Scuba Diving Proves Therapeutic for Combat Veteran with PTSD
We all have our reasons for giving back to the ocean. For Gary Green, his is simple: “The sea saved my life. It gave me hope.”
Diving helped combat veteran Gary Green cope with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Gary Green/Courtesy Project AWARE
You see, in 2009, Green’s life changed forever while he was based as a rifleman in Afghanistan. Stationed at a small patrol base about 300 feet north of a territory heavily controlled by the Taliban, Green faced daily fire and high threat of IEDs (improvised explosive devices). During an attack on August 21, 2009, Green was hit by two IEDs concealed in the side of a compound wall, leaving him blind in his right eye and with shrapnel buried in his face, arm and legs.
After receiving a medical discharge from the army in 2010, Green returned to his home in the United Kingdom and began the challenging process of recovery and reintegration into society. Like so many others returning from combat, Green struggled with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Battling alcohol and drug abuse, anxiety, and self-destructive thoughts, he longed for an escape from what had become his daily reality. He found solace in scuba diving.
Green was introduced to Deptherapy, a U.K. charity that uses scuba diving as a means of rehabilitation for returned British Armed Services personnel who have suffered life-changing physical and mental injuries. The underwater world provided Green with a sense of calm, stillness and peace as he progressed through his dive training. The ocean’s energy was healing.
“When my head went under the water for the first time, it was also the first time that PTSD was not attacking my mind,” says Green.
“For me, it’s a therapy I can swim through, a feeling of oneness that I can experience without constant negative thoughts that plague my mind. If that’s not worth saving, then I don’t know what is.”
Alongside his fellow divers at Deptherapy, Green now participates in Project AWARE Dive Against Debris surveys to combat the negative effects of marine debris in underwater environments.
During a recent Dive Against Debris in Egypt, he and his group were tasked with cleaning a large patch of coral. With every piece of fishing wire and every bottle he removed, Green felt more relief and satisfaction.
He’s pledged to continue his efforts to care for the underwater world through Dives Against Debris.
“The ocean — something that has meant so much to me and could potentially mean so much to someone else — has to be protected,” says Green.
To learn more about Project AWARE and its Dive Against Debris program, visit projectaware.org/diveagainstdebris.