From combat to charges, PTSD veteran faces judge

Still fighting: After combatting insurgents in Iraq, veteran struggles with stress disorder, alcoholism
By MARK KEIERLEBER
IDS
OCT. 2, 2011

Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran Anthony Ray Halliday stood at the front of the courtroom with a straight back.

His black suit and light blue Oxford shirt were clean and wrinkle-free. His shaved head towered above his attorney, who stood to his right.

Halliday, 41, pleaded guilty in the Monroe County Circuit Court on Sept. 27 before
Judge Marc R. Kellams for driving while under the influence of alcohol on two separate
accounts.

Halliday was almost motionless, occasionally rocking forward onto the toes of his polished black dress shoes.

Halliday joined the Army in May 2003 at the age of 32. In 2007 and 2008, he served in Iraq as a sergeant of the Military Police Unit. While in Iraq, Halliday watched as fellow soldiers were killed around him. His time in combat was traumatic and life-altering, he said.

“I was a very good soldier, and I was coded to be a very good soldier,” Halliday said.

After returning from combat to the United States, Halliday said he suffered from several medical problems, including a hernia and tinnitus.

But he also suffered mentally.

After a visit to the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Indianapolis, Halliday was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in late 2009, nearly a year after he returned from Iraq.
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