Advertisement
Sponsored Post  What’s this?

One man’s journey from military service to addiction to recovery

How veteran Angel Ayala turned his personal pain into a way to help others.

On June 25, 1996, Angel Manuel Ayala’s world came crumbling down around him — quite literally. While serving in the United States Air Force, he survived a terrorist bombing of the Khobar Towers, an eight-story building in Saudi Arabia that primarily housed members of the United States Air Force’s 440th Wing (Provisional). By the time the smoke cleared, 19 Air Force personnel were dead and hundreds more service members and civilians were injured.

“I was both physically and emotionally injured from that traumatic event,” Ayala says. “It completely changed how I saw the world and impacted the way that I lived my life from that point forward.”

Enlisting in the Air Force made sense as part of Ayala’s journey because many people in his family had been in the military and he respected their service.

Advertisement

“I joined to make my family proud, to serve my country and to be part of something bigger than myself,” he says, admitting that life was complicated when back on American soil. “When I served in the ‘90s, there wasn’t as much support for military personnel coming home. People were not as aware of events happening over in the Middle East as they are today. There was a nice reception when I returned back to base. But there was no reception from civilians at the airport.”

News Roundups

Catch up on the day's news you need to know.

Or with:

A photo of young Angel Ayala wearing his Air Force uniform with the American flag in the...
Angel Ayala in uniform. He enlisted in the Air Force to follow in the footsteps of many relatives who served in the military.(Courtesy Angel Ayala)

Ayala received a Purple Heart for his service, but the trauma from the attack dominated his life. After being diagnosed with PTSD, he started self-medicating with alcohol and pain pills when he was back home.

“I worked a long list of manual labor jobs. After work, I would drink and isolate,” he says. “I didn’t get married or start a family. My life slowly deteriorated due to my addiction to alcohol and drugs. It eventually turned into years of addiction, and I was unable to financially support myself. I slept in different places, including my car and my mother’s house. I finally found myself hopeless, suicidal, and wanted a way out of that lifestyle.”

Advertisement

Ayala says at the point he finally had enough, he decided to seek treatment at a Veterans Affairs center. While in recovery, he participated in counseling sessions and attended post-traumatic stress disorder groups before taking advantage of his veteran educational benefits to cover college tuition.

“When I received counseling for my mental health issues, it was so impactful and life-changing that I decided that I wanted to be able to do that for other veterans. I knew that Recovery Resource Council was an agency with a long history of helping people and I wanted to be part of that. That was the whole reason why I went back to school. I started looking for high-quality mental health services for veterans and I noticed that they were in short supply. It was surprising.”

Over the next seven years, he earned an associate degree in mental health and substance abuse, a Bachelor of Science in psychology and a Master of Science in counseling psychology. Recovery Resource Council provided him the opportunity to work in its Enduring Families Program, which offers therapy to veterans and their dependents at no cost.

Advertisement

“It was a dream come true to be part of a program that provided top-quality treatment for no cost to the veterans in need,” says Ayala, who today serves as a veterans counselor, licensed professional counselor and licensed chemical dependency counselor for the organization.

“I see other veterans hurting inside and many are self-medicating with alcohol, drugs, food, gambling or anything that will change the way they feel inside. If I could talk to the struggling veterans, I would put my arm around them and encourage them to seek help just like I did. I would tell them that I wouldn’t ask them to do anything that I haven’t tried myself. When we reach out for help, we choose to make a big investment in ourselves. I would tell them that we were created for more than this.”

He reminds people that mental health issues won’t go away on their own, but seeking help and addressing the addictions can lead to experiencing joy and enjoying each moment as it happens, just like he has learned to do.

“Part of the military culture is being strong and self-sufficient. We learn that to ask for help is a sign of weakness. However, when experiencing mental health issues, it is vital for us to ask for help. It’s a sign of strength, not weakness,” Ayala says. “I hope another veteran reads this and decides to reach out for help in hopes of living a life with less pain and more fulfillment.”