Take a minute and imagine what it must feel like to think every piece of trash on the side of the road or every discarded soda can could be an improvised explosive device. Such is life for a mother of two I met recently in suburban Illinois.
Keri Christensen served in Iraq with the Army National Guard. She has been back for a year and still panics when she takes her kids for a ride in the family minivan. Keri's job in Iraq was to haul tanks and heavy equipment from Kuwait to Iraq. She had to scan the roads regularly for roadside bombs to help keep the convoy safe. That fear has stuck with her.
She says she was diagnosed in Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder. As many as one in seven soldiers returning from Iraq could have it, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
Keri and her husband Brian told me she didn't have any mental health issues before deploying to Iraq. But she says that since she's been back she's had imaginary conversations with her husband, run for cover at the sound of a neighbor's nail gun (he was doing home construction), and burst into tears during fireworks at Disneyland because it reminded her of explosions in Iraq.
Keri is getting therapy, but says her condition hasn't improved much. She says she has terrible nightmares and is taking both anti-depressants and sleep aids. Since returning from Iraq, Keri has been fighting her own war at home, which like the one she left behind, has no easy end in sight.
