Invisible wounds: for many soldiers the war continues when they get home

Source: Denver Post

At first glance, it's impossible to notice the deep wounds that torment Vladimir Vasquez - a tall, burly and handsome man with a disarming smile - every day.

Like 171,000 veterans of the Iraq - and Afghanistan - war, Vasquez suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, an invisible injury that is equally as intense as an amputation or a burn.

"Brain injuries and PTSD are the signature injuries of these wars," said Robert Alvarez, a therapist and veteran advocate, adding that Latinos are more likely to suffer from these type of mental health issues.

"(Those with PTSD) exhibit extreme anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and anger, and that can be life threatening."

Vasquez knows well what he means.

One of the first soldiers to arrive in Iraq in April 2003, just after the U.S. invasion, explosions, ambushes and firefights were the staff sergeant's daily bread.

"Some days were good, some days were bad, some days were horrible," said the soldier who was born in the Dominican Republic, grew up in New York and decided to enlist in the Army after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"We were in an area where anything could happen. And we still did not know who we were dealing with or with whom we were fighting or anything," he added. "Every day, the motivation for us was to live another day to get back here, to be able to come back."

But coming back can be many times more difficult than being there.

The latest statistics don't lie.

Afghanistan and Iraq veterans are 75 percent more likely to die in car crashes than civilians. These vets are also twice as likely to commit suicide than their civilian counterparts. In addition, the unemployment rate of young male veterans who served in the past decade is 27 percent, three times higher than the civilian population.

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