South Miami-Dade Cultural Center Brings Veterans’ Experiences Home

‘Basetrack Live’ at South Miami-Dade Cultural Center brings veterans’ experiences back home
Miami Herald
Jordan Levin
03/14/2015

Younger veterans, who join in their late teens before they have really grown up, are often most lost when they return to civilian life. But service members of all ages feel alienated, not just from a society that touts them as heroes but in many ways seems oblivious to them, but even to their families — who endure their own trauma. The result is high rates of alcoholism, homelessness, domestic violence and suicide — effects that can last for years. Many of the 22 veterans who commit suicide every day fought in Vietnam.

Anthony Torres was not on the front lines when he was sent to work at Abu Ghraib Hospital in Iraq in 2004, during the second U.S. assault on anti-U.S. insurgents down the road in Fallujah. In the aftermath of the killing and mutilation of four U.S. contractors and the discovery of torture at Abu Ghraib prison, the Iraq War was at its horrifying height. As a mental health technician, Torres’ job was to counsel Marines and soldiers struggling with fear, depression, rage and mental trauma.

But with nearby explosions rattling the sky every day, random death raining in on the camp in the form of mortars and stray fire (which killed a fellow medic as he stepped out of a trailer), the flow of wounded men, and the agonized stories he heard, Torres dealt with his own share of stress.

“Everyone deployed to Iraq is in combat,” says Torres, 33. “Any day you could be killed. But at some point you just have to give in. It can drive you crazy. Some people had panic attacks. I decided I’m just gonna keep doing my job.”

When he returned to his unit at Fort Hood, Texas, Torres was put in charge of 14 people at a substance abuse clinic. But even among fellow military, he felt out of place.
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