Heartbreaker

Travis Twiggs was a Marine sergeant, the kind that you think of when you close your eyes and try to imagine a Marine sergeant.  Burly, tough, considered one of the best field trackers on earth; a devoted family man with a wife and two kids; a patriot who voluntarily served tour after tour in Iraq, and who personally thanked President Bush for staying the course there.  

He and his brother Will, ex-Navy, got in a car, drove across country and eventually drove themselves into the Grand Canyon.  And it got worse after that.

William Finnegan's New Yorker article on Twigg is heartbreaking.  It is not political, it takes no position on the war, or on the VA, or on any other public controversy.  Instead, it is a close look at Twigg, and his family, and the devastating effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, even when it has been diagnosed and treated.

Read it, but only if you are feeling strong.