That is how Pfc. Joshua Calloway described his brain after nine months of combat in Iraq. His tour ended soon after he saw his sergeant step on a pressure plate roadside bomb. After he finished throwing up, the first thing he remembered was being ordered to collect body parts while under fire. Pfc. Calloway is back in the US now. From an article:
On an early venture outside Walter Reed, he went to downtown Silver Spring and became enraged by young people laughing at Starbucks. "Don't they know there is a war going on?" he said.
Wearing a rock band T-shirt, Calloway looked like any other 20-year-old on the sidewalk, but an unspeakable compulsion tore through him. He said he wanted to hatchet someone in the back of the neck.
Why is this man not getting the mental healthcare that he both needs and fully deserves? The army estimates that for every physically injured soldier returning from Iraq, there are 43 soldiers suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. What is our plan to help these people? Instead of the billions and billions in corporate welfare going to Halliburton and KBR, why aren't more of these war funds going to treat the tens of thousands of soldiers who desperately need mental healthcare? What are the consequences if we don't do what is right?
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