Tough Homecoming for a War Hero

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4292.shtml

In combat, Army Spc. Dwayne Turner was a hero. Back home from Iraq, his life has been in shambles.

Just last month, the 101st Airborne Division soldier was honored with the prestigious Silver Star medal for saving at least two lives in combat. Today, he is out of the Army, driving a borrowed car and sleeping at a friend's house.

The smile he beamed at the medal ceremony masked months of problems he says has battled since returning home with battle wounds: a suicide attempt along with flashbacks and nightmares so bad he resorted to binge drinking to fall asleep.

"I kind of felt like I was blowing in the wind pretty much," said Turner, 23, of Indianapolis, who was an Army medic.

He wound up going AWOL for two days and smoking marijuana while drunk. That, he says, resulted in a general discharge from the Army rather than an honorable discharge, and left him ineligible for college funding. The Army also demoted him from specialist to private before his discharge.

Be prepared for the next group of vets who lives have been screwed up by AWOL's war.