thedrifter
07-24-07, 06:00 AM
Beyond the Battle
04:30 PM Mountain Standard Time on Monday, July 23, 2007
By Carey Pena / 3TV reporter
They were on routine patrol, but what happened next was anything but routine. One after another, rocket-propelled grenades slammed in to their Humvees.
"The first came through the windshield, ripped through my ear and blew up in back of my Humvee," said Brent Phillips, a Marine. "I climbed out of my Humvee. I was shot in the arm with an AK-47."
It's a story about the day he and his fellow Marines were ambushed in Iraq.
Phillips lost an eye in the attack.
"My wife and my mom helped me get through that," he said.
Four years later, he's still trying to get through it.
"When he first got back, he was very jumpy (with) cars backfiring, fireworks. He could not deal with Fourth of July," his wife said.
Phillips said he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress.
"On a daily basis I hear the stories of the people," said Lori Highberger, chief of psychiatry at the Veterans Administration Hospital. "I hear all the gory details. I hear the things they don't feel comfortable telling anyone, including their spouse, ever, about their experience."
She said every day they get about a dozen new patients seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder. They are military men and women who are trying to work through the powerful images that replay in their mind -- images of death and destruction.
"There's things that you have to do in active duty that you don't necessarily want to do, but that's service to the country and that's really what makes me proud of the people who come to the VA," Highberger said. "They put their hearts on the line and they put their souls on the line too."
Ilona Meagher, an author and activist, said there needs to be some sort of transition or a bridge to bring soldiers back.
Meagher is a former flight attendant who began blogging about the war and the troops who suffer from post-traumatic stress.
Her blog became so popular she quit her job and wrote a book called "Moving a Nation to Care."
In the book, she shares stories as told to her by the troops.
"They don't understand why it is they've been through this incredible experience," Meagher said. "They've been in Iraq and they come home and we are talking about Anna Nicole Smith and Paris Hilton. They don't understand that they've been through this really powerful experience and we are not engaged in it."
Phillips doesn't wear the uniform anymore and because of his injury, he had to take a medical retirement.
"Every day I miss the Marine Corps. It is something that I loved doing and that I wanted to do for the rest of my life," he said.
What is life like for Phillips and other troops beyond the battlefield trying to overcome painful memories?
Eric Castro, another veteran of Iraq, shares his story.
"I grabbed it and I pulled myself along with the leg on the bench," he said.
The attack was fast and furious. Castro and his fellow soldiers didn't have a chance. They heard a blast and knew they were being ambushed. The insurgents were firing at them with anti-tank weapons, designed to hit armored vehicles and explode.
One titanium rod, shot from a rocket launcher, seared Castro's leg and the legs of two soldiers sitting next to him.
"My prosthetic is attached around the waist and there is no hip joint," Castro said. "I mean there is an artificial hip joint but no left leg. This is all padded."
The last thing he remembers about the ambush is the guys in his squad pressing on his wound to keep him from bleeding to death. When he woke up, the 21-year-old Castro was at Walter Reed Medical Center.
"This is the second time I met the president," he said.
Castro spent six months at the medical center. During that time, his hospital room was rarely quiet. A string of politicians and celebrities came knocking on his door, including Bruce Willis, Shania Twain and Cher. But none of them could erase the painful memories of the ambush and the painful reality of life without his left leg.
"It is difficult, going out to the mall -- anywhere," Castro said. "If you wear shorts, you are going to get looked at. Sometimes they stare without noticing they are staring. They just look and look and I just keep on going."
Castro said he feels like he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder off and on.
"One of our priorities is to get these veterans seen quickly," Highberger said.
She said a lot has changed in recent years. She said now, they aggressively reach out and recruit veterans in need of emotional support.
"You need to have support and understanding of other people who have been in that situation, so you know what it's like to have seen people killed and have to kill," she said.
Perhaps nobody understands this better than veterans who served in Vietnam. Thousands suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, but suffered in silence.
"It used to be if you showed any signs of it, you were weak. I'm sorry if you have it, you have it," said Jeff Esser, who was finally diagnosed with post-traumatic stress.
He doesn't want younger veterans like Castro to suffer the way he did.
"Most of those issues are getting resolved by Vietnam veterans that are going to the hospital and saying, 'Hey, if you need help we are here to help you,'" Esser said.
Castro is now 25 and going to school at Arizona State University. People might stare at him as he walks through campus, but Castro no longer worries about it, he says.
And for those who stop him and ask him what happened, he'll tell them the story.
He'll tell them about the day he was ambushed -- a day that will always be there in his mind.
Ellie
04:30 PM Mountain Standard Time on Monday, July 23, 2007
By Carey Pena / 3TV reporter
They were on routine patrol, but what happened next was anything but routine. One after another, rocket-propelled grenades slammed in to their Humvees.
"The first came through the windshield, ripped through my ear and blew up in back of my Humvee," said Brent Phillips, a Marine. "I climbed out of my Humvee. I was shot in the arm with an AK-47."
It's a story about the day he and his fellow Marines were ambushed in Iraq.
Phillips lost an eye in the attack.
"My wife and my mom helped me get through that," he said.
Four years later, he's still trying to get through it.
"When he first got back, he was very jumpy (with) cars backfiring, fireworks. He could not deal with Fourth of July," his wife said.
Phillips said he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress.
"On a daily basis I hear the stories of the people," said Lori Highberger, chief of psychiatry at the Veterans Administration Hospital. "I hear all the gory details. I hear the things they don't feel comfortable telling anyone, including their spouse, ever, about their experience."
She said every day they get about a dozen new patients seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder. They are military men and women who are trying to work through the powerful images that replay in their mind -- images of death and destruction.
"There's things that you have to do in active duty that you don't necessarily want to do, but that's service to the country and that's really what makes me proud of the people who come to the VA," Highberger said. "They put their hearts on the line and they put their souls on the line too."
Ilona Meagher, an author and activist, said there needs to be some sort of transition or a bridge to bring soldiers back.
Meagher is a former flight attendant who began blogging about the war and the troops who suffer from post-traumatic stress.
Her blog became so popular she quit her job and wrote a book called "Moving a Nation to Care."
In the book, she shares stories as told to her by the troops.
"They don't understand why it is they've been through this incredible experience," Meagher said. "They've been in Iraq and they come home and we are talking about Anna Nicole Smith and Paris Hilton. They don't understand that they've been through this really powerful experience and we are not engaged in it."
Phillips doesn't wear the uniform anymore and because of his injury, he had to take a medical retirement.
"Every day I miss the Marine Corps. It is something that I loved doing and that I wanted to do for the rest of my life," he said.
What is life like for Phillips and other troops beyond the battlefield trying to overcome painful memories?
Eric Castro, another veteran of Iraq, shares his story.
"I grabbed it and I pulled myself along with the leg on the bench," he said.
The attack was fast and furious. Castro and his fellow soldiers didn't have a chance. They heard a blast and knew they were being ambushed. The insurgents were firing at them with anti-tank weapons, designed to hit armored vehicles and explode.
One titanium rod, shot from a rocket launcher, seared Castro's leg and the legs of two soldiers sitting next to him.
"My prosthetic is attached around the waist and there is no hip joint," Castro said. "I mean there is an artificial hip joint but no left leg. This is all padded."
The last thing he remembers about the ambush is the guys in his squad pressing on his wound to keep him from bleeding to death. When he woke up, the 21-year-old Castro was at Walter Reed Medical Center.
"This is the second time I met the president," he said.
Castro spent six months at the medical center. During that time, his hospital room was rarely quiet. A string of politicians and celebrities came knocking on his door, including Bruce Willis, Shania Twain and Cher. But none of them could erase the painful memories of the ambush and the painful reality of life without his left leg.
"It is difficult, going out to the mall -- anywhere," Castro said. "If you wear shorts, you are going to get looked at. Sometimes they stare without noticing they are staring. They just look and look and I just keep on going."
Castro said he feels like he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder off and on.
"One of our priorities is to get these veterans seen quickly," Highberger said.
She said a lot has changed in recent years. She said now, they aggressively reach out and recruit veterans in need of emotional support.
"You need to have support and understanding of other people who have been in that situation, so you know what it's like to have seen people killed and have to kill," she said.
Perhaps nobody understands this better than veterans who served in Vietnam. Thousands suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, but suffered in silence.
"It used to be if you showed any signs of it, you were weak. I'm sorry if you have it, you have it," said Jeff Esser, who was finally diagnosed with post-traumatic stress.
He doesn't want younger veterans like Castro to suffer the way he did.
"Most of those issues are getting resolved by Vietnam veterans that are going to the hospital and saying, 'Hey, if you need help we are here to help you,'" Esser said.
Castro is now 25 and going to school at Arizona State University. People might stare at him as he walks through campus, but Castro no longer worries about it, he says.
And for those who stop him and ask him what happened, he'll tell them the story.
He'll tell them about the day he was ambushed -- a day that will always be there in his mind.
Ellie