WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Iraq veteran weighs in on challenges for soldiers returning home

Iraq veteran weighs in on challenges for soldiers returning home

By Shayla Reaves - bio | email
Posted by Charles Gazaway - email

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - The realities of war never go away for people like Fred Minnick who lived it. He joined the National Guard right out of school and served nine years on the job. With it came a sense of purpose soldiers like him can understand.

"You don't think about yourself, you think about the guy on your left or right. You care about them more than you do yourself," said Minnick.

The 31-year-old Minnick rose to the rank of staff sergeant and his service included a one-year deployment to Iraq. During that time, stress grew along with the realities of war for soldiers and civilians who lived there.

"Here we can go to a bank. We don't have to worry about being blown up," Minnick said of life in the United States. "Iraq, you go to a bank, you don't know if you're going to make it back because of car bombs."

That disconnect made coming home in 2005 tough for the National Guardsman. Minnick said he found Americans had showed a greater interest in pop-culture than in sacrifice.

"I couldn't cope with anything anymore, so what I did was drink. I isolated myself. I didn't want to be around people," said Minnick. "Inside I felt worthless. I felt like this country doesn't care about me."

Minnick reached a breaking point a month after he returned home. The serviceman suffered a brain injury while in Iraq.

"I went to sleep in my backyard one time, back home with my parents, their backyard, and I basically woke up in the front yard hugging a tree. Apparently, I was running around with a stick telling everyone 'they're everywhere' and I was yelling men in back masks are everywhere. I was basically dreaming I was back in Iraq. I was running around. I was sleepwalking," Minnick said. "My family was around me when I came to, they were all crying. I was crying. That was probably one of the biggest moments."

That's when Minnick sought help for post traumatic stress disorder for the first time. Even though combat stress units were available for soldiers while in service, Minnick said he found difficulty seeking help in the field. Now after going through treatment, Minnick says the signs were there back then, he just didn't know it.

"There is a stigma. When I was in the thick of things, no way would I ever go to one," said Minnick. "There were more important things to worry about than myself."

To deal with his stress, Minnick has written a book as a way to cope. It's a process he started at the advice of his doctor in 2005. The book is called Camera Boy: An Army Journalist's War in Iraq. It's now available in book stores.

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