Darrel Maddux
Veterans Help Net Correspondent
American Legion Department Public Relations Committee
Andrew Whipple of St. Maries, Idaho knows too well the price of war on our brave and gallant military veterans. He graduated from the University of Idaho in 1991 with a teaching degree and a ROTC Commission. He took a job teaching school and joined the Idaho Army National Guard. In March 2004 his guard unit was activated and then sent to Iraq in November. Andrew served as a Company Commander for a Combat Engineering Company. They flew to Kuwait and then by truck convoy to Kirkuk, Iraq. He remembers the stench in the air of burning garbage, burnt rubber, sewage in the streets and burning household trash. The city reminded him of a third world country with donkey carts and massive traffic jams. His trips outside the protective gates revealed the human remains from car bombings and rocket attacks. The most alarming sights were of mutilated children. His teaching job did not prepare him for the horrors he witnessed. He questioned how a society could treat its people in this way. Mortar and rocket attacks were common several times a week and he was shot at a few times. He knew soldiers who were killed in IED attacks. In November 2005 he returned to Idaho and went back to teaching and retired from the Idaho National Guard with the rank of Major in 2011.
Andrews first indication of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) came in 2015 when his personality began to change. He became angry at students and had night sweats. His blood pressure was elevated and he began remembering his time in Iraq. The deep subdued thoughts of war returned and he went down-hill, even though he never saw combat. He felt that an ex-Army Officer should be able to handle this situation. He had retired from the National Guard in 2011 and his military career was over. Andrew went to the VA in Coeur d’Alene and they prescribed antidepressants and antianxiety drugs. He was confident that he could get through this challenge without further help.
In 2017, Andrew was prescribed a new drug and the following day he put on his army uniform. He went outside with a hunting rifle and sat in the backyard. He had begun drinking more in recent weeks and he was angry at the world. A friend came by and visited and the incident ended without a serious consequence. Andrew decided to retire from the Kootenai School District in Harrison, Idaho at the age of 51.
In December 2019 Andrew was spooked by flashing lights from a police car. He rushed home and told his wife that he imagined that someone was chasing him. In February 2020 Andrew enrolled in the American Lake VA Hospital PTSD Clinic. He spent five weeks in the clinic and credits the VA with saving his life. He had spiraled so far down that he did not consider himself worthy or of any value. The VA helped him with his resentment and anger and lifted him up from the depths of despair. He had never connected the horrible things he saw in Iraq to his actual feelings. The VA brought all this to the surface and he was able to talk about his feelings.
Andrew joined a writing group at American Lake VA Medical Center and wrote short stories and
short poems. In February 2021 a National Guard helicopter with three pilots crashed in the mountains outside Boise, Idaho and Andrew wrote “Above the Purple Sage” poem. He then wrote a book of poems titled “From Inez to Andrew” and it is sold on Amazon. The book contains poems written by his grandmother Inez during the Second World War and Andrews recent poems. Andrew never knew his grandmother but their poems reflect similar style and content.
Maybe him telling his story is also therapeutic. He now has inner peace and feels he has reinvented himself. The dark moments are gone. Andrew has a VA disability rating of 80% and receives a monthly VA disability check.
He has shown the way for anyone who finds themselves overwhelmed with deep troubling thoughts. The VA has the tools and the counselors to guide a person back from a deep dark place. Andrew says he almost waited too long to get help. He also says he could not do it alone.
Veteran Crisis Line: 1-800-273-8255 press 1
Vet Center: 509-444-8387 (Counselors)
Darrel Maddux, American Legion Department Public Relations Committee