Missouri guardsman wrestles with post-traumatic stress disorder

Donnie Hoffman works in the main kitchen of Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital on Nov. 6, 2008. Hoffman is a veteran of the current Iraq war. ¦ ANGIE CIPPONERI/Missourian

Missouri guardsman wrestles with post-traumatic stress disorder
Columbia Missourian - Columbia,MO,USA

BY Jordan Novet

Monday, November 10, 2008 2:11 p.m. CST

COLUMBIA — One Thursday afternoon last month, Donnie Hoffmann was washing dishes in the basement of Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital.

It had already been a long day. But it was nothing like his days in Iraq.

He wasn't stuck in long-sleeve camouflage on a journey aboard a Humvee driving through 145-degree air. Or on a disturbing search-and-recovery mission amid the remains of the bombing of Baghdad's U.N. headquarters. Or coming home to a flooded tent.

No, he was only doing dishes.

The task is one of a number of duties Hoffmann, 26, performs in the local Veteran Affairs' main kitchen eight hours a day, 40 hours a week. His work is part of a VA program called Compensation Work Therapy, which offers veterans a place to sleep, the opportunity to work and the help they need.

And Hoffmann, who enlisted in the Missouri National Guard in 2001 just before graduating from Crocker High School near Iberia, appreciates the help.

Since 2004, when he came back from Iraq — where he volunteered with the 203rd Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy), building, cleaning and traveling in convoys in Baghdad and Najaf — he has been tormented by post-traumatic stress disorder.
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