SHARE's Supportive Community

Brian Buss, 54, has a new mantra.

“I'm doing the best that I can today, and that's good enough.”

After 23 years as an active-duty military member, including service in the special forces, and more than a decade as a government contractor, Brian decided recently that it was time to retire. He also realized that he could no longer ignore the injuries he had sustained during his service and the mental health challenges he was facing.

“I was having a lot of signs and symptoms of TBI [traumatic brain injury] and PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. And I'll freely admit this now, I was in denial. And I was hiding it. And the way I was hiding it was by continuing to work overseas. But, you know, hindsight is 20/20, and now I know that all of that stuff is cumulative. … My wife and I, we were not getting along. I didn't realize how bad I was … I would get mad at things, but I could never let it go.”

He was also dealing with vision problems, balance issues, and headaches. Still, he says that, whatever his physical symptoms, he had learned to compensate and that many special forces members do the same, making it harder to get help. The phenomenon is called “operator syndrome,” Brian learned during his time at Shepherd Center’s SHARE Military Initiative.

“We go to a provider for help, and they do the standard tests on us. We pass their standard tests with flying colors, and they don’t know what to do with us … They say there's nothing wrong with you, and we go home thinking, ‘What is wrong with me?’ So, it's really frustrating. And that leads to depression because you know something’s wrong with you, and you don’t know what. And that leads to anger because that's how you release your emotion,” he explains. “You don't want to bring that home. And I was slowly bringing it home. A little bit of baggage would get left off every time I'd come home from a trip until there was so much baggage, the room was overflowing.”

Brian heard about SHARE, which serves military veterans, service members, and first responders with traumatic brain injuries and mental health concerns, through friends who had been clients at SHARE.

“I’m like, ‘Hey, let me give it a shot.’ And the biggest thing that turned me on was it’s outpatient, but you're staying right there, right? So, you don't have distractions. You can just concentrate on healing. But you're not locked in, either. I loved it. I mean, the model for their program is amazing.”

So, in 2025, Brian came to SHARE for three months. He worked with a psychologist to address his PTSD and found that those sessions offered a “huge release.” He participated in occupational, physical, speech, and recreation therapy, working with his therapists to improve his balance, manage his headaches, and improve his communication with his family.

“My relationship with my wife has probably never been better,” Brian says. “We learned how to speak with each other. I mean, my hat's off to Cynthia [Zmroczek] in speech, because she really was the one that helped us. She taught us how to speak to each other, if that makes sense. But here's the deal: both parties need to be willing to work at it, and I was happy that my wife was willing to work with me.”

Brian also found the group sessions with other SHARE clients especially meaningful.

“It's a small group, but it's still more than a couple of people. And we are all there, really, for the same reasons, and just being humbled. You know what I mean? That was for me, like, ‘Okay, I'm not the only one going through this stuff.’ So that helped out a lot.”

He says physical and occupational therapy, along with medication, helped with his vision, mood, and reduced the frequency and severity of his headaches.

“I woke up one morning, and I didn't have a headache, and I didn't know what to do because that's the first time I woke up without a headache.”

In recreation therapy, he found that clients who had been at SHARE longer than he had been were there to offer empathy, guidance, and support. Music therapy rekindled his love for playing the guitar, something he hadn’t tried since he sustained serious injuries to his left hand, including losing a finger, because of a gunshot wound in Afghanistan. 

“It gave me the confidence to start learning and playing again … And then I also know that playing guitar really helps out with cognitive ability.”

Other clients at SHARE introduced him to trout fishing, a pastime he was initially skeptical about but now truly enjoys. That interest led him to get involved with Project Healing Waters, a national nonprofit that uses fly fishing as a therapeutic intervention for active military members and veterans. There, he’s found another supportive community.

SHARE staff also helped Brian get enrolled at the Veterans Administration, so after returning home to Greeneville, Tennessee, he’s been able to continue therapy, including exposure therapy to help him manage PTSD and more occupational therapy for his vision and balance.

He says he has a long way to go, but he credits SHARE with helping him make great strides.

“I can't say enough about the program overall. I really can’t. It has helped me so much. And my wife and my family.”

And he encourages others, including his sons, who are both active-duty military, to get help if they need it.

“Although I'm not active anymore, I'm still trying to lead by example, by showing them, don't hide your injuries, go get it checked out. Go get fixed early so it doesn't become a lingering issue. That, and always look at your buddies. They might be showing signs and symptoms that they don't even know they've got,” he says. “I'm trying to pay it forward through them as well.”

Written by Ruth Underwood