Weatherford Democrat - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder price of service?

Weatherford Democrat - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder price of service?: "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder price of service?

Lacie Morrison

CNHI News Service

MINERAL WELLS, Texas — They answered their country's call to service in 2004, leaving behind their families, friends and homes to spend the next 12 months in the desert country of Iraq where the war on terrorism has raged in the Middle East.

They fought, they built, they protected and they followed orders. In 2005, the National Guard's Bravo Company 111th Engineers returned to Texas and their families as veterans.

Some soldiers now are finding themselves fighting a new battle – one with themselves.

When Richard Choate and Lonnie Johnson returned from the sands of Iraq, the first few weeks were what they called a “bliss period.” They weren't immediately conscious that they might have a lingering consequence of their yearlong deployment. Now getting help with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, they talked about what it's been like – coming home a different person - and how it's impacted their lives in a variety of ways.

“It took about two to three weeks to start kicking in,” Choate recalled. “When I was first back ... I wouldn't venture far from the house or be around anybody. If I went out somewhere, I went really fast.”

Choate has "