After two tours in Iraq, one solider leans on his family for support

Sgt. Ryan Kahlor is lucky. I know that sounds strange but he is. He has his family to help him heal and stand by him. Too many have no one. Most of them are, or should I say were, Vietnam veterans. When they came home, few knew what PTSD, even though most WWII families were dealing with it. They just didn't know what it was. I've posted many stories of homeless Vietnam veterans. Most don't understand that PTSD is the cause in the majority of the homeless ending up with no family to help them. Too many still don't know what PTSD is. Without that knowledge, families fall apart and wounded veterans are left alone, untreated and suffering. The good news is that there are a lot more families like the Kahlor's but the bad news is that two thirds of the American public still have no clue and no tools to cope.

After two tours in Iraq, one solider leans on his family for support
Sun-Sentinel.com - Fort Lauderdale,FL,USA
As Tim and Laura Kahlor help their son recover from a war they had supported, they are on a journey through 'secondary PTSD'
By David Zucchino | Los Angeles Times
January 25, 2009
Temecula, Calif. - When Army Sgt. Ryan Kahlor returned from two combat tours in Iraq last year, he was a walking billboard for virtually every affliction suffered by today's veterans. He had a detached retina, a ruptured disc, vertigo, headaches, memory lapses and numbness in his arms. Fluid seeped from his ears.

He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. He was violent and suicidal. He carried a loaded handgun everywhere. He drank until he passed out. He cut himself. He burned his skin with cigarettes. He bit through his tongue just to watch himself bleed.

Ryan, 24, admits he came back not caring about anyone — the military, his friends, his family or himself. But pushed hard by his parents, he slowly accepted and then embraced counseling and treatment. Today, he has begun to recover.
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