Looking for success stories from those who have dealt with it, especially on active duty.  What helped you get through it?  Was anyone in your chain of command involved and how did they respond?

Thanks.

While on AD I stayed busy. Being in a maintenance section will do that. On weekends usually we partied and played video games.

I also drank a lot  don't know if it was because of the depression or our work load.

I never came out and told the guys I worked with about my depression I just made it a point to keep busy.

If worse comes to worse go to hear Chaplin it's confidential as long as yer not suicidal.

If you need to talk to someone. Do it because shit like this snowball's and can take over with out you noticing.

It's a problem that you have to own. You also have to get to the root cause and own that bastard too. It might be situational, it might be clinical, it might be a side effect of PTS. Living in denial and trying to convince yourself that those things are "for the weak" is completely fucked and will only make your issues worse.

I was self medicating with alcohol, I was living on the edge trying to get adrenaline fixes to counter the depression. I was fighting with everyone. My previously successful fast-tracking nature eventually broke down entirely, which just made me want to fight everyone more. It wasn't until I got professional help and started dealing with my related issues that I started improving. I also stopped drinking. Eventually I reintroduced alcohol but it's a fraction of what I used to drink.

My chain of command got involved but I was lucky enough to have an experienced command team who realize that this type of shit isn't just some guy being a pussy. They got me situated with a job that would let me take a knee for a year and get to my appointments. Keep in mind 1. It gets worse once you start treatment, 2. If your doc isn't working out request a new one 3. With help it gets better. Much much better. Not like you're tripping rainbows or something, but you feel like you're back to being you again.

Once you make it out from under the weight of depression you'll look back and wish you'd figured it out earlier.

One of the biggest problems with depression is, you very likely don’t know you have it.  Depression screws with your mind, causing you to behave in ways you ordinarily wouldn’t.  You feel that everything is pointless.  Your priorities get messed up.  You waste time and energy (what you have) on the wrong things.
You put things off – after all, what’s the use, anyway – and then blame yourself when you fail.  You try to hide your pain.  No one knows what’s wrong, including you.

Diagnosis is difficult.  If depression isn’t diagnosed and treated, it can build on itself and end in suicide.  
When I was on AD, I was diagnosed and treated successfully.  After that, I spotted the symptoms in two other service members and convinced them to get help.  One recovered.  The other had close family members who told him to “man up” and that he should straighten himself out.  He shot himself.

Currently, I’m on St. John’s Wort which keeps me stable and happy.  It’s pretty worthless against severe depression, but useful against mild to moderate depression.  

Listen to whats been said, I never looked for help when I was AD.  For a long time I didn't know what the fuck was wrong with me, so I ignored it, pushed it to the side.  Thing is, its a patient fucker, it'll start as a bit of depression and progress to anxiety attacks which will really scare the hell out of you.  There are resources, and help for it, take it.  Don't be a hard headed fucker like me and wait 20 years.

This helped me quite a bit:

Art of Manliness - Black dog