Participants Participants were to be chosen from a sample of veterans who have or have used a substance as part of their deployment. The timing of their deployment was not important. Although a diagnosis was not a requirement to participate in this study, all participants were diagnosed with PTSD. The objective was to interview 5 former deployed soldiers. Recruitment Procedures Because the nature of this study is exploratory and therefore they are not representative of the population as a whole and veterans can be described as a "hidden population" as contact and trust can be difficult as well as difficult to locate. I therefore used in most cases snowball or chain sampling (Goodman 1961: 148-170, Bryman 2012: 201-203,424-428) where participants recruited future participants among their acquaintances. Yet participants were not found in close relationships, but knew others who shared characteristics that made them eligible for inclusion in the study (Morgan 2008:816-817). Since the first participant can have a large impact on the sample, I did some I was fortunate to know veterans who had used drugs and I had an extensive network and knowledge of others veterans who had used drugs. These veterans gave generously of their time and resources. Not only did they participate themselves, but they also recommended me and built trust among other veterans. I established personal contact, explained to them the purpose of the study, exchanged telephone numbers and thanked them for agreeing to participate, assuring them of confidentiality and the agreed conditions. Those who agreed to participate were listed ...... middle of paper ...... and elements of criminal activity, locations and names were omitted from the original transcription; just like the audio file does not mention the names of the participants. Interview Transcripts After the interview, along with a personal letter thanking each participant, I mailed or delivered in person a copy of the transcript to the participant, asking them to review it in advance. of a telephone discussion regarding accuracy. Verification I called the above contact shortly after to give participants an opportunity to discuss the content and accuracy of the results and to ask if they had anything to add, change, or delete. Participants changed very little in what they said, mainly to leave out quantities of drugs consumed or situations that might identify them. This means that I changed the names of certain places or situations later..