Life after the battlefield not easy for Iraq veteran Wright

Life after the battlefield not easy for veteran Wright
By GREG WELTER
Staff Writer
Posted:05/21/2012

CHICO — As Nick Wright was pulled through the twists and turns of losing his mother at 15, a failed marriage, war, a severe brain injury and the ravages of post-traumatic stress disorder, he never lost touch with his sense of honor.

Wright joined the Marines at 18, and went on to volunteer for three frontline tours in Iraq.

With three children by his first wife while still in the service, Wright has had two more since getting remarried nearly three years ago. He is a devoted father and has made his family the center of his universe.

Struggling to regain his footing, Wright's moral compass keeps him looking inward for the answers to his emotional problems from PTSD. "I blame no one but myself for what has happened," he says.

Now the decorated combat soldier from Chico is adding his voice to "American Homecomings." The experience is likely to expose the scars he desperately wants to keep from the outside world, but it's one he's willing to endure if it helps other veterans.

Wright, 29, left the battlefield five years ago with a traumatic brain injury and plenty of emotional baggage. Several months later he was back home.
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