Trauma of War

I met Debbie Lucey in Washington DC when the memorial was there. She said that when her brother Jeffrey returned from fighting in Iraq, he had to go through an intake process in the states. He was asked if he had seen any dead and who they were.

He answered that he has seen dead people. They kept refusing to discharge him and they kept asking the same question. He kept saying dead people.

Finally someone came by and said that if he wanted to get out, he would have to respond "dead soldiers."

Since he wanted to go to his sister's wedding, that's what he answered. A few months later he committed suicide, distraught over the fact that he had killed people.