Staff sergeant makes dark days of PTSD brighter by seeking support  

Staff Sgt. Christina J. Turnipseed

1st BCT, 1st Armored Div.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARRIOR, KIRKUK, Iraq – Today Staff Sgt. Joe Bell, a 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division Soldier, is deployed to Iraq with no reservations, but deployment life for this Jacksonville, Fla., native wasn’t always so easy. 

One afternoon seven years ago, during an earlier deployment, Bell awoke in darkness, squinting at the few rays of glaring sunlight leaking through the cracks of his overturned M-113 tracked armored personnel carrier. 

When he tried to get up, he quickly realized he couldn’t move his left arm due to the heavy, crew hatch door that had him pinned to the ground in a ditch.

Bell recalled yelling to the injured driver in an effort to wake him up and when no help seemed to be forthcoming, he relied on his faith by singing gospel songs to keep the driver calm and push back the panic when he realized everyone else in the vehicle was wounded. 

“It was kind of dark in there,” said Bell. “When [his rescuers] opened the door, we were kind of scared because we didn’t know what was going on.”

Rescuing Soldiers from the scout team lowered themselves into the M-113 and helped Bell’s fellow Soldiers; however, they couldn’t lift the hatch off of Bell’s arm. After two tank bars and a whole lot of help later, he was finally freed.

Today Bell is a supply noncommissioned officer in charge. While manning Company Headquarters Command’s Post Seven in Iraq, he remembered his 2003 deployment somberly, but it wasn’t memories of his own injuries  that caused his emotional response,  it was the loss of one of his Soldiers during that deployment.

“We lost Pfc. Pruitt,” said Bell, leaving the comment to stand alone for a moment as he reflected.

According to Bell, a rocket-propelled grenade hit his convoy during a transit. He said he saw Pruitt jump out of a vehicle and become in need of extraction to a safer place. 

“We knew the fuel truck was on fire, the ammo truck was ‘cooking-off’ and we were taking enemy fire,” said Bell. “It took four Soldiers, including me, to get Pruitt to a safe place. He lasted through the night, but died April seventh … my birthday.”

After going home for rehabilitation in 2003, Bell said he suffered from nightmares, had difficulty reacting to loud sounds and he couldn’t watch war movies without crying. He said he also suffered prolonged periods of memory loss.

“I didn’t want to talk to a psychologist about it because I didn’t want people to think I was crazy,” said Bell, but he said it was his supervisor who insisted he get help.

After successful therapy, Bell said he was able to begin to mentally and emotionally heal because of his faith and his psychologist. He also said he adopted a new weightlifting regimen that helped because the discipline involved in eating right and working out every day sharpened his mind. 

These days, the Bronze Star with Valor medal recipient said he’s a strong advocate of accepting the help that the Army provides in dealing with the rigors and realities of being a Soldier.

“Take whatever help the Army gives you,” he said. “Don’t try to say ‘I’m okay because I don’t want anybody to think I’m crazy.’”

He said he plans to retire from the Army, but before he does, he wants to share his experiences so others don’t have to feel like they have to deal with PTSD alone.

“The Soldiers out here need someone to care; to teach them everything you know,” said Bell. “I want to give these Soldiers my experience.”