.

Youve overcome all these things Drug addiction, it's the hardest thing ever.

To get that monkey on your back, man.

I know.

I've been there.

Okay?

-You remember who you are always -Okay You remember the things youve overcome you remember, you know, where you came from and your own human spirit.

It's just another day, man.

It's not a good day, but it's another day, man.

Its another day above the grass as opposed to below the grass you know what I mean?

Uh huh.

But you can do it.

Oh yeah, want to do it.

I'm gonna do it.

-You believe in yourself -Im gonna do it You remember me, you remember today.

Oh, yeah.

Oh definitely, man.

Im gonna carry that in my heart Im gonna carry that to my class or wherever I go.

Im gonna carry that, you know.

Good for you.

Thank you.

Give me a hug.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm so glad we had this talk, brother.

Thank you, dude.

God bless you.

-My man, Kevin.

-[Laugh] [Music] I had received orders for West Point.

[Music] [Train Whistle] You know, meaning maintain their roads their facilities.

maintain the grounds for them, make sure everything was pristine for them.

And so, I wasn't able to do any kind of that physical work so they gave me a desk job.

[Music] Now, I'm going through this mental breakdown and I went down to the infirmary and told them I need painkillers or I need things but they wouldnt have it because I'm a fit soldier you know I'm there to do work.

So I'm doing my own drugs.

and I'm self-medicating.

I was befriended by another soldier who said he lived down in the Bay Shore area and so I would drive him back and forth on weekends we became very close I told him about the drugs and he was an undercover agent a CID agent for the military and he set me up.

And I was sent to Fort Dix Military Prison I was with murderers and rapists and killers and I was just a stressed-out messed up veteran who brought myself back to normal by doing all these outrageous drugs Emotionally, I was broken.

I was ashamed of myself.

I was ashamed for my family.

I wasn't drafted I enlisted because I thought it was necessary and so at that point I had no country.

It's important, just to let people know that there's hope.

[Horn Honking] Good morning sir.

[Engine Sound] You need to see the big picture and the big picture is going from A to B we're going to get there how we get there is all individual Everybody has their journey.

Frank, Ill be your escort this this morning Thank you.

Thank you for what youre doing and thank you for your service.

Thank you.

[Music] Before the parade began a family came to me in private and told me about a young veteran that was struggling and would I meet with this young man?

And of course I would I mean that's the whole concept here is reaching out to people and communicating and touching people It's an honor to have you here Frank.

Thank you.

Its all yours.

Thank you everyone.

This is very heartfelt.

My name is Frank Romeo and I have mental illness.

I suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Immediately after I spoke I looked for him.

We know he walked at the back of the parade he was the last in the parade He kept his distance and he had taken off.

and it was heartbreaking because he needed some one-on-one.

He wasn't ready to take that first step and, you know, which was my problem for 30 years, was taking that first step.

[Music] I remember getting my discharge from the prison saying well thank God, it's over.

That's the good thing it's over.

but it was really just the beginning.

It's a disease.

So you're getting this disease like anything else.

Its like cancer, and your bodys changing but you cant stop it you cant grasp it but you know it's changing you inside.

I was so angry and I didn't know why.

I became violent and I didn't know why.

I couldnt control it and I didn't know why.

I obviously couldnt get a job because I could never have anyone tell me what to do.

what t You werent you.

You were getting into trouble getting into trouble so much I mean you'd come home after fights at bars Mom would pull glass all out of your feet out of your feet.

And then mom went to wake you up and you gave her a black eye You were always getting arrested Cops would bring you home You were like bad.

It got really bad here.

You probably dont even know but it got so bad that I was nineteen years old and I said Im moving, Ma at nineteen Where are you going?

Three thousand miles away to San Diego I didnt know no one.

To get away from me?

Yeah.

[Laugh] Chicago wasn't far enough.

[Laugh] I love you.

Love you so much.

I was out of control.

My father had a nervous breakdown.

My parents moved to Florida, my brother moved to San Diego and I was left alone and I think part of me wanted it that way.

And I now go to the VA.

And you know, they tell me I was depressed Depressive Neurosis they called it then they would give me drugs Valium, Seconal, Quaaludes.

then orthopedics was giving me muscle relaxers for my physical pain and I was drinking on top of it.

So, I was a drug addict.

Well, you know when you walk on the highway its got an angle.

-Right, exactly.

-You don't realize that.

-I know -Until you walk Youve gotta buy the one shoe with more bottom on it.

I learned that.

I lived in West Virginia in college for four years.

Had to custom make boots because the hills were like that.

One side was longer.

[Music] The survivors' guilt, really affected my life, and I didnt talk to Peter for 15 years.

Well, thank you so much for everything that you're doing.

-Yeah -Thank you -We appreciate you I wound up getting on disability and I came out here For a little while I was a little homeless because I couldn't afford to stay where I was staying at and I was diagnosed with bipolar, schizophrenia.

I think what really made me try to turn myself around was, I had a Child.

Frank Junior was born and so I need to get a job I need to straighten myself out so I put myself in the psych ward at the VA.

They would give me drugs and then they put me in the animal research laboratory.

It was called I.T.

Incentive Therapy I had to feed baby food liver to frogs and they would produce some kind of chemical then wed puree the frogs and feed ‘em to rabbits and the rabbits produced estrogen and then theyd stick a needle in the back of the rabbits brain and kill it, and take out the fluid.

Things like that, in the name of psychological treatment.

They didn't know, they know what to do with us.

I remember the head of psychology there committing suicide at one point I mean, you know, it was kind of like the good ‘ol boys.

So they took the Vets from World War Two who had some kind of a degree but knew something about mental health because they were mental themselves and theyd let them take care of us and Im reaching out to them Im desperate I wanna so badly feel normal that I will do anything that you tell me and that trust was betrayed.

In the 70s, there was a stigma with the Vietnam Veterans where they did not want to come to the VA because they didnt see it as a resource, as an ally in their health care.

so now, we find that many veterans are coming back and thats why the VA made all those efforts during Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Iraq and currently, so that there is a smooth transition between their life in the military and when they come back to civilian life.

I think the most striking aspect of all the numbers is the distinction in frequency or the occurrence of suicide beween those in treatment and those who arent which speaks to the fact that treatment works.

We're having trouble having them step forward now They won't come forward and they're worried about their job.

-They dont want that stigma -Sure I think its all about getting a message across figuring out how to sell that message that will either be heard by the veteran themselves or the loved one around the veterans and what they can do to help leverage and get them in treatment.

Ok.

Welcome.

-You know what Im sayin?

-Yeah, I hear ya.

Are you a Vietnam Veteran?

[Laughs] Yeah.

-[Laughs] -Were on the page Yep.

[Laughs] Youre making me youre making me, uh were dancin here you know that Thats all right.

I want to rock.

You dont have to rock with me.

-No -If I make you rock, Ill stop.

Ok [Laughs] So you take that off?

Excuse me?

-Do you take the mask off?

-Oh, yeah.

-Oh, yeah -Yeah?

-Yeah.

-You wanna take it off now?

-No.

[Laugh] Not that.

Its cool.

Alright, now I'll take it off.

-Alright -No -No, Im just me -You know I go to these vet meeting, okay you know and and these groups and theyre talking about their vacations and theyre talking about you know, blah, blah, blah who died not, you know Im a little disturbed about that, I think it, you know without getting committed to really talk to somebody you know,a group that is really talking about the [expletive] war.

[Laughs] Nobody's talking about the [Inaudible] Oh [expletive] People are here.

Im sorry.

Wow.

The mans in bad shape.

I just cant believe these are the people that I come across.

Every day in America we produce more veterans with a host of new issues I mean we need shelters but is that our future continually building shelters continually having outreach programs?

Or we're going to rethink the way we approach war and rethink the way we approach the care of our veterans Thank you all for coming.

PTSD and mental illness is contagious.

If someone in the family suffers the entire family suffered so my family is here theyre embracing me and I would like for you to join me in walking into the City of Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie on my journey.

[Clapping] [Music] Eastbound Lane is to your right.

Right at the cones Eastbound Lane.

Wait for Grandpa.

Were walking with Grandpa.

I can recall times where he has gotten very angry.

My father got so angry that he, um took this this very large you know how were a big Italian family weve got pasta and you know, at every meal and I could remember a time where he took this big bowl of bouillabaisse so it was red and there were meatballs, and there was fish and slammed it and then all the pasta and sauce and bouillabaisse went all over us and then he locked us outside.

And so we're in white shirts and pasta sauce and meatballs and, you know, spaghetti hanging out of our heads and we often thought this is who we are.

This what we look like.

He was open about his feelings towards us and affectionate, and there was always a hug and a kiss.

but he could have a temper, an explosive temper.

My sister and I would have this sort of little inside joke like did Dad get all Vietnam on ya?

And for us, that meant did he get to that explosive point?

-Are you zooming?

-Yep.

Just pr- Hold down zoom until you get, you dont go any more.

We always knew to wake Dad up from a distance.

You didnt get close to him in his face.

because I think there was a time where one of us tried to wake him up and he got up and grabbed And I think things like that made me aware Hey “What does Dad have?” or “What's going on?” or “What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and what does that mean for us?

We had six kids in our family so everything was loud and everything was kind of crazy.

Take a picture of me, Daddy.

Take a picture of me, Daddy.

And I remember him many times getting up and leaving to go to eat by himself We had this little tiny bathroom and he would take his dinner and go and sit in there and thats where he would eat.

-Love you Dad.

-Love you.

I love you.

Having children really kept me going.

I owe my life to my children.

What is this for?

-Dad?

-That means youre a private.

The drugs and alcohol and the medical treatment that I was receiving was terrible.

I hated myself I was lethargic, was bloated.

I had no ambition.

I was just living a non-existent existence I kept to myself.

I never talked about any of these things I talk about now I kept it to myself.

I have to ask you a question about PTSD and I dont know the answer to this.

You were in the Vietnam War.

you have PTSD.

When did you know, you had it?

I didn't know I had it.

It wasn't PTSD for many years.

We were called anything from shellshock to Depressive Neurosis, to even Vietnam War Syndrome.

The red flag started to go up in the Sixties when when veterans started coming home like myself from war and built up, and for a decade a decade and a half not until the Eighties the red flag going up and and the government finally stepped in and did a study on Vietnam War Syndrome and that took another 10 years.

Finally, in the early Nineties the American Psychiatric Association stepped in and they redefined the boundaries diagnosis and treatment and renamed it Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

-Or PTSD as we know.

-Sure So soldiers in other wars have had this it was just unidentified.

-Correct.

-Is that correct?

Correct.

We didnt per se invent it Vietnam Veterans.

But the process, the the political climate at the time... Nothing made sense to me.

My wife left me.

I had lost my home it went into foreclosure.

Everything had come to that boiling point.

It was either suicide or something has to happen.

That's when I went back to the VA for help.

And they said, you have PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and they explained it to me and for the first time something made sense in my life.

They explained it to me that you were traumatized and you didn't deal with it In fact, it became worse and it became pushed down and it festered inside of me.

[Music] Last night, I couldn't sleep and it was too late to take the medication, so I had again, nightmares.

I have reoccurring nightmares about wild animals chewing on my body.

And for years I tried to wake up but it didnt work I finally realized I have to kill the animal to wake up and so I make a fist and I stuff it down the animals throat and I choke it to death but I lose my arm.

So I lose a part of me but I save the rest of me.

So I have to give up something to move forward, to stay alive and to wake up.

So he's gonna give you guys a presentation today about artwork, PTSD and Id like to introduce to Norwich High School, Frank Romeo [Clapping] We have 22 suicides a day in the Veteran Community.

Just take a minute to understand that.

Twenty-two veterans every day put a gun to their head.

That's like two rows of these people of you guys not being here tomorrow if you were all veterans.

All of us in some time in our life will be traumatized in some way.

In a car crash the death of a loved one a hurricane, tsunami earthquake, anything.

Thats trauma.

We have so many veterans that can't find an outlet for their trauma.

[Music] I remember for Christmas you know you always get Dad like Old Spice or ties or, you know these things.

And one year he asked for an easel and some paint and stuff and we're all just like "You don't even help us with our homework.” Like, what do you mean you need this?

And he's like I don't know I just kind of feel feel the urge to paint something.

And I remember coming home and he had painted something that that, I just didnt think he ha I just didnt think he had the ability and when I asked him about it he's like I don't even know where it came from.

It was just something that I saw.

And as he's telling me this Im thinking to myself like what's in there?

What's inside there?

There are things that I don't know.

Ill never forget my first painting, I was crying and I sat there and I was reliving the day I got shot and I had tears in my eyes I had been shaking all over and I began going through all the stories and with each story came a painting.

The dam had burst.

Some of my friends committed suicide when the dam burst and, you know I found art once he showed us these paintings once he showed us this glimpse what he did was open us up open himself up for us to ask him questions.

Right?

So we got to hear his story.

And I think that that's how he's started to heal himself on this journey and then how he's helped to heal the family.

[Music] This is art therapy as we know it today.

[Music] And that began the beginning of me taking it on the road The National Veterans Art Museum gave me permission to reproduce anything I like that fit into what I was doing.

And the students really don't need me to speak.

They could just walk through my exhibit and experience the artwork and go Whoa, this guy really had a difficult time because they are looking at a journal a diary of a man's life created in art.

My uncle went to Iraq and it must have been a traumatic experience for him because I, to this day Ive never heard anything about it No matter where I went everyone embraced them.

students were relating to them they were learning from them and I realized that the reality-based approach to education was so much more impactful than books.

I am very privileged to recognize Frank Romeo.

Frank Romeo is a constituent from Bay Shore, New York.

And what Frank is doing now is literally walking across New York State.

So many times our students learn about a battle, a war from the policy perspective but Frank's curriculum looks at it through the eyes of the soldier.

It actually brought me a little bit closer to my grandfather who was a war vet in Vietnam.

Please rise and be recognized.

[Clapping] I now have the backing of the New York State Senate and I can go into the following year with a curriculum in place.

that is the first of its kind in the country.

[Horns Honking] Thirty years of work had come to fruition.

I want to welcome you to the Heights I had doubts in the beginning that I would make it this far but here it is.

I've made it to New York city and I'm almost home.

You come across this feeling of like why should I go to these appointments no one really cares you're just a number Community is an extension of family.

you know, and it progresses up the way It starts at the bottom.

We have a crisis going on in our communities... You look in the mirror and you say, “Who am I?” and you out, and then as a community you look at yourself and you say, “Who are we?” Then you get to the county level and the state level ”Who are we?” You know, and then that builds country.

It's really about accountability.

You start at the bottom.

and, you know, there seems to be a problem with that in my opinion.

Thursday, May twenty-third.

I've made it to the Brooklyn Bridge.

-Everyone say hi.

-Hi.

-Peace.

Walk with Frank.

Thank you so much for your contribution.

You did a great job.

Keep it up.

Thank you!

[Music] This is in essence just as much about me as it is about our other veterans.

You know, it's helping me.

I need to do this to move forward.

[Music] If I've learned anything on the walk its that people deal with trauma differently.

All kinds of trauma.

All kinds of people.

Each dealing with it in his own way.

[Music] I'm a Survivor of gun violence.

My sisier Ann Marie was murdered at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

She was a first grade teacher and she died with a pile of six-year-old babies underneath her And I got PTSD.

My worst PTSD issues still to this day have to do with hearing a a jet aircraft.

Whine of a a loud whine of a jet aircraft where I cant, when I dont know where it is where I cant see it.

Ill stand in my backyard and I will look up and I will follow a plane across the sky just to know that he's -Still flying -Safely away away from me.

After my wife passed away Itll be thirty years ago.

That was my trigger.

She wasn't here -to keep me grounded.

-Right [inaudible] Thats when it all came out.

I lived with a guy who went to Vietnam for three years.

I had to see the, see him how he was you know the violent outrages and stuff like that.

The, you know, just little things set him off.

One day, we were walking down the street and backfire.

He, he's, you know looking around, you know jumpin, you know sometimes, you know, as a kid thats hard to you know you don't know what to say to Dad because you dont know, you know what to say to Dad because you dont know, you know ‘cuz if you say something to Dad you don't know if its gonna set him off or what.

[Music] You know, every time someone else would open up and tell me their story I relived my own trauma.

[Music] You know, and in doing so I thought about Peter a lot.

We allowed our lives to go in different directions.

You know it's taken a lifetime for us to get through our trauma and to deal with it and to understand it.

and we never really sat down and talked.

I wanted his perspective.

Our first thirty days in country Romeo?

You remember what happened?

We saw thirty guys lose legs and everything from booby traps [inaudible] -Yeah -All right I didn't feel and these are the guys that were setting up the booby traps.

You know I feel pretty good about what we did.

I dont have no regrets of anybody I killed or anything like that I dont feel bad about that at all.

You know, after seeing all of you guys getting killed and getting blown away and every other thing and then with you getting blown away it made me even it made me a little more angry about the whole story cuz now Im all by myself.

-[laughs] -Yeah, right You know what I mean?

and I said what happened what happened to Romeo so you know we killing, I found killing very easy.

-Yeah?

-Yeah -You know -You know really had a difficult time We didnt uh I really was, um had a difficult time when I came home and I didn't talk to you for how many years?

Yeah.

You stayed to yourself.

That's what we do.

Thats what we do to this day.

being a combat vet, we isolate.

I know, so you're in a different world that I am.

You know, you have people that you have to have in your life.

Me, it's all about choice.

I choose combat vets.

We have something in common.

How are you feeling with your PTSD?

I mean you have... I'm still isolating.

I still stay to myself.

Im okay, you know.

I think it's all right.

I'm all right with it.

You know, I still isolate myself you know Im alone in the crowd sometimes I feel you know Do you think guys wouldnt go if they know how we felt now?

Do you think that would put a dent in recruiting and guys joining the military?

Or you think they'll still join the military, I don't know.

-Good question.

-Right?

Yeah man.

A million-dollar experience, Romeo.

I wouldn't give you ten cents to do it again, but a million-dollar experience -But I love you.

-Yeah, I love you too.

I'm glad we did it together, man -Cool -Yeah, we were alright We were good soldiers.

[Laugh] I love you.

[Music] After seeing Peter it was interesting that we have two different perspectives He deals with it in his own way.

I just want to welcome everyone here today, on this great day.

I'm very happy that I'm not the one in Buffalo saying, Frank good luck on your seven hundred and fifty mile journey [laughs] I get to be the one who says, Frank you're about to cross the finish line this is your victory lap Two miles left, straight roads people who love you all around you.

[Clapping] Peter gives me credit for what I'm doing.

He can't fathom understanding it.

He doesn't know why I do it yet hes there walking with me side by side.

[Laugh] Youll have to excuse me for a minute there buddy.

[Laugh] [Music] So many people live with it it's not just from war.

Its tragic events that kids and families and victims of hurricanes and tornadoes, and crash crashes and stuff like that, so so many people suffer from it Weve all been touched by it.

That's why we're here.

[Music] You know, it's 50 years now for me dealing with PTSD.

Its a story you could have applied back to the Civil War and applies to World War One and Korea, and World War Two and will apply to tomorrows war [Clapping] It's forever.

It's Universal.

The Bay Shore Community could not be prouder to call Frank one of our own.

Welcome home, soldier.

[Cheering] We walked.

We walked together.

Through the cold weather through hot weather through eighty mile an hour winds We walked together as one.

Moving forward always moving forward because we can't go back Thank you for putting up with me.

[laughs] I know Ive been a pain in the neck to a lot of people in this town even at the state level they get sometimes they don't answer the phone [laugh] but I call back [laugh] And I keep calling back.

We have a crisis here in America.

I dont believe what we're doing is enough.

We need to rethink our approach.

We need to rethink our education.

We need to rethink mental health.

It's not a right or left problem.

Its not a Democrat or Republican problem.

It's a social problem it's an American problem and together we can do this.

Thank you so much.

I love you all.

Thank you everyone.

Thank you.

[Clapping] [Cheering] [Clapping] [Music] Moving from isolation to connection could be a million miles I chose to isolate myself for decades.

That first step you know, youre vulnerable.

And just like that dream that reoccurring dream that I've had my whole life I've given up something to wake up I've given up part of me to move forward and sometimes we all have to give up a part of ourselves to become whole.

Information about the film the educational version for use in classrooms and Frank's fifty year journey with PTSD is available at Walk With Frank dot org Understanding through education.

Funding for this presentation of Walk With Frank has been provided in part by Catholic Health providing compassionate care because our culture cherishes your humanity.

Long Live, Long Island.