SPECTRUM NEWS VIDEO: Patrick Welch, a Vietnam veteran in the Marine Corps, was wounded in the battlefield.

Events that transpired before and during the war exasperated Welch's PTSD, which impacted his life.

“It affected my relationships with my family, to this day my family has no idea what I did and what I saw in Vietnam. They know I was in the Marine Corps, they know I went to Vietnam, that I was wounded, but I don’t share those things with my family," Welch said. "In fact, most of us don’t share a lot of things because war is a dirty, rotten, nasty business.”

Now the 72-year-old veteran spends his time helping other veterans talk about their mental health.

“People see things and some people do some things in war that are not in the norm of daily living," he said. "It’s something that you inwardly struggle with until you can find someone that you can release that inward problem."