I am an E5 in the Army. I have been in for 3 1/2 years and have deployed to Iraq once. My MOS is 11B. In the past two months I have been in two phsyciatric hospitals and have been diagnosed with severe Post Traumatic Symptoms. I have also been diagnosed with a whole slew of other things including hyper-tension. I was recently in the hospital because my blood pressure was 165 over 110.

I was given the choice of whether to stay in the Army or not, and considering everything I decided to get out. I have two options, I could let them do a 517 and get me out in a month and still retain all my VA benefits. Or I could let all my medical information go to the Medical Board, wait 6 months, and hopefully get a good deal out of it.

I don't want to stay in the Army any longer than I have to if there isn't much chance of me getting any good benefits out of it. I was hoping someone would give me some advice, maybe from their own experience, on what the best option would be.

The best advice which can be given from here is to check in with either a DoD clinician for PTSD, or maybe the Chaplain's office if that works for you and get some outside advice.

PTSD does not 'go away' and there is no 'magic bullet' for it. So, the earlier it is treated the better off you will be for it.

Good luck and come back and visit us often.