About 600,000 American veterans have been recognized with post-traumatic stress dysfunction, or PTSD. Symptoms can embody anxiousness, worry, irritability, and melancholy.
Through their reporting for this week’s story, Scott Pelley and the 60 Minutes crew discovered some signs of PTSD are, in a way, contagious: some relations residing with veterans who’ve been recognized, like kids and spouses, usually expertise related signs, resembling anxiousness and melancholy.
One of the brave households that shared their story with 60 Minutes was the Rotenberry household.
Chuck Rotenberry was a Marine who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. During his second deployment, Rotenberry remembers being on a patrol when a fellow Marine stepped on an IED, gravely wounding the soldier, and sending Rotenberry 20 ft, knocking him out. Rotenberry remembers making his solution to injured Marines and offering life-saving assist.
Rotenberry got here residence to his kids and his spouse, Liz, who was pregnant with their fourth little one. He was struggling with a mind damage and PTSD.
“He was hiding in, you understand, again rooms…and I’d discover him crying, and he did not perceive why he was crying,” Liz stated.
Their son, Kristopher, who was 7 years previous on the time, pitched in. Over the years, he tried shielding his dad from triggers and his sisters from the trauma. By age 12, the burden had grown, and he recalled making an attempt suicide.
“I kinda determined that, you understand, my household’d be higher off with out me right here,” Kris advised 60 Minutes.
In an interview with 60 Minutes Overtime, Pelley revisited his reporting on troopers who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past 20 years, and the impression their deployment and PTSD has had on their households.
Starting in 2005, Pelley and 60 Minutes adopted an Iowa National Guard Unit for almost two years from the second they have been referred to as to serve to the eventual extension of their tour in Iraq.
One of the guardsmen was Denver Foote, who had been within the National Guard for seven years main as much as his deployment.
His spouse, Shannon Foote, was in labor with their first little one, Landen, when the decision to warfare got here on Denver’s cellular phone. She advised Pelley she was going to be a “tremendous mother” whereas her husband served abroad.
But she struggled, working to assist herself and Landen, residing together with her in-laws, and battling melancholy. When Denver’s tour was prolonged, she was devastated.
“I do not assume the period of time that he is been over there may be truthful. And I have not actually seen any progress,” she advised Pelley in an interview.
Pelley puzzled if melancholy was widespread among the many different army wives. “Everyone I’ve talked to, it is actually fairly widespread,” she stated.
In 2009, Pelley embedded with an organization within the 2nd battalion of the eighth Marines for a narrative referred to as “Golf Company.” The firm was primarily based in Helmand province, Afghanistan. At the time, the United States was experiencing the very best variety of casualties within the area.
Second Lieutenant Dan O’Hara from Chicago was a platoon chief. Two of his Marines had been killed. Pelley requested O’Hara how the troopers can distinguish the enemy from the civilians within the native inhabitants.
“For probably the most half, you do not till they begin capturing at you,” O’Hara stated.
In 2012, 60 Minutes reported on veterans residing in Harris Country, Texas who had returned residence from warfare with PTSD and damaged the regulation for a narrative referred to as “Coming Home.”
Kevin Thomas, a Marine who had served in Iraq, advised Pelley that he was on a nighttime patrol with different troopers once they obtained a name over the radio saying a helicopter had crashed. What he noticed was seared into his thoughts.
“What did you see?” Pelley requested Thomas.
“Wreckage, carnage, our bodies…25-30 Marines. Brothers. Family,” he stated.
Six months later, Thomas returned residence to his household in Houston. He stated he began ingesting closely and changing into avoidant, isolating himself in his residence. He was completely unaware of what was occurring to him.
He misplaced his job and his household’s belief. His aggression was on a hair set off. Eventually, he hit his then-wife and was charged with felony assault.
“I used to be indignant about unfinished enterprise in Iraq. I needed to return in,” he advised 60 Minutes.
A court docket for veterans who’re first-time felony offenders helped Thomas discover remedy at a VA hospital as a part of his probation. It additionally helped him get into faculty.
60 Minutes cameras have been with Thomas and his two sons once they went out for ice cream. One of them requested him what it was like within the Marines. Pelley requested Thomas, “When he is a little bit bit older, what are you going to inform him about your expertise?”
“I’m going to inform him that my expertise and my profession within the Marines was nice. It’s the perfect factor I ever did in my life,” he stated tearfully.
Tragically, Kevin Thomas died in a automotive accident seven months after “Coming Home” aired on 60 Minutes. He was 36 years previous.
“The most essential factor for the nation to recollect is that these veterans of those wars, their kids, and their spouses are nonetheless residing by means of this,” Pelley advised 60 Minutes Overtime.
“And that’s one thing that none of us ought to ever neglect.”
The video above was initially printed on April 28, 2024. It was produced by Will Croxton and Brit McCandless Farmer and was edited by Sarah Shafer Prediger.
