Firefighter Learns to Heal with Help from Star Wars
- Robert Perrell
- Oct 18, 2019
- 4 min read
On March 23, 1994, the fate of a young Air Force firefighter was changed forever as he witnessed the aftermath of a mid-air collision that took the lives of 24 military personnel. The effects of that day stayed with him for years and wreaked havoc on his life as symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder developed.
The collision occurred on Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville, N.C. when a F-16 fighter jet collided with a C-130 cargo aircraft. The pilot of the fighter jet safely ejected from the airplane, which then tumbled into the area of the flight line called “Green Ramp”, where paratroopers were waiting to board their own aircraft, a parked C-141.
The debris from the F-16 struck the C-141 and ignited its fuel tanks which burned, maimed and killed the paratroopers as they sat on the ramp. Firefighters from nearby Pope AFB Fire Department quickly arrived on scene and began battling the blaze that had erupted on Green Ramp. One of those firefighters, Charles Sides talked about what he saw that day.
“It was a lot for some people to take in, that was the first time we had seen anything like that, people turned inside out and mutilated,” said Sides
The local paper dubbed it the “Green Ramp Disaster” and in March of this year the base had a memorial to commemorate 25 years since the tragedy.
But Sides has been dealing with his own personal tragedy, the ongoing effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to him, several years after the incident he began having disturbing dreams about dead people, specifically, mangled bodies like he witnessed at the crash.
“I lacked a lot of sleep for a really long time, and I didn’t know what was going on,” said Sides.
To their credit, the Fire Department did conduct what is known as a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing after the incident. The idea behind the briefings are to hopefully catch potential situations like the one Sides found himself in years later, but there was a caveat, the briefing was led by an Air Force Chaplain, and Sides being non-religious, did not feel comfortable talking to him.
“It wasn’t very effective, just something thrown together by a preacher of all people, which I am not comfortable with,” reflected Sides.
Critical Incident Stress Debriefings (CISD) have come a long way in the last 25 years, and fire departments all over the United States have developed much better protocols for these briefings. Chief Norman Becker is the Health and Safety Officer at Joint Base Charleston Fire Department, the organization where Sides is currently employed, and he understands the importance of CISD for first responders.
“Immediately following a traumatic event I like to conduct two discussions, first with the immediate responding crew and second, with the rest of the shift or with as many as possible shortly after…the goal is to reduce and minimize issues for our responders as a post traumatic event could become a post traumatic disorder if gone unnoticed or unchecked,” said Becker.
Several years after the symptoms started, Sides says that he finally realized his problem had gotten worse and began to search for help. He eventually was sent to Raleigh, N.C. where he met with a psychiatrist who fairly quickly diagnosed him as having PTSD symptoms. He receives financial compensation from the government but no other assistance.
“After that, the government gave me a check every month but outside of that there was no help or therapy,” said Sides.
Around the same time, he began creating models from scratch that were based on spacecraft from the popular movie franchise, Star Wars. As he recalls, the process started when he was stationed in Alaska and forced to find something to do inside. He enjoyed making the models, the challenge and creativity involved was always something he craved, but outside of that he felt it was just another hobby. However, later he realized that the more time he devoted to his building models, the fewer dreams he had about the dead bodies.
“What I realized, once I was diagnosed with PTSD, every time I played with the models I would stop dreaming and sleep better,” said Sides.
This realization only fueled Sides’ desire to spend more time with his models, each one more detailed and intricate than the last. Sides even entered the models into contests and won many awards and trophies, which according to him, “are in some box” at his home. Sides was not in it for notoriety or recognition, he was simply using the models as a means of healing.
Sides understands that many first responders, combat veterans and police officers deal with PTSD, and he admits that he got “lucky” that his hobby led to fewer symptoms.
“I think it takes me back to a more innocent time when I was a child, and we were all mesmerized by what we saw on the screen,” said Sides.
While Sides does say that individuals suffering from PTSD should find help wherever they can, he does recognize that many may encounter religious barriers as he did. Whether a person is non-religious, atheist, agnostic or just a free thinker, they may benefit from a more secular form of therapy.
Organizations like the Secular Therapy Project could be beneficial to those seeking help which is not centered in religion. Founded in 2012 by Dr. Darrell Ray, the Secular Therapy Project collects information about secular therapist all over the United States. People interested in non-religious therapy can simply register on the website and then have access to a list of therapists in their area or nearby.
As Sides points out, finding help is one of the biggest steps a person suffering from PTSD can take, and was essential in him finding what works. He mentions that combat veterans “have it really bad” but even being an emergency responder, it is incredibly important to understand your limitations and the damage that traumatic events can have on an individual.
“A lot of emergency responders, police, medical and fire, if you see the worst in humanity for 20 years it’s going to catch up with you, I don’t care who you are,” said Sides.
To seek non-religious help for yourself or someone you know, visit the Secular Therapy Project here. And for more news and information on the Secular Community, please follow on Twitter @SecularShepherd.
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