Googley-
You are not a whiner. Maybe by minimizing your pain you are masking it, trying to make it seem like it is not there?
I want to validate what happened to you, and let you know that you have every right to feel like you do and to be helped to feel better. As a wise friend (I met here) once told me "Your pain is your pain" - whatever anyone else through can't take away from what YOU went through.

Also, from what I have read about PTSD, something that is traumatic for one person may not be traumatic for another person. It is very individual. I was watching a movie a couple of weeks ago about a plane crash, and some of the survivors were all messed up and couldn't sleep, and some of the survivors were fine, like nothing had happened.
It sounds like what happened to you was very scary, and possibly a situation in which you had no control and feared death.
THAT is traumatic.

Gahhh - sorry to ramble on so long. I guess I can really identify with how you're feeling. Sorry.