Yolanda Poullard

Yolanda Poullard went right into the Army after finishing college on an ROTC scholarship. She was proud to serve and worked hard to achieve her goal of becoming a company commander. Shortly after reaching that goal, 9/11 happened and the peacetime military she knew was forever changed.

“The only thing that triggered in my mind was that we were going to war,” Ms. Poullard said.

As company commander for the third infantry division, she deployed to Iraq in command of more than 250 soldiers. She remembers one of the first scenes she saw upon arriving. An infantry unit from Fort Sioux had launched an assault to clear the area. “I can remember that today,” she said. “I can still see it and smell it. It was just awful.”

Despite long, hot days, constant danger, and the stress of everything she’d seen, Ms. Poullard talked about the positive. “To me, what was enjoyable was being able to deploy with 264 soldiers and bring them all back home to their families.”

Her second deployment in Afghanistan was different. A suicide bomber blew up a school where her unit was delivering supplies. This time, not all of her fellow soldiers survived. By the time Ms. Poullard returned home to the states, survivors guilt and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had begun to change her.

“I did have a few medical problems, but PTSD overtook me,” Ms. Poullard said. “It kept haunting me. It consumed my life — the guilt of not being there. I couldn’t function. All I would do was sleep or sit in a chair.”

Then Ms. Poullard learned about the Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) Warrior Care Network™ program and reached out for help. She credits that one phone call with helping her get her life back.

While other types of counseling had made Ms. Poullard feel better during sessions, she felt lost and unable to cope when she was at home. She feels Warrior Care Network was the difference she needed to finally make real, life-changing progress. “They give you a bag of tools and skills that you can take and apply at home and in your new life,” she said.

Ms. Poullard recently earned her doctorate in Organizational Leadership and plans to start a community program to help underprivileged kids and adults suffering with PTSD and substance abuse problems. “We’re all in this together,” Ms. Poullard said. “Let’s help one another through it. We can make it out of this dark tunnel together.”