Soldier in famous Iraq photo never defeated 'demons'

Soldier in famous Iraq photo never defeated 'demons'

news.yahoo.com

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.

(visit the link for the full news article)

By the time he got to the hospital he had died in Iraq and never knew it. Dwyer became most fameous for a photgraph taken early in the war by running out to accept a wounded 4 year old boy from his father. Returnign home after a 91 day tour he was never the same. He never seemed to leave Iraq. Always in fear of roadside bombs, paranioa and fear became the focus of his life.

Like so many of us, we responded to Bush and company manipulation of the patriotic groundswell that was post 911. He like so many joined to defend his country, not foster some political agenda. To the Bush administration he is but another statistic in this quagmire. Yet another death to lay on the feet of this administration. Perhaps even more appaling is the total lack of resources for returning victems of this war. That alone should have the administration thrown out.

To Spc. Joseph Dwyer

"Fading light dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.
From afar drawing nigh -- Falls the night.

"Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky.
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

"Then good night, peaceful night,
Till the light of the dawn shineth bright,
God is near, do not fear -- Friend, good night."



news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This is a very, very sad story, it must have been, and still be incredibly hard for his family and his friends.

I bet there are many more stories that happen, yet go untold.
Yet another face of war that goes unnoticed, or worse, written off by the mainstream as part of the package of being a soldier.

For the average person it's hard enough not to bring work home at the end of the day.
Imagine if you had seen the horrors those soldiers have.
How could you just forget it and not have it affect your life.

Sad indeed, I wonder if he could have been helped sooner?

This kind of death does not require service in Iraq, it happens far to often to many young people around the world who for whatever reason turn to huffing aerosols and chemicals to escape their real life pains.

You know, I bet most of you have seen someone doing this.

It is too bad, so many never get help, and for some help comes too late.

To me, this is the difference in a soldiers soul. When we are part of a Liberation offensive, one that seeks to help mankind advance and follow the path of the "Light", I think soldiers are better able to resolve the horrors they have taken part in or witnessed. When we are part of an Invasion offensive that only serves to further the profits of the elite and used for ethnic or religious intolerance to benefit the Aryan mindset... I think the healing is much more difficult to achieve.

Many of the soldiers returning from Iraq are wrestling with the knowledge that they have committed crimes against mankind, and hence... crimes against the "Light". Until we as a nation absolve them of the sin of following improper orders, and hold the rat bastards that sent them there responsible... these brave men and women are left to fight their demons on their own.

They need our unconditional love, prayers, and understanding. And for their sake... we need to fight their fight here at home.




Remember this man America. He was a good man, with a good heart. He deserved better from this nation. WE let him down.







[edit on 20-7-2008 by yankeerose]

Sniffing inhalants certainly didn't help with his mental state, if anything, this pushed him over the edge. Sounds like he died a "sudden sniffing death".

Sad story.

War sucks.

What he witnessed must have been very disturbing over in Iraq.

My Grandpa, for more than 50 years lived with the pain of WWII. Almost every night, he would wake up yelling still fighting the war. Many times, he fell off the bed from the commotion.

Each of these men who fight in the name of freedom are heroes. Nothing good comes without heartache. Iraq was liberated from the iron grip of a ruthless dictator. It came with a heavy price, but Iraqis no longer have to fear political dissent. They can speak their views freely. They no longer have to worry about the dicator's spoiled son taking wives from their husbands for his sexual gratification and then having them killed so no other man could have them.

No longer will the Soccer team have to worry about having limbs cut off for losing at the Olympics as was the case in Saddam's Iraq. No longer will parents have to worry about having their babies dropped off buldings while forced to watch by a ruthless dictator to set examples.

This story is so damn sad, it makes me think about the hundreds if not thousands of other other soldiers who need help and the government just left hanging in the wind. I've seen some of it myself first hand with the people I know and we keep reading stories like this. All the while, we get to here the "normal" people tell us we worry about the war or the Neo-con mafia too much, but damn, when is it time to worry? When is time to try to change things? When is it time to protest? Will it even matter what the picket signs say if we wait too long? Hell I finally just walked around my area today with an "Impeach Bush Now" sign because I'm tired of it. We sent that poor man over to Iraq to find WMD's and cheaper gas(oh and to spread "democracy")....did any of it happen(other the rushed election of course)? With everyone being laid off in this economy and most people unable to afford gas, might as well walk somewhere with a protest sign. Exercise that right to protest before that's deemed a "terrorist act"....more then it already is.

[edit on 20-7-2008 by Shakesbeer]

wow, i had never heard of someone overdosing on computer duster.

i knew a few retards that used to do this sort of thing, i would tell them, you realize the only reason you feel "high" is because you're depriving your brain of oxygen and its' thus slowly dieing right?

"so .. der heheheer...."

Combat

Nightmares
Insomnia
Night Terrors
Blackouts
Depression
PTSD

And More

It is the price Veterans pay for all of our freedoms.

The sad thing is that most come to learn how to live with it, some few never do.

It has been that way since war began. It is a terrible fact of war.

Yet most of us would do it all over again.

Semper

I read this story earlier. Its really very sad. And only 91 days in Iraq? Its amazing how quickly the mind can take a turn for the worst. I can't imagine some of the things he must have seen.

Mentally, he clearly was not prepared for what he was going to see. And the media doesn't help. They create this squeaky clean image of the war to serve their corporate masters, and many men and women, a lot of them young and not matured enough to deal with the REALITY of war (I'm not sure if anyone sane is truly ever mature enough to deal with that, no matter how old), go over there with that image that was created by the mainstream media, and simply are not prepared.

I've never been to war. I haven't seen the extent of the horrors. But I know full well its a hell of a lot worse than the media makes it out to be.

It must be hell living in that kind of fear. Living in a world where your mind tells you that there's people out to get you even in your own home, there's roadside bombs on your neighborhood streets and you can't even turn your back without thinking someone will ambush you. We know none of that was going to happen in the US, but his mind truly believed it, thus making him truly believe it. I think thats something most people can't even comprehend; just how miserable it would be.

I guess the good news, if any, is that his struggle is over. Personally, I'd rather be dead than live in that kind of fear. And from what I understand, that isn't something that can just easily be dealt with, as evident of this man's struggle.

I'm shocked, but at the same time I'm not, at what little attention this has gotten on ATS. This thread as well as the one we are discussing this in, total, have 12 people giving a rest in peace, condolences or sympathy post. In the Tony Snow thread, there are 23 people.

Simply amazing.

Hopefully his family is healing and he is resting in peace. Thats the least they deserve.

Gee Novice, that was uplifting - Not!

All you have to do is watch Black Hawk down to get some semblance to the horrors of war. Either that, or Rambo IV.

Those movies are about as close as you can get to the impact, and that still doesn't come close.

Seeing friends get killed in the blink of an eye has to be upon the most disturbing, or worse yet, seeing some children getting killed in the cross-fire.

Unfortunately, war always was and always will be. It is men in power countering each other, using their military to do so.

The only way to remove war from the Earth is to remove power and greed, but there will always be the powerful and greedy with self-serviing agendas.

The best thing to do is address problems early before they become much larger issues. Sometimes war is necessary to do so when there are no other options (i.e. stopping Nazi Germany).

That's incredible messed Up

Damn

This just proves mental illness can sneak up on you when you least expect it

Shoot.

He must've been real traumatized

Originally posted by semperfortis
Combat

And More

Such as death, permanent disability, physical brain damage?

It is the price Veterans pay for all of our freedoms.

When any of our freedoms are in fact involved, yes. Going off to war when ordered is in no way evidence that you are actually defending anything but yourself and those around you.

The sad thing is that most come to learn how to live with it, some few never do.

People learn to live with constant hunger as well but wouldn't it be better if the respective societies had not needlessly burdened some of their citizens in such ways?

It has been that way since war began. It is a terrible fact of war.

Yet most of us would do it all over again.

Semper

While citizen soldiers can be trained to rightfully defend their cities from outside aggression without them being incapacitated trough mental ills it will always be very hard to indoctrinate human beings to kill those who have done them no wrong without long term psychological effect.

Since their will probably always be only a very small percentage in any society that can kill on orders without suffering mental health effects it might explain the dwindling sizes of modern standing armies.

As to the claim that 'most' would do it all over again i can but state that retention rates in the US army is suffering ( people are leaving not only because they are being maimed and killed) and that luckily for professional standing armies some people don't learn from their mistakes or never had much humanity to be affected in the first place.

Stellar

reply to post by StellarX

As to the claim that 'most' would do it all over again

It was not a claim, it was a personal assessment.

Obviously my meaning escaped you, but that's ok.. It always is...

Semper

A lot of times I see this within the world. Wars causing the mental and the body to crash. The living nightmares these men go through. They have so many personal demons to fight off and defend. They teach these men how to fight in war but they don't teach them how to come back from a war...how to merge back with family and live again.

You know when a mother or father holds their child and truly embraces this child everything is easier. No more nightmares, no more living dreams of death or of being left alone.

The men and women coming back from Iraq need to be held like that of a parent holding a baby in the arms and literally cuddling with them. These men are tormented by the demons of war and of hatred. Imagine seeing death 24/7 and then being told you will be given a medal when you just offed someone's family all in the name of patriotism?

Get these men home to their families so they can live again and remember the child in them can be saved if they just forgiven themselves and forgive others for denying them of the truth in life.

RIP

It's somewhat disturbing to me to see this being tied back into the "evil Bush administration" and the usual people the blame for everything is placed on. Sure this is a sad story to hear, but this isn't new.

Unfortunately things like this are a result of the horror that is war. Men like this know of the risks and dangers, and make the decision to serve their country anyway. It's decisions like those that make men like him heroes to me. This is not Bush's fault, or Americas fault, or the war's fault. This is life, granted it's not a pretty side of life, but it is.

Instead of trying to find someone or something to blame for things like this, we should acknowledge what it was this man stood and fought for. We should take this for what it is and remember the thousands others who are doing the same thing right now.

God Bless this man and all our troops.

reply to post by semperfortis


You basically meant to suggest that 'most would go trough all that horrible suffering because they are so ready to defend the freedoms of their fellow citizens. As you might have realised by my comments over the last few years my freedoms ( yes, even here in Africa) is as greatly endangered by the US army as it is by the US senate as yours are and it has been a very long time since US soldiers defended essential American freedoms from a honest to god foreign threat. Since there were plenty of opportunities to do so i have felt somewhat compelled to presume that this is by no means a coincidental 'thing'.

Stellar

Only a few will truly understand your pain.

Semper Fidelis my brother.

" What he witnessed must have been very disturbing over in Iraq. "

what the americans witnessed is a thing they them selfs started killed inccents from miles above the sky, drop bombs, you see that american soilder holding the kid, that is only 1 from probably millions so far which are killed by american bombs. so i would like to say to you, people which are on the other side of the world, the so called first world countries, come over here its a complete different story then what you think it is.

war has started due to american gov putting there fingers everywhere. its not freedom its opression.

if you are a american reading this, GO out express your freedoms ! fight the NWO which is YOU american GOV is the NWO world police


good luck expressing your freedoms near the WS building you be arrested like those expressing their freedoms