Making peace: Profile of Army, Marine Corps veteran

Making peace: Profile of Army, Marine Corps veteran Chris Chatwin
Steamboat Today
By Joel Reichenberger
September 1, 2013

Steamboat Springs — Chris Chatwin thought he knew the price he had paid for the nine years he spent in war zones, the six tours to Iraq and Afghanistan he took with the U.S. military and the two years he spent serving as a security contractor.

He was in three improvised explosive device explosions. He was shot twice. Post-traumatic stress disorder set in early in his career and never has gone away.

PTSD terrorizes him, forcing him to wince at the thought of Fourth of July fireworks, to plot an exit out of every building he enters and, at times, to slow down to 30 mph on the interstate while he surveys the roadside for bombs.

When he was diagnosed last year with a rare infectious disease contracted during his military stint, it took from him the one thing he thought he’d escaped with: his physical health.

“That was the hardest part,” he said. “I survived all these deployments and to come back and get this disease ... I took it really hard. I almost went as far as ending myself. Through the grace of God, I didn’t.”
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