To combat veterans of Iraq: a question about reintegration.

I am civilian. My parents were a big supporters of democracy and Iraq invasion, and decided to go back to Iraq shortly after Saddam was caught. I was in elementary school during that time, and we stayed in Baghdad for about 1 month, and during that month, I have seen enough violence for a life time. Bodies were literally on the highway, the smell of burning flesh in the air, I came very close to dying multiple times. My uncle got killed (he was a doctor, militias were targeting doctors for some odd reason), and my other uncle got kidnapped (by Iraqi police), shortly after that we left Iraq, everyone we knew left Iraq.

My parents then decided to go back again in 2007 until 2013 events started. We lived close to US base in Baghdad, and remember hearing missiles getting launched, and waiting nervously if they were going to land on our heads (god those were terrifying).

I can't imagine what you guys went through, having a target on your back all the time.

I think the hardest part about coming back to civilization is that no one relates and understands your experience and mindset. I have never felt more lonely in my life and I slipped into severe depression. I ended up getting kicked from engineering school. I decided to go for therapy and the therapist was a trans person, he decided that I didn't need therapy (within 5 minutes), when obviously I needed it. I insisted that I needed help, and he got pissed and started acting bitchy. I never went to therapy again.

I still struggle a lot. Depression feels like someone cut off your legs, doing anything is 10 times harder than before.

/r/MensRights Thread