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Kati Young’s husband, Sergeant Justin Young, was a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 56th Stryker Brigade that deployed to Iraq from January to September 2009. He served as a medic and is now working as an RN at Hershey Medical Center. The Youngs have two children, Brendan (12) and Kara (7). Producer Heather Muha will share their story on our broadcast Friday night. “Brendan’s teacher arranged for the kids in his class to send care packages to the soldiers. When Brendan graduated from 5th grade, his teacher arranged for a webcam so Sgt. Young could watch the ceremony,” Muha explains.
Missing a 5th grade graduation ceremony might not seem like a major life disappointment but how about not being there for the birth of your first child or the death of a parent, or a holiday like Christmas? We are only given so many Christmases to spend with our children when they are young and it is a tremendous sacrifice to miss even one of them. But thousands of America’s troops have answered the call to duty and are serving in war zones thousands of miles from home this holiday season. And when they return from combat, many are changed profoundly -- physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. They forever are altered by the experience of war.
Halifax resident Paul Lehman recounted for Radio Smart Talk listeners earlier this week his war-time holiday memories. He was a member of the 101st Airborne Division on Christmas Day 1944. “I was on the front line in snow and the Germans had us surrounded at Bastogne. We didn’t have any food at all. The Air Corps tried to bring in supplies but it was foggy and for five days they tried to come in … and they couldn’t find us and didn’t want to put it out there for the Germans … Christmas, we had nothing. We didn’t even have hot coffee. We were just out there on the front line and that was it.”
Jan Yupcavage, team leader at the Harrisburg Vet Center under the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, served in Vietnam. Now he counsels vets about how to overcome post-traumatic stress disorderand make the sometimes difficult adjustment to life on the home front. Yupcavage talked on Radio Smart Talk about the abruptness of today’s homecoming for many soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. “When WW II veterans came home, it was a three-week process, maybe longer, to board ships and come across the oceans, etc. But in today’s wars, you’re home in 12-14 hours from the war zone and I think that has some impact on our soldiers that the transition is too quick,” he noted. “You’re living in an intense environment …your sentry system is on full alert and then when you come home, it might be 24 hours and you’re home, you’re at your front door from the war zone. That transition period is real quick. There’s no time to process and even for the families at home it’s a difficult transition. They’ve learned new roles or have survived by themselves … and for many families this transition of soldier coming home and the spouse at home they have to learn how to reintegrate and mutually support each other.”
Former Marine Gelu Negrea served in Iraq. “I was over there for Easter,” he shared with listeners. “It was April of 2003 with the initial invasion and we were constantly moving around at that point so we didn’t even realize it was Easter until the day was over and someone’s like, ‘You guys know it was Easter today?’ Wow. We’re like, ‘Oh, okay, that’s good.’” Sacrifice takes many forms in violent conflicts. The national media uncovered rampant abuses, neglect and inadequate care to thousands of veterans returning wounded both mentally and physically from their time in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fundamental reforms are underway but the damage inflicted on our troops on the battlefield and then at home by a bureaucratic, financially-underfunded and woefully-mismanaged health-care system is outrageous. The number of suicides among members of the armed forces has markedly risen since 2003. Public support for the war efforts have dropped as the costs in lives and treasury have increased.
We'll introduce you to a brave young soldier, Marine Corporal Bryan Burgee, of Delta Borough, York County. Cpl. Burgee told me he "got tired of milking cows," so when the terrorists attacked on 9/11, he decided to enlist. He always wanted to be a marine and felt the time was certainly right for him to join the corps. Those cows would just have to wait. Cpl. Burgee eventually did two tours of duty in Iraq. During his second deployment, on the night of December 17, 2006, his life took a terrible jolt when his humvee ran over an IED in the town of Al Karma, Iraq and exploded. Cpl. Burgee suffered a serious head injury that has left him with headaches and memory loss. And most dramatically, a vicious case of post-traumatic stress disorder. "It's the never-ending war in your head. I have nightmares that I just can't escape. The war plays over and over in my mind," the 23-year-old former machine gunner explains. More than half of the soldiers in Burgee's platoon were wounded-in-action during the period July 2006-February 2007. As the machine gunner riding in the turret, Burgee's job was to see the IEDs and all other dangers before they could inflict harm. It was an impossible task. But Burgee is haunted by the failures he feels he committed. "You'd have to be Superman," he laments. "I feel that survivor's guilt. I felt so badly when my guys went back over for a third deployment but I knew I wasn't right. I knew I had to get help." And that's when Bryan reached out to the Veteran's Administration for counseling and medication to cope with his PTSD. He urges all other vets with similar feelings of fear and despair to seek help. He is on the road to recovery and credits group counseling for helping him sort through the pain of his military service. Yet he recognizes that his recovery will likely take many years. "I have goals and I am determined to achieve them," Bryan assures me.
Major Edward Schlesser is very familiar with cases like Cpl. Burgee. Maj. Schlesser is a licensed clinical social worker for the PA Army and Air National Guard. He manages cases of soldiers who have behavioral health issues. According to Maj. Schlesser, each soldier heading to a war zone is counseled before leaving about what to expect throughout their deployment, and then participates in a "yellow ribbon ceremony" when they return to the U.S. to ensure that they are properly evaluated for post-deployment services. A key component of that outreach includes suicide-prevention efforts. Maj. Schlesser noted that soldiers typically feel two pressures. "First," he explained, "post-traumatic stress disorder and the next issue is relationships. Renegotiation of the marital contract. A lot of their adjustment has to do with getting reestablished in their marriages. When a soldier’s deployed, there are changes to the pattern of the relationship. The family circles the wagons, finds new ways to do things, the spouse left at home makes all the decisions. Now, with the soldier’s return, that has to open up to allow that service member back into the family. The trauma of war has an impact and reintegration into their family and back into civilian life all have to be managed.” I asked how Major Schlesser manages to deal with all the raw emotions, frayed nerves, and tales of terror and heartache that these soldiers pour out to him. "I know and understand that I am in a helping role. I can enhance their quality of life by keeping a positive attitude, letting them know that people care about them,” he said.
Smart Talk producer Mark Wallace also spoke to Lt. Joshua Fox. Lt. Fox deployed to Iraq with the 56th Stryker Brigade in September 2008 and arrived safely home last September. His wife Mary and one-year-old daughter Grace greeted his arrival with great joy. Lt. Fox told Mark, "Coming home to my wife was like getting remarried. We had to re-learn roles. I was the boss before I left. She became the boss when I left. And now the family has two bosses!" Mark says Sgt. Fox considers himself a "well-adjusted" vet who hasn't had any physical or mental problems, but that he's comforted in knowing that assistance is available if he needs it. But Lt. Fox admitted to Mark that the decompression time between Iraq and home was difficult to navigate. Going from being the isolated tough guy who's always alert to just a regular husband and father isn't easy.
WITF’s Scott Detrow spent last July embedded with the 56th Stryker Brigade at Camp Taji in a rural area north of Baghdad. He accompanied troops on their missions as they searched for hidden weapons, provided security for a local market, community meetings and supply convoys. “One thing that surprised me was across the board of everyone I talked to over there – if they had their choice they preferred to be out on patrol rather than on base. Being off-base was more dangerous and presented a host of challenges. But, to the men, it beat essentially killing time at camp. When they were out on patrol, they felt that they had a purpose and they could keep their mind off their wife and family at home,” Scott told me. The idea of readjusting to their civilian life pressed on their minds, as well. “The basic stuff like getting used to the climate again,” Scott explained. “ And they had become used to essentially “owning” the roads … when they got home, they said it would be weird to have to deal with traffic and some of them worried that they might instinctively want to run through lights and stop signs."
The Iraq War has left at least 4,370 U.S. service members dead and more than 31,600 wounded. Pennsylvania’s toll stands at 195 dead and 1318 wounded. The war in Afghanistan has claimed the lives of at least 856 U.S. service members, and wounded another 4.682. A least 36 Pennsylvania troops have died in Afghanistan and another 210 have been wounded. President Obama’s decision to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan increases the likelihood of those tolls going higher. Many question whether it will significantly lessen the likelihood of terrorist attacks in America. It is the price we pay for freedom. Please join us Friday night at 8:30 on Smart Talk to honor the courage, sacrifice and duty of our men and women in uniform.
