Veterans hardest battle should not be back at home

Increasingly, a soldier's biggest fight is off of the battlefield

07:53 AM CDT on Friday, April 11, 2008

By Vicente Arenas / 11 News

“Looking through a scope and watching that individual blink for the last time, knowing that at that point, I am a Christian, but knowing that we played the hand of God at that moment that was tough,” Thomas said of his job as a Marine sniper.

Thomas was a member of an elite unit ready for whatever came its way. Little did he know, his biggest fight would come when the fighting on the battlefield was over.

“Then the nightmares kick in and the isolation,” said Thomas. “You know, I've got a wonderful wife and two great kids, and I want to leave them all and just go be by myself.”

The 33-year-old father of two finds it hard to describe the destruction he saw in his 5 ½ months Iraq. That includes the death of one of his closest friends.

“I watched some of the bravest young men turn into absolute heroes and it hurts,” he said.

Thomas suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. It is getting to be such a big problem, it was the main topic at a meeting of Military Moms and Wives in Lake Jackson on Thursday.

“It hurts,” said Mary Moreno, the founder of the organization and who has a son who also fought in Iraq. “I worry a lot. I don't know how to help, but I have to be his voice.”

The numbers of troops suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from this conflict is staggering. The Army says more than 27 percent of its soldiers who have been to Iraq on multiple missions suffer from the disorder.
click post title for more