The War after the War
Nov 1st, 2006 at 8:36 am by Susie
The Boston Globe’s been running a good series about three squad mates in Iraq, the death of one, and the effect on their lives after the war:
Dan, slender and soft-spoken, said the support group has become his family, as he struggled against the urge to isolate himself. One group member, he said, had told him: “If you keep going this way all you’re going to do is wind up in a hole with dirt on top of you.”
“I believe that,” he said.
James, bearded and burly, threw down his cap and glasses, and said an ongoing child custody dispute had pushed him to the brink. “I was going to blow my [expletive] head off and I couldn’t do it,” he said.
Jack, in a tan work shirt with his name stenciled in blue over one pocket, sobbed uncontrollably, recounting a recent phone call from the mother of a service comrade who asked for details about how her son was killed.
“I didn’t know what to talk about, but she had the right to know,” said Jack, who had tried to save the man’s life on an Iraqi battlefield. “If I didn’t open up, I’m afraid of what tomorrow might hold. I let these things eat at me.”
And then Will Thiery, a Gulf War veteran who co-founded the support group seven years ago, explained why he had been uncharacteristically absent the week before.
Lying in bed a few days ago, Thiery said, he pulled out his pistol and pointed it at his head. The ex-Marine said he survived only because the gun malfunctioned.
