These soldiers have to forge a pathway for themselves out of war. In Afghanistan, this soldier was part of Marine special operations team of 15 who trained local militia and attacked Taliban strongholds near the border with Turkmenistan. Back home on a cul-de-sac north of Camp Lejeune, his wife hounds him for not taking out the trash. You come home, and all of a sudden everything you did, its not normal anymore, he says with a note of bitterness. They wanted these high-functioning killing machines. Well, guess what? You got it. Now we got to re-integrate back into society. Among those facing this adjustment are the secretive commandos whose exploits -- the killing of Osama bin Laden, the rescue from pirates of cargo ship Capt. Richard Phillips and, recently, raids in Africa to seize terrorist leaders -- have fired the public imagination. As the USA transitions out of Afghanistan, transition out of war...how much baggage are we still carrying with us? asks Marine Col. Andrew Milburn, commander of the spec ops regiment. That transition is not going to be an easy one psychologically for a lot of our guys.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 19:15:29 +0000