Baptist Press
By Scott Barkley, posted November 11, 2024 in Mental Health, National News
DATELINE (BP) – Like all others who have served, Veterans Day holds a special place for Damon Friedman.
Multiple combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Awarded three Bronze Stars (one for Valor) and the Air Force Combat Action Medal. Recipient of the Spirit of Hope Award by the secretary of defense. Stateside, he has become a published author and inspirational speaker.
Those who haven’t gone through it can’t appreciate the transition expected of those returning from deployment. Friedman knows what it’s like to drive into a village where women are mourning in agony, unable to think of anything more to do than fling dirt into the air because their children were killed and burned.
“You don’t know what hate is until you see that stuff,” he said. “I didn’t just hate what the enemy did. I hated the enemy.”
Scenes like that don’t leave your mind. One minute you’re there. The next you’re standing in a grocery store aisle, panning your gaze across 3 million brands of cereal and trying to remember which one your wife told you the kids had to have. More Here