Iraq veteran relays the trauma, tragedy of war

Iraq veteran relays the trauma, tragedy of war
Christopher Baker
Issue date: 10/7/08 Section: Campus News
The Brown Daily Herald - Providence,RI,USA

Tuesday night, Iraq War veteran Kristofer Goldsmith tried to describe what a dead human body smells like to a wide-eyed audience of more than 50 students, professors and community members.

"I can tell you that it doesn't smell like a raccoon that got run over a week ago. It doesn't smell like road kill. There is a very, very distinct smell to a dead human."

He said he experiences this smell every time he sees gore in a movie like "Saw."

"The smell isn't just your nose. You can taste it. You can taste the iron of the blood floating in the air," he said.

Goldsmith, 23, came to Brown as a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, a group that advocates for veterans' rights and the end of U.S. involvement in the war in Iraq, to speak about his traumatic experience serving in the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry between 2005 and 2007. The talk was sponsored by anti-war group Operation Iraqi Freedom, Students for a Democratic Society, Brown Democrats, Rhode Island Mobilization Committee, Active Minds and Brown American Civil Liberties Union. It took place in MacMillan 115.

Goldsmith, a Long Island native, joined the army when he was 18 in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. He was first deployed to Iraq in January 2005. By the time he returned to the United States in December 2006, he had developed post-traumatic stress disorder and severe alcoholism.

"I didn't feel human anymore," Goldsmith said.

His contract, which was set to expire in May 2007, was extended indefinitely as part of the troop surge announced by President Bush in January 2007. On Memorial Day of that year, the day his infantry was set to redeploy to Iraq, he attempted suicide.
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