SAMHSA News: Veterans & Their Families

When Sgt. Dean Nist returned home to rural Somerset, PA, after Marine Reserve combat service in Iraq that included the battle of Fallujah, he found dealing with civilians difficult. “I ordered my wife and kids around like they were my Marines,” he recalls. Across the country, in Tucson, AZ, former Army Sgt. Abel Moreno returned home after combat service in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Initially, he found himself unable to land a job that paid enough to support his family. The challenges facing Sgt. Nist and Mr. Moreno, along with troubling wartime memories and feelings of isolation from the civilians around them, added up to major stress. Before long, both veterans were using alcohol heavily to deal with the pressures of readjustment to civilian life. With some 700,000 of their comrades now back in the United States, similar issues confront active duty military personnel, returning veterans, and their families and communities across the Nation.

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