PTSD: "Part of him died"

Reminder: A part of them does die in combat. The good news is, a "new" part and replace that part and they can heal. PTSD is a change within them. They can change again.

'Part of him died,' family says of returned veteran
The News Journal
William H. McMichael
June 22, 2014

Last in a series about issues veterans face after returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Visit our Returning Home page for prior stories, videos and a graphic about PTSD.

The photograph over the fireplace is the very picture of a loving, happy family. Seated together on the floor, close enough to be touching, father Kevin Conley, mother Tina and children Dylan and Brynn exude a natural warmth that seems entirely unforced.

The picture was taken before Kevin, 43 and a now-retired major in the Delaware Army National Guard, left to spend a year away from home on deployment, most of it in a remote corner of Afghanistan with a team configured to help local officials build a viable community after years of war.

That was in 2010. When Conley returned home to Middletown, Delaware, he brought with him a mind and body wracked with injury and anguish. Nine surgeries for those injuries have dotted his three-year struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, or TBI. The middle-of-the-night outbursts, the getting lost while driving and the need to lean on others to remember everyday chores have taken a toll on his family.

And now, all await the repercussions of a late-night run in with the law at a neighborhood bar-and-grill.

"She's been through the wringer," Kevin says of Tina.

"It's horrible," Tina says. "It's been horrible."

Nine years of war in Iraq and more than 12 in Afghanistan have left an indelible mark on the psyche of those who served, and those who love them. So far, 6,819 have died and 52,044 have been wounded.

Largely unseen are those who came home with PTSD, the war's signature injury. The Department of Veterans Affairs says between 11 percent and 20 percent of the 2.6 million who served in both wars have PTSD. A Stanford University study said it could be as high as 35 percent — or as many as 910,000 men and women. And since 2000, more than 287,000 service members have been diagnosed with TBI, according to the Pentagon.
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Kevin Conley is a just-retired major in the Delaware Army National Guard who is 100 percent disabled after his 2010 stint in Afghanistan. He suffers from PTSD and TBI, and the combination has sometimes had a devastating impact on his family life. Delaware Online video