Tuesday, January 3, 2012

War’s Inner Wounds Are Impossible To See

Matthew Pennington, who served two tours in Iraq, has post-traumatic stress disorder. Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Acting Out War’s Inner Wounds -- New York Times

DEXTER, Me. — The roadside bomb that separated Sgt. Matthew Pennington from his left leg in 2006 also shattered his right leg and scorched his lungs. Those injuries he understood. But then came the ones he did not, the ones inside his head.

In the months after checking out of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, he found himself easily frustrated and, his wife said, perpetually angry. Envisioning threats in grocery stores and shopping malls, he stopped leaving his house and started drinking heavily. His marriage was near collapse when, in a fit of alcohol-fueled despair, he drove his car into a brick wall, emerging so dazed that he thought he was back in Iraq.

Read more ....

My Comment: A moving story of recovery .... step by step.

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