CULLMAN, Ala. – Rock the South is an exhilarating event for most who attend, an electrifying two days of basking in the best of country music with tens of thousands of fans who feel the same way. However, for those who spent endless days and nights living in war zones, the mere thought of battling the throngs of exuberant people, the very same citizens they fought to protect, is overwhelming and unbearable.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects the human body on a visceral level. Years and decades after trauma occurs, the body cannot differentiate between a real or imagined threat. A mass of benign concertgoers with no ill will toward a person can easily be translated as a threat by the body. The rational brain can understand there is no threat; however, when the hippocampus and amygdala are triggered, deciphering between a legitimate threat and a perceived threat is difficult if not impossible at times.
As a result, many of our local heroes, our combat veterans, have chosen to forego Rock the South in order to avoid possible PTSD triggers.
That is, until recently.
The veterans tent along sponsor row at this year’s festival provided a safe space for referred combat veterans to attend the event while being in an area separate from the crowds in general admission and VIP. The all-American real-life superheroes had the opportunity to enjoy the various performers surrounded by understanding comrades and their guests.
Clyde Johnson, a veteran who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, attended RTS on Friday with his wife, Sabrina, who was elated to see longtime favorite and Fort Payne’s own Alabama. On Saturday, while his wife was working, Johnson brought along his 13-year-old daughter Tiffany, who experienced her first concert with more than 70,000 other country music fans. While Johnson appreciated the musical acts, he said the time spent with two of his favorite girls was the highlight of the experience.
“Spending time with my wife and my daughter was the best. To see my daughter’s face light up like that, I’d give anything to see that again,” shared Johnson.
Tiffany Johnson, a student at Danville Middle School, relished the opportunity to walk to the front of sponsor row to see the stage up close. The aspiring writer was taken to command central for a lesson about on-the-spot reporting at major events where she learned about uploading photographs and stories on location as opposed to in an office setting.
Another veteran shared that while he and his wife had always wanted to attend the festival, the crowd had always kept them away. This year, the happy couple watched Alabama from the fence line with their eyes twinkling and feet tapping to the rhythm of “Mountain Music” and “Dixieland Delight.” The vet said the weekend meant the world to him and his wife.
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