A special report by "Joanna," a Quaker social worker/therapist whose practice is located near a large Army Base (More resources on this topic are at the end of the article.)

Since the soldiers began returning from the Iraq war at the turn of the year, my therapy practice has been inundated with a variety of problems that come from the soldiers’ experiences in this war. Chuck asked me to write about what I am seeing.

One result that all therapists expected was PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder. Symptoms may include nightmares, flashbacks (even reenactment), disturbed sleep and hyper vigilance. This can be caused by a variety of incidents, from life threatening experience for the soldiers themselves to the experience of a good friend or buddy being injured or killed.

But many soldiers I’ve seen have PTSD symptoms due to the inhuman things that they had to do in this war:

One was forced by his superior to run over a woman and child trying to stop a convoy on a road where many convoys were attacked.

Another shot into a crowd that contained women and children and saw children die.

Another was attacked by a kid he had befriended and given food to; then he had to kill the boy to save his own life.

One NCO had nightmares of watching two of his soldiers being blown up when they picked up what turned out to be a live bomb, on the orders of an officer who was collecting booty for his "trophy room." This NCO, a career soldier, then lost faith in the military when he was forced to lie about the incident to protect the officer.

Even jobs that some thought were "safe" from direct fire or war were not safe from this type of experience. One soldier in communications was stringing lines when he and his partner ran into an Iraqi soldier in a bunker.

They hollered at him to get out, but he didn’t. Although he didn’t actually raise his weapon to them, he continued holding it loosely, and the soldier shot him, again under orders. Then he was wracked by guilt that the Iraqi soldier hadn’t understood, might have been saved if he had acted differently, that the Iraqi was someone’s son, someone’s brother. but he didn’t. Although he didn’t actually raise his weapon to them, he continued holding it loosely, and the soldier shot him, again under orders. Then he was wracked by guilt that the Iraqi soldier hadn’t understood, might have been saved if he had acted differently, that the Iraqi was someone’s son, someone’s brother.

PTSD caused by this type of thing seems to be more difficult to treat, more difficult to recover from than the usual war experience of fire fights, because the soldiers feel they have lost an important part of themselves and fear that they are damaged permanently by behaving against their core beliefs.

The violence of war creates violence at home when soldiers return. They most noticeable evidence of this is the dramatic increase in domestic violence, even the killings of spouses, since .

the soldiers started returning. The soldiers tell me that the killing of spouses at military bases is at an all time high, but I have no concrete evidence to this effect, and the Army is pretty quiet about it. But I am sure seeing a lot of domestic violence in the couples here.

Connected to this in my mind is the anger. Most of the soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan are angry. As a therapist, I have found many "reasons" for the anger - anger at the administration for getting them into such a war; anger at the Iraqis for trying to kill the soldiers who came to save them; anger at people over them for asking them to do dangerous and sometimes useless activities; anger at the administration for not just letting the soldiers go ahead and "finish" the war, etc.

But above all, anger appears to be a necessity to staying alive in Iraq. It is part of the ever vigilant watching, not knowing where the next attack will come from. However, they cannot simply turn off the anger when they return. Spouses and children often complain that another person returned from the war, that they do not even recognize this angry, short tempered person who seems to have lost capacity for humor, empathy and love. They come to me for marital or family therapy, but I often have to see the soldier alone first to work on the anger.

Even if they were not clinically traumatized or meet the definition of PTSD, the experience of being a soldier in Iraq seems to be traumatic on an emotional or spiritual level. This is also isolating in that the soldiers feel that their spouses, wives, families do not understand them and stick with their war buddies who shared the experience. Some individuals are able to let go the anger, get over it faster than others. Some still hang onto the anger and are now being redeployed to Iraq. I am frightened of what they will be like when they return next time.

One reaction to the war came as quite a surprise to me – a dramatic increase in sexual addiction. A year or more deployment is a long time to be away from family, wives and girlfriends. There are few opportunities for sexual encounters in Iraq. So many soldiers got onto the internet for pornographic sites and satisfied their needs with masturbation. But then they became addicted, which means that they become totally absorbed in their own orgasm to the detriment of interaction with another.

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