wow, looks like you chose a good forum in which to ask your question on the topic. i have read over all these responses, and they all are valid. you can take parts from each and cobble together your own approach, or just start on a therapist or doctor defined path to wellness. but PTSD can be contained, controlled, lived with. i know, i am ex army who now works in the mental health field in consumer peer support which includes this very topic.
i see it a good bit, sometimes even from the old dudes at the legion who havent been in the service for decades. maybe a flag ceremony, a remembrance of the dead, something like that that we would find innocuous is enough to dredge up things half forgotten and better left alone. and yes, its hard. damn hard sometimes, to have to live with it or even just to try to help with it. know that, obviously, there are those you can talk to about it. rely on these that you can trust, be they friends, family, church, whoever, to build a support network. take it day by day. ah, i am rambling. all of this has already been said.
but yes, you can and will survive.
