MARCH 6, 2020, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
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Even without PTSD, re-entry can be rough for vets
By LAUREN MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Keizer resident Todd
Stretar has worn many
hats in his life– hus-
band, dad and employ-
ee, all of which came
before he joined the
U.S. Navy.
“I was married, di-
vorced with kids and
all that stuff before
the Navy was ever a
thought,” he said.
After the di-
vorce,
Stretar
ended up living
a
mile
in
eir
boots
th
A series featuring the
lives of veterans after
they came home.
out of his car.
“I was still work-
ing and all that stuff,
just couldn’t afford a
place to live,” he said.
Despite not being
able to afford a place
to live, he chose to
stay in Texas to be
close to his sons.
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ABOVE: Stretar and wife,
Amber, walking off the pier
in Bremerton, WA after he
returned from his last de-
ployment on the USS John
C. Stennis (CVN 74). RIGHT:
Todd Stretar today in his ca-
pacity as a Farmers Insurance
agent.
When his brother started
talking about joining the Navy,
Stretar wanted to try before he
was too old. At age 29, he en-
listed in the Navy.
“It changed the whole tra-
jectory of my life,” he said.
“Whether you’re a kid
coming out of high school, this
is your fi rst time away from
mom and dad’s house (or)
somebody like me who’s had
an adult life, there’s always an
adjustment period,” he said of
joining the service.
He was in the service for
10 years as a logistics specialist
before being medically retired
in April of 2018. While he did
some work in other areas, Stre-
tar said he mostly worked with
the aviation side of the Navy.
For him, the hardest part
was being away from his sons.
He talked about calling them
at 4 a.m. his time so they would
be able to talk on their time.
“Also, watching Sunday
football on Monday morning
in Japan is really crazy,” he said,
laughing.
Though being away from
his kids was hard, Stretar did
note that he was fortunate to
have the freedom to talk with
home and watch Sunday foot-
ball, even if it was on Monday
mornings.
“That’s not everybody’s sit-
uation,” he said.
Stretar said his time in the
service was invaluable. In ad-
dition to learning new skills
and meeting new people, he
got to walk
on the places
where history
happened. “To
be in locations
where world
changing
events
hap-
pened and just
soak it in, it’s
just surreal,”
he said.
After com-
ing
back
home, Stretar
struggled with
a loss of pur-
pose. “As bad
as your day is
in the mili-
tary, there is
still some sort
of purpose or meaning behind
it,” he said. “Working in civil-
ian job does not always have
that sense of duty.”
Stretar added that civilians
don’t care in the same way mil-
itary personal do.
“If you don’t show up for
work Monday, your boss isn’t
going to come beating down
your door to check and see if
you’re dead,” he said. “There’s
not that purpose, there’s not
that meaning, there’s not that
care for your employees gen-
erally.”
About nine months after
Stretar got out, he began to
struggle with depression be-
cause he didn’t have something
greater than himself to work
for. “Shortly after Christmas of
‘18 when I was in the middle
of this massive funk. I came to
the conclusion that I had to
step outside of myself,” he said.
He called the Young Life
area director and offered to
volunteer, “I was thinking she
was going to say, ‘come to the
offi ce and help me lift heavy
things,’ or do stuff like that,” he
said, instead she invited him to
a new leaders meeting where
he met his best friend.
“I think it’s really important
for veterans and anybody to
realize that this whole grand
scheme of things is not about
you, it’s about everybody else
and your impact on their life,”
he said.
One thing that Stretar
wants civilians to understand
is that not every veteran has
Post-Traumatic Stress Disor-
der (PTSD). While there are
legitimate cases of PTSD, it
does not apply to every veter-
an who’s ever served. “Veterans
have a lot to bring to the table,”
he said
“I encourage any business to
hire veterans, I encourage vet-
erans to start their own busi-
nesses, I encourage anybody to
give to organizations (that help
veterans),” Stretar said.
Stretar has been home for
almost two years. He settled in
Keizer because it is his wife’s
hometown. He has two sons,
age 15 and 17, and a 21-year-
old stepdaughter who is at-
tending Chemeketa Commu-
nity College. He is currently
working as a Farmer’s Insur-
ance agent in Salem.
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