Veteran Brian Flom on his personal journey with PTS

"I tell everyone I have PTS but some days I have PTSD," shared Brian Flom from his Pennsylvania home. "It's when we let that D in PTSD take over that we have those counterproductive behaviors, and they start to take over our lives."

Brian Flom, born and raised in Los Angeles, always knew he wanted to be a part of something bigger than himself. It was at his mother's suggestion that he enlisted in the military, where he ended up serving for 32 years.

"Our America: Portraits of Courage" honors the heroic stories of veterans painted by George W. Bush in his tribute book "Portraits of Courage." These vibrant paintings highlight the courage and sacrifice of Americas military veterans and are now on display at Walt Disney World's Epcot.

Brian Flom, one of the veterans featured in the special, served in various roles as a military policeman. His first duty station was in Heidelberg, Germany, where he met his now wife, Monika Flom. Over the years, he made his way up to Command Sergeant Major of the Army's Criminal Investigation Division.

In 2003, he was deployed to Iraq for the first of three tours. It was on October 10th, 2007, that everything changed for Brian Flom and his family when he was injured in a rocket attack.

"You relive this every year," Monika Flom said tearfully of the event, "I never thought in a million years that he would go back. Looking at it from now it was the best thing for him."

Shrapnel hit Flom's jaw, breaking the upper portion. It cut his throat near his carotid artery, and he suffered extensive internal bleeding in his stomach. The doctors told him to play the lottery since he just barely made it out alive. Despite his severe injuries, he knew once he recovered physically, he was going back to his unit.

"He had a unit he needed to support," Monika Flom explained. "Even so, us, his family, we needed just as much support. But as years go by, I think that was for him the best therapy he could have had. Even so that was the longest deployment of our lives. It was 18 months all together and in some sense way too long."

"I wouldn't be where I am without her," Brian Flom shared about his wife. "It's always interesting to me that the military often refers to our family members as dependents. I've always said that it was really me, that service member, that was dependent on her. It's a lot, it's not lost on me what I've asked of her to do to kind of hold down the home front while I just leave it all behind and I go off overseas and that's been the same in transition as well."

Brian Flom retired from the military after 32 years of service and credits his wife with helping him find a way to deal with his PTS while he made the transition to civilian life.

"She says, you always enjoyed mountain biking, why don't you try that," he recalled. "I felt like something came back to me just being on bikes, gave me that feeling of freedom and camaraderie that went with that and that ultimately led me to having this opportunity with President Bush to ride mountain bikes with him."

That meeting with President Bush led Brian Flom to be one of the veterans featured in the "Portraits of Courage," and inspired him to share his story more widely with others. He wants to make it clear that when it comes to PTS, it's what he has and not who he is.

"It's another opportunity to tell that story and make that connection with somebody else or maybe that sparks something with them and they're dealing with their own demons, right, as it pertains to post traumatic stress and I can kind of help walk them through that and point them in the right direction," he said. "So, not only does it help me, but it allows me to, you know, help others."

The Portraits of Courage are on display at the American Adventure Pavilion in Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort through Summer of 2026.

Watch the full special Our America: Portraits of Courage streaming now on Hulu.

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