Invisible Wounds

Apr 17

“I have professors at Columbia who view me as a terrorist for fighting in Iraq. But I believe that America is an example to be emulated, and I went over there to provide those people with basic human freedoms. But when you get over there you realize that you’re fighting kids. Everyone was kids. You see it when they’re dead. These weren’t the guys who were flying into towers. These were kids who grew up poor, stepped into the wrong madrasa, and were manipulated by people with a shit load of money into executing somebody else’s worldview. None of them came out of the womb hating. None of them came out of the womb thinking anything else but holy shit this is a bright beautiful world.”

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“I understand that it’s not sexy to talk about treatment. But the maddening thing about PTSD is that it’s completely fucking fixable.”

“The military is mostly filled with people who genuinely desire to do the right thing.”

“We met in college. Mark had long hair and a beard. He was class president so there were posters of him hanging up around campus.”

“I don’t feel good about it. It will bother me for the rest of my life and honestly I’m happy about that.”

“I have professors at Columbia who view me as a terrorist for fighting in Iraq.”

“I don’t think it’s possible to be a medic in a conflict zone and not have something stay with you.”

“I was inside an armored carrier with my platoon commander. He tried to open a pressurized fuel container and it sprayed across the vehicle and hit a camping stove that he was using to make hot chocolate.”

“Everyone who comes back from deployment fills out a form. It’s a standard psychological evaluation.”

“I was in charge of 250 Marines during my second deployment. We were assigned to a district called Sangin.”

“We got called out one day to assist a fuel convoy that was being pinned down by gunfire.”

“My brother went to Harvard. He’s ‘Good Will Hunting’ smart.”

“I didn’t fit in too well in training. I came back from drinking one night and I was three minutes after curfew.”

“My father was a platoon sergeant in the Pennsylvania National Guard. But nobody ever thought I’d join the military.”

Adam Parks https://apollocreativeco.com