This was before diagnosis.
I thought since they had been dealing with PTSD on this base and they'd seen it.... They didn't just write down “diagnosed” on a piece of paper. They gave her drugs for it. If they gave her drugs for it, then I'd say they knew it was PTSD. They were sending her home all by herself, to an empty house, with prescribed medication, when she was in a very bad place and no one was looking after her. This was a fact. I found this out, and I called. I received a call from her and she was totally incoherent. I couldn't make her out. I couldn't get a hold of anybody on the base because I don't have their numbers. But I did hear along the way, in her 14 years, that if you want something done, you go to the padre. So I went kicking and screaming to the padre in St. John's, and, thank God, he got on the phone.
I talked to a superior of hers shortly after, because the padre in Borden had him call me. He assured me that they had their eye on her; they were watching her and they were taking care of it, which I thought was very strange because I got a call 20 minutes later and she was in the same place again. Obviously, nobody was watching her. She was overmedicated when I was talking to her. I'm a retired nurse; I know what overmedicated sounds like.
So whether or not the diagnosis was made before or after, the thing is, you don't send someone home alone with a handful of pills when they're in this state.