A combat veteran's struggle of the soul

A combat veteran's struggle of the soul

STEVE LOPEZ

Greg Valentini served in Afghanistan and Iraq, returning home with post-traumatic stress disorder. With the help of Volunteers of America, he's taking classes, trying to stay off drugs and keep on the right path.

Greg Valentini's room in Hollywood is bigger than a jail cell, but not by much. It's a home, though, and better than lockup.

"I'm sick of going to jail," he says, telling me he can't even remember how many times he's been arrested since his second tour with the Army ended in 2004.

Valentini is a tall, bulky man of 33, a die-hard Clippers fan who's fidgety as a kid. While seated on a chair, his feet tap, his weight shifts. It's as if he might run, or as if there's something in him that can't be quieted.

There's a lot of that weightless stirring in the converted church where Valentini lives, a place of recovery for nearly 40 men who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Having survived war, they came home and discovered they couldn't handle peace. Some ended up homeless, others landed in jail, and now they're trying to make sense of their lives in a residential program run by Volunteers of America.
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A combat veteran's struggle of the soul