Soldier in Famous Photo Never Defeated 'Demons'

Friends wonder about veteran care when system didn't save Army medic in iconic Iraq War photo

"Officers had been to the white ranch house at 560 W. Longleaf many times before over the past year to respond to a "barricade situation." Each had ended uneventfully, with Joseph Dwyer coming out or telling police in a calm voice through the window that he was OK. But this time was different.

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They found Dwyer lying on his back, his clothes soiled with urine and feces. Scattered on the floor around him were dozens of spent cans of Dust-Off, a refrigerant-based aerosol normally used to clean electrical equipment.

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A photograph taken in the first days of the war had made the medic from New York's Long Island a symbol of the United States' good intentions in the Middle East. When he returned home, he was hailed as a hero.

But for most of the past five years, the 31-year-old soldier had writhed in a private hell, shooting at imaginary enemies and dodging nonexistent roadside bombs, sleeping in a closet bunker and trying desperately to huff away the "demons" in his head. When his personal problems became public, efforts were made to help him, but nothing seemed to work..."

Rest in peace, Army Spc. Joseph Patrick Dwyer.



4 pages long, if you can bear to read it: http://abcnews.go.com/US/WireStory?id=5412070&page=1

that does not involve a profit for their minions.

I just read this a little while ago. A real tragedy.