PTSD

While on a shoot the other day for the American Legion Magazine, I was assigned to photograph volunteers giving out donated items at a Wounded Warrior Center aboard Camp Pendleton, I saw this guy quietly sitting in a chair showing some serious signs of battle fatigue, or PTSD. It was such a heartbreaking site to see him in such obvious psychological pain. As most of the Marines were milling about, sharing a laugh and showing off some of the items they had just received, this guy seemed completely trapped within himself as if he were in some kind of bottomless hole. It really brought the harsh realities of this war to light. I can't imagine the horrors he must have witnessed.