Posted on 01/04/2006 12:49:55 PM PST by DogBarkTree
(CBS) In November 2004, a photo of a U.S. Marine made the front page of newspapers across the country. The picture is still one of the best-known images of the war. But the man himself has moved on, and is having trouble adjusting to civilian life.
Lance Cpl. Blake Miller of Jonancy, Ky., came to be known as the "Marlboro Marine" when his picture was splashed across the nation.
The attention didn't get him any special privileges, and he served his entire combat tour before he and his unit were ordered home.
The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith was there in February when Miller got to hug his mother upon his return.
At the time, Miller told Smith, "I lost a few of some of my dearest friends. People don't understand how you can be so close to someone that you've only known for such a short time but, when you spend a year-and-a-half with someone, you know some things about them their own family doesn't even know about. People say that the Marine Corps is a brotherhood, and you truly do not realize that until you actually need your brothers, and that's when they're there."
But, like many of his comrades, Miller wasn't able to completely put his time in Iraq behind him.
While on duty during the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, Miller suffered from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and was granted an honorable discharge from the Marines in November.
Miller's life is also different in another way. In June, he married his longtime love, Jessica.
On The Early Show Tuesday, Miller told Smith, "For the most part, I mean, it was a big adjustment (when I got home) just trying to get in that mindset of being able to just roam, run around without fear of being shot at or where to look for danger. … It's unexplainable. I mean, just to go from that mindset to being able to walk around freely and just enjoy it."
Miller said the trouble that arose during his Katrina duties happened on the USS Iwo Jima when a sailor mimicked the whistle of a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG).
"For anybody to duplicate that sound," Miller told Smith, "they've had to hear it. Without even knowing what I'd done until after it was over, I snatched him up, I slammed him against the bulkhead, the wall, and took him to the floor, and I was on top of him."
Miller went into therapy, but wasn't told right away that he had PTSD.
"At first, they thought maybe it was the pressure of being on the ship," he said. "The more doctors I talked to, the more they came to the conclusion that (PTSD) is what it is. … I'm continuing my therapy; continued up until the day I got out (of the service), actually."
And Miller knows he's not alone.
"A lot of guys have had way worse incidents from being in Iraq," he said. "And I guess it just — it troubled me due to the fact that their incidents may have been more severe, and they weren't suffering from the same things I was. I just didn't understand how it could affect me so dramatically and not affect some of these guys. But a lot of them deal with different ways.
"The more and more I talk to (other guys), the more I found out there were a lot of Marines that are going through same or similar emotions. It's tough to deal with. Being in Iraq is something no one wants to talk about."
"The attention didn't get him any special privileges, and he served his entire combat tour before he and his unit were ordered home."
Can you imagine a marine asking for or expecting special privaledges because his picture was in the paper?
This bloke would *not* be somebody to be meddled with. I sure wouldn't, anyrate. God Bless you, Marine! Thanks for your service.
RPG's whistle?
To Lcpl Miller, Semper Fi, thanks for your service, and welcome home!
Yes, its the return of the psychologically effed up "Vietnam vet" who; commits crimes, is violent, abuses drugs and alcohol, is homeless, can't hold down a job, has trouble with relationships, can't deal with society, has reoccurring nightmares. All of this nonsense brought to you by the liberals in the MSM and Hollywwod.
I call the network SeeBS.
Takes time. Bleed it off. Stay away from the hooch as much as possible. Life goes on. Thank you, Warrior, for your sacrifices, physical and otherwise.
Alright. So he's having some problems. He's taking care of it and he's getting help. I don't see anything here that indicates we'll be seeing him on a highway divider holding a "Will Work for Food" sign ten years from now.
As far as I can tell, it's just the MSM trying to gin up the old Vietnam Redux as usual. This can't be another Vietnam without its own ragtag contingent.
Seen the "Doonsbury" recently? Ol' B.D. is being turned into a basket-case, now he's having Vietnam/Gulf War I/Iraq war syndrome.
Sounds like a real chuckle.
More of a whoosh from the films I have seen.
"Seems to me its the Marine himself who's expressing that he's troubled."
He is being honest.
And it is sad that he has PTSD.
But the story seems almost to be gloating about it -as if the author is happy to find that this Marine/icon did not escape Iraq unscathed.
Didn't he lose his leg?
Isn't PTSD the modern name for 'shell shock'?
There's the issue, he's not troubled, he's human; which is more than our enemies. It's asinine for anyone to think that our warriors could walk away from what's happening unscathed. The trouble begins when those back home don't provide proper support for the transition, and/or use what is happening to these men for their own purposes; like writing news articles to sway peoples feelings about our efforts.
Does anyone think for a moment that the "Greatest Generation" is not filled with men who to this day wake up in a cold sweat, get angry at the drop of a hat, or cry when they smell or see something familiar? The difference is that they do not have a liberal media searching for ways to undercut their efforts at every turn.
Me too, I recently changed it too Ann C.
"Isn't PTSD the modern name for 'shell shock'?"
Yep, also war neurosis and combat stress. Quite a number of soldiers were executed for it in WW1.
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