Where is Waldo

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We can all remember searching for Waldo as he goes from one adventure to another. He is a face in the crowd but in a way with his striped shirt, he does stand out just enough so eventually you’ll find him. We can spend a long time searching for him, past the point of just giving up before we do and trying to make sure we find him before someone else does. It’s a matter of pride.

We have men and women coming home from adventures most of us do not envy any more than we understand where they’ve been, what they’ve seen or what they had to do. Unlike Waldo, they don’t want to stand out in a crowd so they wear the same clothes everyone else does. They don’t want someone searching for them because they are searching for themselves. They want to find the person they were before they left but so much changed during the deployment, that person is trapped behind a wall of pain.

Families find strangers living with them and they know something is wrong but they don’t know what to do about it. They get frustrated and some give up before the person they love is “found” again. Others get angry and walk away. Some will keep trying because they know “he” or “she” is in there somewhere.

For some families, it is too late to find “them” again. They did all they could with what they knew how to do out of love but sometimes loves is just not good enough. It would have taken an army to help “find” the person inside the veteran of combat but the army didn’t show up.

This is about one of those families and about a veteran of combat no one is looking for now.

‘Invisible wounds’ take toll on veterans, loved ones
BY CHRISTOPHER BEHNAN • DAILY PRESS & ARGUS • DECEMBER 6, 2010

Linda Evans looks at a photo of her son in Iraq, then another photo of him from last year and swears it’s not the same person.

U.S. Army Sgt. Anthony Burch, 34, ultimately committed suicide after almost losing his life in Iraq, becoming addicted to prescription pain medications and conducting a nine-hour-plus armed standoff with police.

“They’re not the same people to me. They don’t even look the same,” Evans said, comparing photos.

Burch suffered from what have become known as “invisible wounds,” or combat-related traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress.

By nature, “invisible wounds” aren’t seen, and going back decades have rarely been recognized or treated, said Rick Briggs, a retired U.S. Air Force major and head of the Veteran’s Program at the Brighton-based Brain Injury Association of Michigan.

Burch — a Purple Heart recipient — was deployed to Iraq with the Michigan Army National Guard starting in 2004 during the early stages of the conflict. During his tour, a vehicle he was in was struck by a roadside bomb, throwing him from the vehicle.

His gun struck him in the face on impact, causing severe facial injuries. His right hand was also severely injured, and his right pinky finger later had to be removed.

Upon returning home, Burch became addicted to OxyContin and Vicodin to treat his pain.

In July 2009, he had an armed, nine-hour-plus standoff with police that led to the evacuation of about 20 homes in the Hometown Estates mobile home park in Howell.

On Jan. 2, Burch took his life after disappearing from home just before Christmas.
Invisible wounds take toll on veterans

We need to find all the “Waldo” faces we can before there is no time left to find them.

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