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By Gletkin
#1590431
Soldier in famous photo never defeated "demons"
By ALLEN G. BREED and KEVIN MAURER, Associated Press Writers
Sun Jul 20, 1:29 PM ET
PINEHURST, N.C. - Officers had been to the white ranch house at 560 W. Longleaf many times before over the past year to respond to a "barricade situation." Each had ended uneventfully, with Joseph Dwyer coming out or telling police in a calm voice through the window that he was OK.

But this time was different.

The Iraq War veteran had called a taxi service to take him to the emergency room. But when the driver arrived, Dwyer shouted that he was too weak to get up and open the door.
The officers asked Dwyer for permission to kick it in.
"Go ahead!" he yelled.
They found Dwyer lying on his back, his clothes soiled with urine and feces. Scattered on the floor around him were dozens of spent cans of Dust-Off, a refrigerant-based aerosol normally used to clean electrical equipment.
Dwyer told police Lt. Mike Wilson he'd been "huffing" the aerosol.
"Help me, please!" the former Army medic begged Wilson. "I'm dying. Help me. I can't breathe."
Unable to stand or even sit up, Dwyer was hoisted onto a stretcher. As paramedics prepared to load him into an ambulance, an officer noticed Dwyer's eyes had glassed over and were fixed.
A half hour later, he was dead....

....A photograph taken in the first days of the war had made the medic from New York's Long Island a symbol of the United States' good intentions in the Middle East. When he returned home, he was hailed as a hero. But for most of the past five years, the 31-year-old soldier had writhed in a private hell, shooting at imaginary enemies and dodging nonexistent roadside bombs, sleeping in a closet bunker and trying desperately to huff away the "demons" in his head. When his personal problems became public, efforts were made to help him, but nothing seemed to work.
This broken, frightened man had once been the embodiment of American might and compassion. If the military couldn't save him, Knapp thought, what hope was there for the thousands suffering in anonymity?....

....Dwyer assured his parents, Maureen and Patrick — and his new wife, Matina, whom he'd married in August 2002 — that he was being sent to Kuwait and would likely stay in the rear, far from the action.
But it wasn't true. Unbeknownst to his family, Dwyer had been attached to the 3rd Infantry's 7th Cavalry Regiment. He was at "the tip of the tip of the spear," in one officer's phrase. During the push into Baghdad, Dwyer's unit came under heavy fire. An airstrike called in to suppress ambush fire rocked the convoy. As the sun rose along the Euphrates River on March 25, 2003, Army Times photographer Warren Zinn watched as a man ran toward the soldiers carrying a white flag and his injured 4-year-old son. Zinn clicked away as Dwyer darted out to meet the man, then returned, cradling the boy in his arms.
The photo — of a half-naked boy, a kaffiyeh scarf tied around his shrapnel-injured leg and his mouth set in a grimace of pain, and of a bespectacled Dwyer dressed in full battle gear, his M-16 rifle dangling by his side — appeared on front pages and magazine covers around the world.
Suddenly, everyone wanted to interview the soldier in "the photo." Dwyer was given a "Hometown Hero" award by child-safety advocate John Walsh; the Army awarded him the Combat Medical Badge for service under enemy fire.

The attention embarrassed him.

"Really, I was just one of a group of guys," he told a military publication. "I wasn't standing out more than anyone else."....

....Returning to the U.S. in June 2003, after 91 days in Iraq, Dwyer seemed a shell to friends.
When he deployed, he was pudgy at 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds. Now he weighed around 165, and the other Musketeers immediately thought of post-traumatic stress disorder. Dwyer attributed his skeletal appearance to long days and a diet of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). He showed signs of his jolly old self, so his friends accepted his explanation.
But they soon noticed changes that were more than cosmetic.
At restaurants, Dwyer insisted on sitting with his back to the wall so no one could sneak up on him. He turned down invitations to the movies, saying the theaters were too crowded. He said the desert landscape around El Paso, and the dark-skinned Hispanic population, reminded him of Iraq. Dwyer, raised Roman Catholic but never particularly religious before, now would spend lunchtime by himself, poring over his Bible. When people would teasingly call him "war hero" and ask him to tell about his experiences, or about the famous photo, he would steer the conversation toward the others he'd served with.

But Dwyer once confided that another image, also involving a child, disturbed him.

He was standing next to a soldier during a firefight when a boy rode up on a bicycle and stopped beside a weapon lying in the dirt. Under his breath, the soldier beside Dwyer whispered, "Don't pick it up, kid. Don't pick it up."

The boy reached for the weapon and was blasted off his bike
....

....In a telephone interview later that month from what he called the "nut hut" at Beaumont, Dwyer told Newsday that he'd lied on a post-deployment questionnaire that asked whether he'd been disturbed by what he'd seen and done in Iraq. The reason: A PTSD diagnosis could interfere with his plans to seek a police job. Besides, he'd been conditioned to see it as a sign of weakness.
"I'm a soldier," he said. "I suck it up. That's our job."
Dwyer told the newspaper that he'd blown off counseling before but was committed to embracing his treatment this time. He said he hoped to become an envoy to others who avoided treatment for fear of damaging their careers.

"There's a lot of soldiers suffering in silence," he said
....

....An autopsy is pending, but police are treating Dwyer's death as an accidental overdose.

His friends and family see it differently.

The day of the 2005 standoff, Knapp spent hours on the telephone trying to get help for Dwyer. She was frustrated by a military bureaucracy that would not act unless his petrified wife complained, and with a civilian system that insisted Dwyer was the military's problem. In a letter to post commander Maj. Gen. Robert Lennox, Knapp expressed anger that Army officials who were "proud to display him as a hero ... now had turned their back on him..."

"Joseph Dwyer who had left to Iraq one of the nicest, kindest, caring, self-sacrificing and patriotic people I have ever known," she wrote, "was forced to witness and commit acts completely contrary to his nature and returned a tormented, confused disillusioned shadow of his former self that was not being given the help he needed."....

....The family would not authorize the VA to release Dwyer's medical records. But it appears that Dwyer was sometimes unwilling — or unable — to make the best use of the programs available. In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Lennox, the former Bliss post commander, wrote that Dwyer "had a great (in my opinion) care giver."

Zeiss said the best treatment for PTSD is exposure-based psychotherapy, in which the patient is made "to engage in thoughts, feelings and conversations about the trauma." While caregivers must be 100 percent committed to creating an environment in which the veteran feels comfortable confronting those demons, she said the patient must be equally committed to following through.
"And so it's a dance between the clinicians and the patient."
Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, feels the VA is a lousy dance partner.
Rieckhoff said the VA's is a "passive system" whose arcane rules and regulations make it hard for veterans to find help. And when they do get help, he said, it is often inadequate.
"I consider (Dwyer) a battlefield casualty," he said, "because he was still fighting the war in his head."

The Sunday after the Fourth of July, Knapp attended services at Scotsdale Baptist, the El Paso church where she and Dwyer had been baptized together in 2004.
On the way out of the sanctuary, Knapp checked her phone and noticed an e-mail.
"I didn't know if you had heard or not," a friend wrote, "but I got an email from Matina this morning saying that Joseph had died on Saturday and that the funeral was today."
Knapp maintained her composure long enough to get herself and the children to the car. Then she lost it.
The children asked what was wrong.
"Joseph is dead," she told them.
"You said he wasn't sick any more," Justin said.
"I know, Justin," his mother replied. "But I guess maybe the help wasn't working like we thought it was."
The kids were too young to understand acronyms like PTSD or to hear a lecture about how Knapp thought the system had failed Dwyer. So she told them that, just as they sometimes have nightmares, "sometimes people get those nightmares in their head and they just can't get them out, no matter what."

Has rates of PTSD risen during recent wars, or have they always been this high and society, and the suffering vets themselves, have deliberately ignored it?

Also a tragic case of how discrimination against the mentally ill is still rife in our society. We regard them as weaklings or demons in mortal form. The afflicted themselves are ashamed and afraid and refuse to let others know of their condition. That's no way to handle this widespread problem.
User avatar
By The American Lion
#1590438
Is there really a problem. Every soldier has this problem. You can probably find data similar to this for veterans of WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam for example.
User avatar
By millie_(A)TCK
#1590440
I am not a fan of soldiers at all but that picture really moved me. My thoughts are with his loved ones.

Image
User avatar
By Lightman
#1590445
Has rates of PTSD risen during recent wars, or have they always been this high and society, and the suffering vets themselves, have deliberately ignored it?
As I understand it, one of the major reasons for the rise of PTSD (not in this actual case) and other mental problems in returning veterans is that more and more are surviving wounds that in previous wars would've killed them, and the memories of these wounds and the rest of the war are obviously very bad for mental health. Now, I'm not a pychiatrist, so don't quote me.
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By Gletkin
#1590454
The American Lion wrote:Is there really a problem

There's a job waiting for you at the VA. :roll:

The American Lion wrote:You can probably find data similar to this for veterans of WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam for example

Not if, as I had queried, society had denied it. Can't find data for questions that no one was willing to ask.

Lightman wrote:As I understand it, one of the major reasons for the rise of PTSD (not in this actual case) and other mental problems in returning veterans is that more and more are surviving wounds that in previous wars would've killed them, and the memories of these wounds and the rest of the war are obviously very bad for mental health. Now, I'm not a pychiatrist, so don't quote me.

Sounds plausible to this fellow non-psychiatrist.

Would also be interesting to compare (again, if data is available) PTSD rates between veterans of conventional wars and veterans of counterinsurgency wars. Guerrilla and Counterguerrilla warfare is a dirty business. People who have to wage such campaigns probably have their ethics tested relentlessly whereas simply blasting uniformed adult male enemy soldiers, as traumatic as that is, would be less morally objectionable and thus less emotionally damaging I would think.

But being, a non-psychiatrist as well, I should also not be quoted on this.
User avatar
By Nets
#1590462
One thing to remember is that PTSD is often used as a catchall term for any psychological disturbance that can't be pinpointed,

There may be more at work here.
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By Gletkin
#1590470
Nets wrote:One thing to remember is that PTSD is often used as a catchall term for any psychological disturbance that can't be pinpointed

Mmmmm I think in that case they just use a more general category like "neurosis" or "dementia".
But yeah mental health is less cut-and-dried then the rest of medicine.
Which is not to say that it's not important or should be dismissed.
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By QatzelOk
#1590491
Nets wrote:One thing to remember is that PTSD is often used as a catchall term

Really? Is that one thing to remember?

Why would the precise definition of "PTSD" be the main thing you should remember after hearing about this "heroic" soldier's graceless suicide?

His humanity was gone long before his eyes glossed over. To call attention to a grammar-nazi detail of the text is to try to wash away the pain that this image provokes.

Feel the pain, take the blame.
User avatar
By Grunch
#1590517
Is there really a problem. Every soldier has this problem. You can probably find data similar to this for veterans of WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam for example.

Yes, there is a problem when roughly 1 in 5 soldiers develops mental problems from doing their job. Or is it going to be great when crazy Iraq war veterans pick up where crazy Vietnam veterans left off?
One thing to remember is that PTSD is often used as a catchall term for any psychological disturbance that can't be pinpointed.

How often does this happen, exactly?
There may be more at work here.

Was there any evidence from this or any other article that Joseph Dwyer's problems were deeper than PTSD?
User avatar
By unbalanced zealot
#1590676
Most people who have spent time from conflict zones at least have hyper-vigilance to an extent. A lot of people have tinitus ... infact most people have it to some extent if they've been in close proximity to weapons fire or an explosion of some sort. PTSD can manifest itself in all kinds of ways from outright anxiety attacks to sleeping problems.

I tend to think that one thing that has an impact is to what extent people go into shock immediately after a single event or what the circumstances are as they emerge from shock after a particular single event. Severe concussion, certain degrees of blast lung, wound, bone fractures, etc can all be hazed out by someone conscious but in shock, but if as they tune back into reality they are still trying to evaluate a dangerous problemic scenario immediately at hand rather than immediately receiving medical attention ... I think that such a person is more likely to develop a more serious form of PTSD from the incident. Acculmilated and single event related PTSDs are going to resonate in many forms for quite a few years yet from Iraq and its associated conflicts. Most people involved in peacekeeping forces usually understand that often vast segments of the population they are dealing with are affected by some form of PTSD to some degree and this will quite often translate into more volatile reasoning and forms of behavior than one would expect from a 'normal' population base.
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By Galoredk
#1590705
You choose to go to war and kill people by orders from your government and then you die. That will not earn you much credit in my book. To me it is like a potential mass murderer saving a kid from being run over by a car and all of a sudden we are expected to like him?

He should not have gone to war, end of story. I bet you several people even told him before he went, but he failed to listen. In war there are no heroes, only those willing to gamble their lives more than others.
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By Infidelis
#1590708
Is there really a problem. Every soldier has this problem. You can probably find data similar to this for veterans of WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam for example.


Nope, not a problem at all. So, take a trip to the recruitment office. :up:

You choose to go to war and kill people by orders from your government and then you die. That will not earn you much credit in my book.


Right when I was about to go on a rant about chicken hawks and I see the other side of the disrespectful spectrum.

Iraqi War Vets are far more deserving of lauding than the Monday morning quarterbacks that simply say "It's a bad war, they should have more courage to not participate," and do nothing about it. Although their decision may not sit well with some, they gave their word to go when called upon. Us Americans and our Government have failed to ensure their services are to be used for more practical and sensible purposes and they're the ones that get kicked in the teeth for simply doing as Americans asked.

Them going is not what is despicable, it's that we sat back like a Coliseum crowd and watched the body counts stack with awe on television. I, included, of course.
User avatar
By Maxim Litvinov
#1590721
the Monday morning quarterbacks that simply say "It's a bad war, they should have more courage to not participate," and do nothing about it.

What is the measure of 'doing something about it' though? Someone who condones a bad move by going over there is more laudable than someone who rejects a bloodbath? What level does that rejection have to go to to be more laudable than joining up to be paid to participate in a military disaster? Does protesting count? Or only if you're arrested?
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By Erebus
#1590728
That picture is indeed quite touching. :hmm:
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By War Angel
#1590732
You'd think, that after so many wars and so much breakthrough in terms of psychiatry and psychology, that soldiers would have their mental wounds treated, as if they were physical wounds.

You wouldn't leave a bleeding soldier un-atended. A broken leg has to be mended, a bullet pulled out and lacerations stitched. How come so many war-veterans in the USA end up as demented homeless people? Why isn't anyone taking care of them properly? :*(

Awareness to these ailments must be risen. These 'disorders' (it's not a freakin' disorder, it's a perfectly natural response to traumatic experiences) are disregarded, and those suffering from them are just 'crazy'. So who's left with dealing with it all? The veterans themselves, and their families. When a soldier comes back completely rent and destroyed, he or she is not the same person any more... and that's when some start drug and alcohol abuse, lacking any sympathy and understanding.

And even if they do get all the love and support from their families - that's not enough. Professional help has to come, regardless of the soldier's will. Just like he can't say "Nah, don't close the gaping hole in my stomach", a soldier cannot be allowed to say no to therapy. A soldier is a tool and a weapon, and those things must be kept in perfect working order... if compassion for your fellow man fails, maybe this cynical approach will.

The military loses more soldiers this way, than it does to bullets and bombs, I'd say.
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By Maxim Litvinov
#1590734
A soldier is a tool and a weapon, and those things must be kept in perfect working order...

In which case you need to do the sums and show, from an economic POV, why it's cheaper to fix a damaged tool than buy a new one.
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By War Angel
#1590739
In which case you need to do the sums and show, from an economic POV, why it's cheaper to fix a damaged tool than buy a new one.

A soldier, unlike a machine, gets better with time. An experienced veteran is incredibly valuable - an asset.
User avatar
By Maxim Litvinov
#1590742
A soldier, unlike a machine, gets better with time. An experienced veteran is incredibly valuable - an asset.

Even the most valuable machine can be a write off if it sustains enough damage though.
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By unbalanced zealot
#1590754
A soldier, unlike a machine, gets better with time. An experienced veteran is incredibly valuable - an asset.


This is VERY true. In a crunch moment someone who can make an astute decision in a short time under high stress, and not panic, is very valuable to have on your team. Just like on a football team where someone with good temperament who can pick his spot in the conrer of goal or clear off the line, is very good to have.

Something worth thinking about is that the insurgency in Iraq is generating a lot of hardened vets on the other side who are using Islamic philiosphical concepts (to an extent)to control their psychological issues ... and this isn't all too different than the Afghan scenario back in the day where vets from that conflict returned to fight later down the track.

One thing to remember about WW2 and some other conflicts, was that there was a conclusive end to it with a clear victor and a clear orderly process undertaken after the event ... eg. Nuremberg, Marshall plan, etc ... that provided a different social context than Vietnam or some of the other wars the west has been involved in.
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By Cartertonian
#1591202
War Angel wrote:
Professional help has to come, regardless of the soldier's will. Just like he can't say "Nah, don't close the gaping hole in my stomach", a soldier cannot be allowed to say no to therapy. A soldier is a tool and a weapon, and those things must be kept in perfect working order...


War Angel, I should get you to come talk at our Military Mental Health Conferences - you're talking our language ;)

Whereas:


QatzelOK wrote:
Why would the precise definition of "PTSD" be the main thing you should remember after hearing about this "heroic" soldier's graceless suicide?

His humanity was gone long before his eyes glossed over. To call attention to a grammar-nazi detail of the text is to try to wash away the pain that this image provokes.


Sorry, Qatz, wide of the mark. PTSD is a very specific diagnosis. We are not talking hair-splitting semantics here. This poor sod almost certainly had PTSD - but you'll notice I said 'almost'.

You wouldn't be impressed if you went to the doc with prostate cancer and he told you you had gonorrhoea, would you? There are a whole host of mental health disorders that have very similar features, as Nets was intimating, and in fairness to him he said 'one thing', rather than 'the only thing' as you seem to infer. :p

Anyway, as a military psych professional I don't know much about politics so it's jolly refreshing (however grim the headline event :hmm: ) when you lot start blundering into my territory :lol:
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