The ‘Marlboro Man’ Marine Comes Home

‘The photo of the ‘Marlboro Man’ in Fallujah became a symbol of the Iraq conflict when it ran in newspapers across America in 2004. Now the soldier has returned home to Kentucky,where he battles the demons of post-traumatic stress….The man in the photograph is James Blake Miller, now 21, and he is an icon, although in ways [Dan] Rather probably never imagined.
He’s quieter now — easier to anger. He turns to fight at the sound of a backfire, can’t look at fireworks without thinking of fire raining down on a city. He has trouble sleeping, and when he does, his fingers twitch on invisible triggers. The diagnosis: post-traumatic stress disorder. ‘

After returning home and being diagnosed with PTSD by a military psychiatrist, the military still wasn’t finished with him. They sent him to New Orleans to help bring law and order to the city in the wake of the Katrina disaster…” — Jeralyn Merritt (Huffington Post via walker)