About the soldiers and veterans
The soldiers give their accounts of being in the U.S. military and stationed in Iraq. They focus on their experiences before, there, and the dealings afterwards. Before stationed, they joined the military forces and went through basic training. In basic training they mention such concepts as desensitization and depersonalization. The accounts given for the experiences in Iraq consist of the injuries to their physical bodies and to their own mentality. After they were discharged, they have to face and adapt back to the world they lived in before being stationed. Many mention the idea of post traumatic stress disorder, while also the adaptations made to their injuries; such as an amputated limb.
The accounts
Robert Acosta is a specialist in the U.S. Army and felt his time in the army saved him from facing time in prison. He lost his right hand and part of his right foot in Iraq in a grenade explosion.
Charles Anderson served in the U.S. Navy from 1996-2005, serving time in Iraq in 2003. When discharged he was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. Upon his return from the war, Anderson became actively involved in the anti-war effort and publicly supported increased government-provided care for veterans returning from Iraq.
Aidan Delgado was a specialist in the U.S. Army Reserve. Delgado served in Iraq in 2003 and was discharged in 2005. After finishing his service in Iraq, he became active in an anti-war program where he spoke publicly about what he felt to be the truth about Iraq. He also became a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.
Kelly Doughtery served as a medic and military policewoman in the U.S. Army National Guard. Kelly spent a year in Iraq from 2003-2004. After returning home, she became the co-founder and Southwest Coordinator for Iraq Veterans Against the War. She also gave worldwide speeches expressing her views on the war.
Jim Driscoll helped found Vets4Vets, an organization which provides peer support for veterans.
Sean Huze served as a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served in Iraq in 2003. Upon his discharge, he was awarded a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Certificate of Commendation, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Presidential Unit Citation, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon. After his return he became involved in theatre and used dramatic art and expression to address the issue of posttraumatic stress disorder. He founded and is currently the artistic director for The VetStage Foundation, a non-profit theatre company for veterans.
Denver Jones was a U.S. Army sergeant. After serving in Desert Storm, he re-enlisted initially in the Army Reserve/NG (with the rank of PFC) to serve in Iraq after the attacks on 9/11. Denver lost his previous rank, due to prior service rules at the time. During his service he was involved in a PLS accident, which shattered his lower spine and caused a head injury, severe enough to bust two molars and cause brain damage. These injuries resulted in loss of use of his bladder and bowels, as well as the use of his Legs. The accident left him completely disabled. Jones suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder after his return from Iraq. Jones also has other disabilities as well and was divorced due to his injuries.
Joyce and Kevin Lucey became involved in the anti-war effort after their son (Jeffery Lucey – a 23-year-old veteran of the Iraq war) committed suicide. Jefferey had spent five months in Iraq in 2003, and fought in the Battle of Nasiriyah. He suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder after the war.
Camilo Mejía is a sergeant in the U.S. Army National Guard and fought in Iraq for a period of six months. After his return to America, he began to speak publicly about his experiences and disagreement with the War in Iraq.
Demond Mullins enlisted in the U.S. Army National Guard and served five years. He was deployed to Iraq for one year in 2004. After his return he joined Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Perry O'Brien was discharged as a conscientious objector (CO) after spending eight months in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne. He later founded Peace-Out, a website offering assistance to soldiers wishing to obtain CO status. He also became a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace.
Paul Rieckhoff served as a platoon leader in Iraq. After returning home, he joined the anti-war effort by trying to spread word of what he felt are the true conditions soldiers in Iraq face. He is the creator of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
Stephen L. Robinson is a former Airborne Ranger and instructor at Ranger School. From September 2001 to January 2006, he served as Executive Director of the National Gulf War Resource Center. Robinson has been recognized as an expert on chemical and biological weapons and on Gulf War Illness. He served in the Gulf War, and also on the Veterans Affairs Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses, and also as a Special Advisor for Vietnam Veterans of America. Robinson also became involved as the Government Relations Director for Veterans of America.
A Vietnam veteran is an individual who performed active military, naval, or air service in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a person's life or well-being. Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress to trauma-related cues, attempts to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in the way a person thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response. These symptoms last for more than a month after the event. Young children are less likely to show distress, but instead may express their memories through play. A person with PTSD is at a higher risk of suicide and intentional self-harm.
Ronald Lawrence Kovic is an American anti-war activist, author, and United States Marine Corps sergeant who was wounded and paralyzed in the Vietnam War. His 1976 memoir Born on the Fourth of July was made into the film of the same name which starred actor Tom Cruise as Kovic, and was co-written by Kovic and directed by Oliver Stone.
A veteran is a person who has significant experience and expertise in an occupation or field.
Camilo Ernesto Mejía is a Nicaraguan who left the United States Army during the Iraq War on conscientious objector grounds, was convicted of desertion and went on to become an anti-war activist. He is also the son of Carlos Mejia Godoy, Nicaragua songwriter.
Combat stress reaction (CSR) is acute behavioral disorganization as a direct result of the trauma of war. Also known as "combat fatigue", "battle fatigue", or "battle neurosis", it has some overlap with the diagnosis of acute stress reaction used in civilian psychiatry. It is historically linked to shell shock and can sometimes precurse post-traumatic stress disorder.
Stan Goff is an American anti-war activist, writer, and blogger. Prior to his activism Goff had a long career in the U.S. armed forces, serving in the United States Army from 1970 to 1996 with two breaks in service. After retiring from the military he became a political activist, adopting anti-imperialist, feminist, and socialist/Marxist views, and is now a Christian. He is an active blogger and is the author of several books, including Hideous Dream (2000), Full-Spectrum Disorder: The Military in the New American Century (2004), Energy War (2006), Sex & War (2006), Borderline - Reflections on War, Sex, and Church (2015), "Mammon's Ecology - Metaphysic of the Empty Sign" (2018), and "Tough Gynes - Violent Women in Film as Honorary Men" (2019). He has also been a contributor to CounterPunch and Huffington Post.
Colby Buzzell is an American author, blogger and former United States Army soldier.
Peter William Chiarelli is a retired United States Army general who served as the 32nd Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army from August 4, 2008 to January 31, 2012. He also served as commander, Multi-National Corps – Iraq under General George W. Casey, Jr. He was the Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense from March 2007 to August 2008. He retired from the United States Army on January 31, 2012 after nearly 40 years of service, and was succeeded as Vice Chief of Staff by General Lloyd J. Austin III.
Raymond Monsour Scurfield is an American professor emeritus of social work, The University of Southern Mississippi, Gulf Coast. He retired in November, 2021 from private practice. He has continued as the external clinical consultant to the Biloxi VA Vet Center since 2011. He has been recognized for his expertise in war-related and natural disaster Psychological trauma and in meditation. He has published books and articles exploring the effects of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in both combat veterans and disaster survivors, including a trilogy of books about war’s impact. The trilogy’s third installment, War Trauma: Lessons Unlearned from Vietnam to Iraq, was published in October 2006. His three newest books are Scurfield, R.M. & Platoni, K.T. (Eds.). War Trauma & Its Wake. Expanding the Circle of Healing. New York & London: Routledge (2012); Scurfield, R.M. & Platoni, K.T. (Eds).Healing War Trauma. A Handbook of Creative Approaches. New York & London (2013); and Faith-Based and Secular Meditation: Everyday and Posttraumatic Applications. Washington, D.C.: NASW Press (2019)(see review on Amazon.com books).
Jonathan Shay is an American doctor and clinical psychiatrist. He holds a B.A. from Harvard (1963), and an M.D. (1971) and a Ph.D. (1972) from the University of Pennsylvania. He is best known for his publications comparing the experiences of Vietnam veterans with the descriptions of war and homecoming in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
Combat Stress is a registered charity in the United Kingdom offering therapeutic and clinical community and residential treatment to former members of the British Armed Forces who are suffering from a range of mental health conditions; including post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Combat Stress makes available treatment for all Veterans who are suffering with mental illness free of charge.
Gulf War syndrome (GWS) also known as Gulf War Illness or Chronic Multi-symptom Illness, is a chronic and multi-symptomatic disorder affecting military veterans of both sides of the Gulf War (1990–1991). A wide range of acute and chronic symptoms have been linked to it, including fatigue, muscle pain, cognitive problems, insomnia, rashes and diarrhea. Approximately 250,000 of the 697,000 U.S. veterans who served in the Gulf War have enduring chronic multi-symptom illness, a condition with serious consequences. From 1995 to 2005, the health of combat veterans worsened in comparison with nondeployed veterans, with the onset of more new chronic diseases, functional impairment, repeated clinic visits and hospitalizations, Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome-like illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, and greater persistence of adverse health incidents.
Ryan Allen Conklin is a former Sergeant in the United States Army, known as a cast member on the MTV reality television series, The Real World: Brooklyn, and star of The Real World Presents: Return to Duty, a 2009 documentary that chronicled his second tour of duty serving as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and author of the Iraq War memoir, An Angel From Hell.
Michael D. Prysner is an American socialist political activist. He is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq as a specialist. His duties in Iraq included ground surveillance, home raids, and interrogation of prisoners. According to Prysner, these experiences led him to take an anti-war stance.
Georg-Andreas "Andrew" Pogany is a former United States Army Staff Sergeant and a posttraumatic stress disorder diagnosis advocate. In April 2005 Pogany was honorably discharged for medical reasons related to PTSD. However, less than two years earlier, on October 14, 2003, Pogany's separation status and reputation was in serious jeopardy as he became the first American soldier since the Vietnam War to be charged with cowardice.
Daniel Somers was an American soldier who committed suicide in 2013. He had been suffering from various health problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and left a suicide note that was later published on Gawker, after which it went viral.
Camillo Mac Bica is an American philosopher, poet, activist, and author.
Luis Carlos Montalvan was an American soldier and author. He was born in Washington, DC and grew up in Potomac, MD, received a BA from the University of Maryland and a Master's in Journalism from Columbia University. He served two tours of duty in Iraq and was an advocate for the use of service dogs. He also raised awareness about PTSD and its impact on veterans. He was also known for his New York Times Bestselling memoir, Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him, co-written with author, Bret Witter, in 2011. Tuesday, Luis's service dog and the subject of the eponymous book, died in September 2019.
Joan A. Furey is a United States Army nurse veteran. She began her military service in 1968 when she joined the Army Nurse Corps. Her patriotism influenced her volunteered deployment to Vietnam in 1969 where she served as a second lieutenant and eventually earned the Bronze Star. Her dedicated service continued when she returned home as Furey focused on aiding other returning Vietnam veterans. Her post-war accomplishments include earning her master's degree in nursing from New York University in 1975, pioneering studies in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through her service in the Department of Veteran Affairs, and her service as the Director of Center for Women Veterans.
