The New York Times has a nice opinion piece by Lawrence Downes in today's paper, called "Losing Private Dwyer," linked here.
Another heroic warrior dying another tragic, PTSD-related death. Ironically, too -- another subject of an iconic war photograph, like the Marlboro Marine -- whose true-life struggles, after the fact, were so much larger than we really understood, who only saw the narrow "slice" of his less than 15 minutes of fame. Said the reporter about Dwyer's photo, "If there are better images of the strength and selflessness of the American soldier, I can’t think of any."
Downe's story of Dwyer's heartbreaking troubles is well worth reading. As Pfc. Joseph Dwyer's mom, Maureen, said, about his mounting personal troubles,"he just couldn’t get over the war,” The son she knew, she says, may have been here in person, but in spirit, "never came home."
Editor's note: See also The Troubled Homecoming of the Marlboro Marine, by Jenny Eliscu, in Rolling Stone, April 3, 2008, linked here. The subtitle, addressing the iconic war portrait of the troubed Marine says it all: "This is the face of the war in Iraq. The mind behind it will never be the same."
Postscript: The National Veterans Foundation put the item about Army medic Pfc. Joseph Dwyer's death on their website, as covered by the New York Times, but then added this relevant piece of info. I'll add it here too because it's important to note, and use:
"One thing that did seem to help, Ms. Knapp and Ms. Minor said, was peer counseling from a fellow veteran, a man who had been ambushed in Iraq and knew about fear and death. But that was too little, too late, and both women say they are frustrated with the military for letting Mr. Dwyer slip away."
Here at the NVF, we have trained veterans from Vietnam to Iraq ready to answer calls from people like Pfc. Dwyer. Currently, we are only open from 9AM to 9PM 7 days a week. With the help of people like you, we hope to expand our Lifeline call center to 24/7 - which could make the difference of a life.
The toll-free number of the National Veterans Foundation hotline, currently staffed at the hours mentioned above, is (888) 777-4443. As they say, "You've been there -- we've been there. Don't wait -- call our team now."
