The War on Terror: Coming Home (2011)

In the decade since the attacks on Sept. 11th, 2001, more than 6000 American lives have been lost in the War on Terror. Thousands more have returned with psychological damage - forever changed. Leading up to the ten-year anniversary of the War on Terror, The Providence Journal launched an effort to examine the war's impact on veterans and their families. The result was an eight-part series, which ran in the paper and on the web from Oct. 2, 2011, to Nov. 7, 2011, and culminated in a feature-length video documentary about four veterans. These veterans share stories of their combat experiences and the lives they have led since returning to a civilian world, far removed from the battlefield. Their experiences and the insight of health-care professionals illustrate the human toll of a war fought by a tiny fraction of Americans serving in an all-volunteer military. On Dec.18, the last American combat troops left Iraq, but some 91,000 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan. The war on terror continues. So, too, do the needs of veterans -- and they are growing. Projections show that by the year 2020, nearly 1.5 million veterans of the war will be enrolled in the nationwide VA health-care system, more than double those enrolled in 2011. In The War on terror: Coming Home, Army veteran Derek Pelletier and National Guard veterans John DiRaimo, Brian Santos and Sean Judge describe the difficulties of reentry into civilian life. Massachusetts native Pelletier, twice honored with the Bronze Star, continues to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. DiRaimo, of Rhode Island, has found help from the Providence VA Medical Center. And Judge and Santos, who served together, have followed two different paths. It is their voices and personal stories that bring home the aftermath of war, to a public largely removed from the price of a nation at war.