Marines Move On, Never Forget

May 26, 2008— -- It started with a cell phone message on the fifth anniversary of the Marines taking Baghdad. It was from former Cpl. Michael Elliot, one of the Marines in the Fox 2/5 unit I've been embedded with in Iraq on several occasions since the invasion in 2003.

The message was typical Elliot -- upbeat, positive about the future, and his way of keeping our relationship alive. Knowing from our previous contacts that he had been treated for post traumatic stress disorder the past two years, the message was all the more reassuring, and was the impetus for my checking in with some of the other Marines I had been with.

During my first assignment with Fox 2/5 in 2003, the unit was involved in a civilian tragedy at a hastily erected road block on the outskirts of Baghdad. Ten civilians were killed, four of them children. It remains one of Elliot's most haunting memories.

Elliot wrote about the experiences that haunted him in his journal. "My thoughts and opinions are changing every day. Last night, a bus tried to breach our barricade, and we shot at the bus until it went off the road, killing almost everyone inside. When we move down the streets, we shoot at anything that moves. I even killed three people yesterday. I didn't see their weapons, and I didn't hesitate to look for them."

When Elliot was eventually diagnosed with PTSD, he was put on an 85 percent veteran's disability. He was initially so reluctant to get treatment he confessed to driving out to the VA hospital for nearly a year and sitting in the parking lot before mustering the courage to share his problems with professionals.

Now Elliot works at a foster home for abused children. They, too, have a tough time sleeping through the night as they deal with their demons.

"They have seen some of the things I've seen. Maybe they haven't been in combat or witnessed those types of situations, but they have had family violence and things that have severely traumatized them. And having had my own personal trauma, I can help treat them. They can understand where I've been, and I can understand them and be more effective in their treatment," Elliot said.