Toughest battles are fought after war

Toughest battles are fought after war
By HOWARD ALTMAN | The Tampa Tribune
Published: December 16, 2011

Fournier family photo
The Fourniers are among many military families struggling with the physical, emotional and financial fallout of the Iraq war.

TAMPA --
Just hours after the pomp and circumstance of a Baghdad ceremony marked the official end of the war, Ryan Fournier sits on a black chair in the barely furnished living room of a small Tampa apartment, in constant pain from injuries — physical and mental — he suffered in Iraq.

For Fournier and Nicole, his wife of nine years who stuck with him through basic training, two tours of duty and constant training in between, the war rages on.

Spc. Fournier, a few weeks shy of 30, suffered a debilitating back injury in the summer of 2007 when his Humvee hit an improvised explosive device. Years later, after Nicole marched him to the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, he learned he also suffered traumatic brain injury in that attack.

His memory is faulty; he suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and has a dangerously violent temper and thoughts of suicide.

"He'll be fighting this war until the day he dies," says Nicole. "Every day is a struggle."

Nicole Fournier also is fighting.

As her husband talks about his experiences in Iraq, she chases the couple's 2-year-old son Rylee, who is running around, shrieking.

Rylee is autistic and has sensory processing disorder. The couple's oldest child, Ally, 9, has a host of emotional, developmental and mood disorders that often result in violent or disruptive behavior.

With her husband gone so often, the brunt of dealing with two demanding children has fallen on her shoulders. Because of the injuries her husband suffered in Iraq, she has to take care of him too.

"I do everything for him but bathe him," she says. "I hate to say this, but there are times when I have to talk to him like a child because of his memory."
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