“Iraq took away our innocence!”
Interview with Spc. Douglas Barber- OIF Vet suffering from PTSD
12/03/05
Interview conducted by Jay Shaft, Editor and Lead Investigative Reporter for Coalition For Free Thought In Media
“When we left America we were so much, uh, we were innocent, you know? I would say Iraq took away our innocence as far as what we seen, what we went through. What we had to do and the things that we were prepared to have to do in order to maintain our security and our level of protection, uh, force protection with our unit.”
I would like to introduce America to Specialist Douglas Barber. Doug went to Iraq in April of 2003 and did not come home until January2004. Since he has been home he has lost everything both financially and spiritually. He has lost six jobs, an eleven year marriage and is in extremely dire financial straights. He is balancing on the edge of complete bankruptcy and is in the process of selling a lot of his material possessions just to stay a few steps ahead of the bill collectors.
He is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and related depression and anxiety, with a whole host of coping and personal relations issues. Up till this point he has had extreme difficulty getting both treatment and access to disability benefits that he is supposed to be entitled to as a veteran of combat in a foreign country.
He is currently living on $329 a month and cannot afford basic necessities of life like utilities, medication, food, or other things most people take for granted. He is faced with the looming possibility that he will lose his home and have to find somewhere else to live on a very meager income.
He words will describe how it is for many of the National Guard and Reserve soldiers who have served over in Iraq, sometimes for a second or third deployment of a year or more. At least 100,000 Reserve and National Guard soldiers have now been redeployed or reactivated for a second or even a third deployment and combat tour in Iraq.
By the end of 2006 at least 200,000 US soldiers will have served at least two combat tours in less than four years. There are going to be literally hundreds of thousands of soldiers suffering from long range mental and physical trauma and related complications. By all reports the VA will not be able to handle the overflow of patients as the flood of new cases is already straining the existing programs to their limits.
Over the next few weeks I will be releasing 20-30full length interviews with veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who are either being treated for PTSD or injuries, or having difficulty getting treatment and counseling. Many of them are finding waits of six months to a year for treatment or services is all too common and increasingly the norm, not the exception. I am also releasing about 30 letters and stories from soldiers who are going through hell after coming home from Iraq or Afghanistan.
In addition I will have letters, interviews, and first hand accounts from VA doctors, nurses, staffers and volunteers about what is going on behind the walls of the hospitals and VA centers. I am publishing several first hand reports from workers who deal with the returning injuries and cases of PTSD on a daily basis.
The first letter will be released on Tuesday of next week, along with an interview with a Jack Smith, a veteran who volunteers at VA hospitals and visits the soldiers in the wards. Jack has a very power description of what it is like going in and visiting the soldiers with the most traumatic injuries and psychological problems.
I urge every American to take one day out of their lives and visit a VA hospital in their area for eight hours. Take a look for yourself what is really going on when a soldier comes back home wounded and broken. It should be the duty of every American to see firsthand what this war has done to our troops. The true cost of this war on the returning soldiers must be experienced on a first hand basis to truly comprehend the grim and terrible reality.
I can promise that if you go to one of the VA hospitals, your whole outlook and perspective will be forever changed. The sight of the suffering combined with overwhelming desire to recover and move on is something that is truly overpowering. I can guarantee the sights and sounds from a visit to a ward with seriously injured soldiers will leave you speechless with the over whelming reality of the scenes that the public does not ever see.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a transcript of an hour-long interview and two 25-minute follow up interviews. The audio will be available in the next few days on several web sites. This interview is very long, but the reality and starkness of it could not be edited just to fit in to a smaller, more easily read article. I felt the entire interview must be available, even if it takes two or three reads to get all the way through.
If you read this interview to the end you will understand the enormity of the issues covered. Many of the upcoming interviews will not as long, but this one had to be given its full range and length for complete understanding of the overall issues.
Anyone who wants a copy of part two and three of the interview may e-mail for a copy. The files are 5.5 Mega Bytes but if you have Yahoo mail, your inbox can easily hold it. I will have compressed 2.5MB MP3 files available after Monday.
A copy of the two audio files and additional audio of other interviews are available to any group, organization, or individual who wishes to utilize it for public use, education, research or information.
The initial background interview was conducted on November 22, 2005, followed by the full length interview with two follow-up segments done on November 23, 2005. Additionally I spoke with Doug over the next several days about the ongoing issues and debates of immediate withdrawal and staying the course being played out until late yesterday, when I released this interview.
I will be releasing a print transcription of the two follow up segments, and three additional interviews after Bush delivered several more speeches over the last week. Doug has some very strongly stated opinions on the overall attitudes in America right now. He gives some very harsh commentary on the ongoing deaths and injury. I spoke to him on the day the death toll hit 2100, and again over the last week at the death toll and injuries skyrocketed. He has some very frank and pained words about watching more soldiers die and bleed in Iraq.
JS-What is your name and rank, what was your unit or company, and when did you deploy or get to Iraq?
DB-My name is Specialist Douglas Barber. I was with the 1485th Transportation Company, National Guard, out of Dover, Ohio. We were called to active duty on 11 February 2003. When we actually got boots on ground in Iraq it was around the 1st of June. We spent close to two months down in Kuwait.
This is his unit that was deployed to Iraq: OHIO Army National Guard Units:
Dover -1485th Transportation Co - (LtMdmTr)
Interviewer-So you were not in the initial invasion, but you did get there when the field services and bases were still real basic and being organized? Correct?
DB-Correct. We were originally scheduled to go up with the 4th Infantry Division. Because the 4th ID did not get routed through Turkey we had to go down through Kuwait and wait for them to make a decision as to what they wanted to do with us.
Interviewer -What were you actually trained for? What was your MOS?
DB-My MOS was 88 Mike, which is a transportation specialist. How I got that was in my civilian career I was a truck driver. I had been out of the military for almost ten years. I had re-enlisted in May of 2002, and then in August of 2002 I was awarded the 88 Mike slot because of my experience as a truck driver. So that’s what my initial position was.
Interviewer -While you were in Iraq did they put you in a different job that would have been apart from, or different than your MOS?
DB-No, we were operating as 88 Mikes: Transportation Specialists.
JS-How long did you train for Iraq and have actual combat training before deployment?
DB-We trained for two months down in Fort Lee, Virginia, where we primarily trained, that’s where we did our mobilization process. While we were going through our mobilization process we did what they call our hip pocket training. It’s basically going over tactics and skills, things of that nature.
There is nothing that can ever prepare you for going into a war or into a combat position. No training is like what we went through when finally we hit boots on ground in Iraq. There’s just nothing to compare to that in training.
Interviewer -Were you prepared for what you experienced when you got to Iraq? You said there was no way to be ready. Did you even have any idea what it was going to be like?
DB-No, and that’s the thing nobody understands. While we were sitting at Ft. Lee we seen pictures on TV of the Jessica Lynch situation when she was POW, and things of that nature. I mean we seen that but there is nothing that sunk in.
When we left America we were so much, uh, we were innocent, you know? I would say Iraq took away our innocence as far as what we seen, what we went through, what we had to do and the things that we were prepared to have to do in order to maintain our security and our level of protection, uh, force protection with our unit.
Interviewer -When you actually saw combat were you able to adapt to it as time went by? Or did it take you by surprise every time it happened?
DB-You know, it was kinda funny, because when we actually got into combat, into the thick of it, we were NOT ready! See we were
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