Army Pfc. Joseph Dwyer
You remember this photo from 2003? It became one of the iconic images of the war in Iraq. Hard to believe that this picture was taken five years ago, and yet we are still there.
Beyond the politics of this war is the tragic toll it continues to take on our soldiers, their families, and the people of Iraq. Pfc. Joseph Dwyer was a medic with 3rd Infantry Division. He signed up for duty after 9/11 and was in a company that was the very tip of the tip of the spear.
Dwyer physically left the war zone sometime in 2004, but the war followed him back. He was diagnosed with PTSD and received spotty treatment from Veterens Administration. At age 31 Pfc. Dwyer died due to inhaleing the computer cleaner Dust Off in an effort to help him sleep.
Dwyer is a hero who put himself in danger to rescue the life of a little boy in a war zone. It's is a tragedy of epic proportions that his government couldn't (or wouldn't) do the same for him. Dwyer is just one of the TENS OF THOUSANDS of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afgahanistan who have PTSD but are not recieving the treatment they need or were promised from our government.
Read the full account of what happened to Dwyer upon his return from Iraq here.
My hope is that this picture taken in 2003 which filled this country with pride at the bravery and sacrifice of our soldiers will now fill us with anger and shame at our Country's lack of services and care for these soldiers.
13 comments:
I don't buy it that the guy was in Iraq for 91 days and he came back with post traumatic stress disorder. I also don't buy it that the guy's huffing problem was caused solely by Iraq. I've known plenty of guys who went into the military with a drinking or drug problem and came out the same way; but then they blame every problem they've got on their service time. I also don't buy that every soldier is a "hero", whatever that means. Yeah, they deserve respect for their service, but that doesn't necessarily make them a hero or even qualified for President. Let's face it; most guys who go in don't have a whole lot of options in life. They've already got substance abuse problems or just aren't bright enough for a good civilian job. Aain, they deserve respect for their service, but lets stop bagging on our country for all of their problems.
Each and every human mind is differnt in many ways. However, each and every human mind is the same in that there are 2 minds. A conscious mind and an unconscious mind.
If trauma gets embedded in the unconscious related to primordial instincts, it will require treatment that America psyhiatry and psychology refuses to conside but is fully possible.
http://algoxy.com/psych/thetreatment.html
Anonymous, Joe died today in his home in North Carolina after years of post traumatic stress related problems...yes huffing. Was curious if you were ever in the service or if you are a stay at home arm chair "hero". Anyway Joe is dead and his wife and daughter miss him. He went, he saw, he did for us.
YOUR saying that the individuals that go in the army "really dont have a lot of options in life?" A person makes a choice to serve his country and you make it out to be that he has no other marketable skills so he does the Army. Damm, you must be one of those guys that sit on the fence and just run your mouth about things. Also saying things like "they already have substance abuse problems or not bright enough for a good civilian job" leads me to believe your image of people in the Army is those people that are dumb, addicts and really stupid. With a Master's Degree, 26 years of military experience and plenty of job opportunities, I think after serving the Military, no one is "bagging" anyone for any problems. The fact is, he had problems and no one helped him out and dumb administrative policies hurt him.
Let me guess, you have never served, right? Then don't talk about how being in Iraq for 91 days is not long enough for you to come back with PTSD. First serve and then talk!
I just want to say that it was a GOVERNMENT run health care program that failed him. Isn't that what democrats want for all the people of this country?
I find it interesting that all the individuals saying he is to blame for his problems are all leaving themselves as anonymous... Cowardly to say the least, but oh well, can't change how people view things. Plus, people process dangerous situations differently. What might not effect one person traumatizes the other. It is quite possible he WAS traumatized by the Iraq War and this led him to huff dust-off. But to make the assumption that those serving the U.S. in the military had few options prior to serving is just plain ignorant.
Many bothersome comments here for me, as a current service member, for over 18 years now.
1. I must address the 'lack of options' comments. This is just not true.
This is a stereo-type made by TV, Movies, and media outlets. A LOT of, as in most, as in 6 out of 10 (or even more), have SOME college, maybe as high as 4 out of 10 degrees. 9 out of 10 come in to get money for college.
All leaders above the Pay Grade of E-7 have at least an associates degree, most (maybe 95%) have a bachaloreate degree.
The promotion system is VERY competative and higher education warrants a lot for the career soldier wishing to move up.
I wish this stereo typing of service members would die. Or at least back your comments with well grounded facts from reliable sources.
2. There are people, who 'freak out' in life; this guy is one of them, and for him, he used his experiences in Iraq to act out his 'blame' as part of his addiction psychosis.
This guy had some major issues. 'Huffing'??? I agree that this guy was probably a 'Huffer' before he came in... 'Huffing' is typically NOT the drug of choice for people suffering with psychological issues.
At least this is not what is propagandized to us. The Typical PTSD drug is alcholol because of the feelings of 'release'/'escape' that it provides. You CAN drink to oblivion.
After reading about Dwyer, I read up on 'huffing' (on the internet both medical and personal experiences) I read that 'huffing' gives extremely painful headaches. And ALL people with PTSD (military and civilians) view their symptoms as 'painful' and use medicinces or alcholol to 'dull' the pain.
In my opinion, this guy had a few skeletons, along with demons. Perhaps the line: "Earning the label of 'hero' is easier than living the life of a 'hero'." I think this applies here... and thus the guy chose a self-destructive path.
Once he became 'spot lighted' seems to be the catalyst for this guys problems. From reading about 'addictive behavior' on the Alcholol Annonymous site, most addicts prefer to keep their addiction 'private'. This became his dilemma. I think that is what caused him to freak out.
There are hundreds of thousands of War Vetrans now, that have all had their share of 'bad' while in theater. This guy didn't want to be saved, he just wanted to be handled. In any condition like this, the person must really WANT to be cured to be cured. There are no miracles in this area. There is not an institution or facility in the world that can change this. Even if he were involuntarily committed, he would have looked for a way to feed his addiction to being 'high'.
The only blame resides on the Dwyer. For years people, friends, family have all made huge sacrifices to 'save' him. THE WAR IS NOT THE PROBLEM! Dwyer is unique, and extreme minority in an enormous pool of people. Dwyer was his own problem and blaming the Army or the VA is wrong.
I think that closer examination would show the Dwyer still had some accepting to do with items/issues that were going on prior to service before dealing with the issues he encountered in 91 days of combat.
Great respect for someone who was driven to want to kill those who killed all those people in NY. The WAR is necessary, as you can see have there been anymore attacks on US soil? [leave conspiracy's at the door please]
I personnally have over 1000 days of 'tip of the spear' combat experience, and I don't know anyone that is even close to being 'like' Dwyer. And that should say something to those that want to be critical. Factor in your minds just how many people this must be...
I know a few alcoholics that are the NICEST and FUN people. Perhaps it was his 91 days of forced sobriety that changed him. Since alcohol or his drug of choice was unavailable to him while he was there he used the aerosol products to feed his addiction to getting high. And when he came home, he just couldn't give it up. And just maybe he used his Iraq experiences as an excuse to make his addiction 'okay' because it was not his fault...
I give condolences to the family he left behind and hope they find a way through these sad times and hope they will remember the 'good times' and forget the bad.
Just comments...
For the individual who believes that PTSD cannot occur within 91 days of service or after experiencing only one traumatic event (let alone 91 days of witnessing trauma) and that only the uneducated serve our country, it would appear that it is you who are uneducated.
No one is bagging on our country for all the problems service men and women have. However, it is estimated that nearly one third of the homeless population are veterans of our armed forces. Roughly half of that population suffer from mental illness. The events the men and women of our armed services experience, especially in times of war, can and do cause emotional trauma that affect many for the duration of their life.
Shouldn't our country be responsible for their physical and mental health? Our soldiers are not a limitless resource to be used and disposed of without a second thought. Thank you for this posting as it is bringing some much needed attention to this problem.
I am not a big believer in war, but I hold the men and women who lay down their lives for our country in the highest regard. When you go to sleep tonight, safe and sound in your cozy bed, know that you do because of the soldiers who have given their lives - both figuratively and literally - so that you may enjoy the freedoms you do - including the freedom to be completely ignorant, which it appears you are taking complete advantage of.
The guy that wrote all the stuff about addictive behavior was pretty much right on.
These guys and gals that get out and claim illness are for the most part just bums abusing the system and use War as an excuse. I would bet most of them didn't even see combat during their time in. AND if they did deploy, they were not Infantry Men.
There are some support people that get to see combat, but the Infantry and Marines brunt most of the head ons with bullet shooting and killing.
I don't discount the occasional person really having a bad time with there experiences. But to go to this extreme, as Dwyer did, which I agree with in that long post, is "Not The Norm' and people are trying to make it so. Which from this Vetrans vantage point is wrong.
I really feel for the guys like the guy above have served over a 1000 days in combat that is over three years... probably 3 to 4 deployments.
I served one tour in Iraq as an 11B (infantry) with 1/25 stryker from 2004-2005.
I joined to get my school loans paid off, I have a BA in Electrical Engineering. I also joined to serve in this great nation of ours.
We ARE a GREAT NATION!!!!!!
There were a lot of other guys that had BA degrees in my company ... all of them like me E-4 and below.
None of the guys I served with have PTSD. Nor are they hiding it and nor are they bums. And I don't think anyone they know has PTSD or are homeless.
I saw a Fox News special that said that the claim that 1/3 to 1/2 of all homeless are vetrans was false. Political Bullcrap lies.
There are A LOT of people who have served in the military over the past years. The term 'Vetrans' includes: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, Reserves and National Guard from all the above respective services. That is probably MILLIONS and MILLIONS of people! The numbers just don't add up.
I believe the last count of the number of service members to see combat since 1991 was around 500,000. I read this on military.com... if I can find the link I will post it. Since then a lot of the same people keep getting deployed repeatedly who have been in during this period.
I will support the soldiers and support the people that support the soldiers for the rest of my life. And I too believe the war is just.
NOTE: Calling people ignorant is not right either, most likely they are just ill-informed with their facts, and/or spouting because they had an emotional response to the way the story was written about PFC Dwyer. Which in my opinion is misleading.
I agree with Ian, seems like the "Anonymous" option is easy when you don't have the guts to back up what you say.
I know the sweetest, gentlest guy who's been changed by his deployments to Iraq. This is his third time. It doesn't matter if you've been there three months, or a year. What you see, what you witness... it changes you whether you're conscious of it or not.
I only skimmed over a few comments in this blog before it made me angry enough to post a comment myself. A hero is someone that puts themselves in danger to help another person. As obvious Dwyer did, regardless of if he had huffing problems before he joined the military or not is completely irrelevant. The average person doesn't shoot at things in the middle of the night. PTSD does not take years of trauma to happen, it can happen from one even in a short amount of time. I'm an E5 active duty in the Navy, and contraire to popular belief we do see some things as well. I was attached to the USS Abraham Lincoln when the Tsunami hit Thailand and Bandah Ache in 2005. I got to see the devastation first hand from that and I've still got nightmares from that situation.
Second thing I read, which seems to be a common theme in people that are anti-war or anti-military in general is the whole "they aren't that intelligent they went that route because they were toooo dummmb". I will concur to a degree; we have some pretty dumb people in the military. However, I've met many more highly intelligent people that were active duty than I have in the civilian world. I'd say 2 out of 5 people that I personally know are actively pursuing a higher education in everything from aeronautical science, to business management degrees. I think calling us dumb is an ignorant statement.
Regardless of your POV on us invading Iraq all the protest that our country does and everything we say hurts morale of your soldiers that are fighting. They also increase morale of enemy soldiers. I've seen that for myself.
It really does upset me that our military is better appreciated over-seas in non English speaking countries than in our own country.
i have to disagree with that last comment stating that its irrelevant that dwyer might have huffed before he went on tour. I agree that it might only take a short amount of time to see the effects of PTSD but the path to psychosis could have been well in the works before he was deployed if he was a long-time substance abuser before he left...
Does no one here realize that drug testing in mandatory when you join the Military. You also have to pass the Military exam, and physical. You also have to volunteer (since we no longer have a draft). As far as hero: They have left their family, friends, and home behind. Not to mention all the freedoms we have here at home. Just so we can gripe and complain about them, instead of speaking a foreign language, as apparently from your comments a few of you would prefer.
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