(Marine Corps Times) Backtalk: Haunted by memories, troops don’t always fully return

[unhappycamper]

Haunted by memories, troops don’t always fully return
By E.J. Montini

The following item appeared in a roundup of news briefs published in a recent issue of The Arizona Republic: “SCOTTSDALE: Police identified Michael Murray, 22, of Scottsdale, as the motorcyclist who died after crashing his 2008 Honda into a pole near the 4300 block of Hayden Road.”

The report does not mention that Murray, a former member of 3rd Marine Division and a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq, was a casualty of war.

“A lot of these kids come back from the war and they have such burdens in their hearts, like Michael did, that they can’t quite re-adjust,” said his mother, Silvana Smith.

The director of a local Veterans Affairs Department program aimed at helping returning troops with post-traumatic stress disorder told me that many Iraq war vets have trouble concentrating, difficulty with anger management, survivor guilt and controlling what they know to be reckless impulses. For example, driving a motorcycle too fast.

Michael’s mother said he joined the service out of high school because he was looking for a challenge. During a tour in Afghanistan he pestered her to send candy and over-the-counter medicines for impoverished civilians. But “Iraq was different,” she said. “We found out just recently that he had to put one of his best friends in a body bag.”


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/community/opinion/marine_backtalk_haunted_122908/%2e