Cancer News

You've heard of war veterans becoming violent, commiting suicide or having mental issues. The military now requires soldiers to go through a Reintegration program following deployments. Call it a lesson learned... Numerous soldiers went to war and returned before any program was in place. Donnell Preskey shares two of those soldier's stories... Memories hard to shake... (Janet) lost guys, had guys who had unfortunate accidents... (Fleck) "I remember myself worrying if I would be returnig or not, wondering if this would be my last phone conversation with my family the night before." Troy Fleck and Janet Masseth were both deployed with the North Dakota National Guard's 957... The first unit to go to Iraq in the War on Terror. Placed in an unorganized, dangerous, and hostile area taking gun fire daily... (Fleck) "You need to pick which people go on certain missions, and you know you are sending them in harms way, you know they have a family and children at home." 300 plus days of terror... And then back home... (Janet) Kid thrown ball at car, I wasn't in Bismarck, I was in Iraq instantly, took off seatbelt, get ready to get out and yell..." Janet's war wounds cut deep... She lost her dad while deployed, and came home to her being mom diagnosed with cancer... (Janet) felt like life on hold for so long and when I was trying to move forward it wasn't moving with me, it was hard to adjust to all the changes. Frustrated... Janet acted out... (Janet) small things like just trying to log onto my bank account, if that didn't go right, i'd punch computer, get up and kick the tower. If a window wouldn't open i'd punch the wall next to it. (Dustin) could see she's still hurting, and needed help. (janet) I was afraid of it when first learned of it, i couldn't believe I would act out like that, I was in disbelief, that wasn't me, not normal and I was ashamed having those thougths and feelings... (Fleck) Don't think anyone told me that the feelings having okay, normal and can be expected... Six and a half years after returning... Their wounds have healed... Now they're on to making memories... that bring them peace beyond the war. Fleck says one of the most difficult adjustments for him was dealing with the change in family dynamics he is now divorced. Both Fleck and Masseth say they wish something like the Reintegration program would've been around for them following their return in 2004.