Tiger football games help veterans ‘just trust the moments’
Veterans attend a Memphis Tigers football game on military appreciation night at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. (Courtesy Patrick Dolly)
Immersing himself back into society after 13 years in the Army wasn’t easy for 42-year-old Christopher Shankle.
Shankle, whose time in the service includes a deployment to Iraq, medically retired because of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) about five months ago.
Shankle shied away from crowds and hardly ever left the house.
“I isolated a lot,” he said.
“It felt like a part of me had been lost when I left active duty. I felt like I couldn’t get along with anybody. It was very hard to transition, so it took quite a while.”
There was a time when Shankle could never see himself at a stadium, surrounded by thousands of people watching a football game.
But there he was last Friday, among an announced crowd of 30,384 at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium on “military appreciation night,” watching Memphis take on Tulane in a 38-32 Tigers loss.
This is an excerpt of this story. To read more, please click here and subscribe.
Topics
Memphis Tigers Football PTSD Subscriber OnlyIt’s GivingTuesday week! Will you join the celebration?
Donate now to help power our free community news access program.You know the value of having unlimited access to The Daily Memphian’s news. When you subscribe, you get full access to our news. But when you donate, you help us reach all Memphians with quality, in-depth local news through
- free access at over 300 schools and libraries
- free podcasts and radio broadcasts
- free newsletters
- and more!
Thank you for keeping up with local news. Thank you for investing in our community.
Frank Bonner II
Frank Bonner is the Memphis Tigers football beat writer. He is originally from Indiana but arrived in Memphis after spending two years in Tulsa, covering Oklahoma State football and basketball. He covered high school sports in Columbus, Indiana for two years before getting his Master’s degree in Sports Journalism at IUPUI. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in journalism from Indiana University.
Comments
Want to comment on our stories or respond to others? Join the conversation by subscribing now. Only paid subscribers can add their thoughts or upvote/downvote comments. Our commenting policy can be viewed here.