The war in Iraq claimed another victim today, thousands of miles from the battlefront and years after returning to the United States. Our local paper had all the sad details.
Follow me to the other side for some details
"An Army medic whose image made the nation’s front pages in the early days of the war in Iraq died in Pinehurst Saturday.
Joseph Patrick Dwyer, 31, died of an apparent overdose in an ambulance on the way to the hospital .... Police believe Dwyer accidentally overdosed on inhalants and pills."
When this war started, whatever one felt about it, our small community was proud of Patrick – an Army Medic who joined up right after 9/11 – for what he, as a medic was able to do in Iraq. And when we heard that he had returned safely, we all breathed a sigh of relief – one that was regretfully premature. Because Patrick, like so many of our soldiers came back with more than a medal – he came back with memories, and he came back with PTSD.
"Dwyer’s wife, Matina, said he had sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. ‘He was a very good and caring person,’ she said. ‘He signed up to fight for his country. He was originally from New York. When he saw what happened with the towers (in the 9/11 terrorist attackes), he felt like it was something he had to do.’"
But according to Matina:
"He was just never the same when he came back, because of all the things he saw. ... He tried to seek treatment, but it didn’t work."
Snip
She said that she hoped that her husband’s death would bring more attention to post-traumatic stress disorder. There should be more avenues and resources to help soldiers, especially in this area, she said. It’s not just the soldiers who suffer, she said – it’s their families too.
Our local paper, The Pilot has the full story. Please go and read it.
Matina summed it up:
"We know that Joseph is at peace now ... he doesn’t have to deal with the awful pictures he would see in his mind."
I suppose I could go on about the evils of war, but we have seen those diaries hundreds of times. Or I could talk about PTSD and our government's failure to adequately address this scourge of our troops. But folks who are better writers than me have expounded on that theme more than once.
But all I feel able to do tonight is to put one more human face on this tragedy. And mourn the loss of one more of many sons, husbands, fathers, mothers, wives and daughters that humanity has lost.