.Iraq War hero in new battle
HE was known as the Marlboro Man and with his bloodied, blackened face and piercing stare, he became a symbol of the US soldier in Iraq.
But now, 18 months on, James Blake Miller is fighting another battle. The troubled former marine's life has been ruined by post-traumatic stress.
He can't find work, drinks too much and dreams of death.
In November 2004, when the photograph was taken, Miller had survived an all-night fire-fight in the town of Fallouja.
For 12 hours Lance Corporal Miller and his unit had been pinned down on a rooftop by enemy fire.
As the dawn broke and the shots finally subsided, the shattered 20-year-old, put a Marlboro cigarette to his mouth and this famous image was snapped by a photographer.
The photo was sent around the world. Dubbed the Marlboro Man or the "Face of Fallouja", it captured the essence of the Iraq conflict, symbolising everything from the valour of the fighting man to the loss of youthful innocence and the futility of the war.
For Miller, who did not notice his photograph being taken, the image preserved forever a moment when he did not know if he would see another dawn.
In the days after the photograph, Miller became an overnight celebrity. The US military command tried to move him from the frontline, fearing the public relations disaster of this new hero being killed in combat, but Miller refused to leave. His fame reached all the way to the White House, where US President George Bush sent him a letter and a cigar.
But long after the fame subsided, a new picture began to emerge. One year after the photo was taken, Miller was discharged from the Marine Corps after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Today he barely sleeps, plagued by nightmares.
The Marlboro Man now smokes a packet of cigarettes a day, down from the six in Iraq.
He drinks too much and depends on his wife, Jessica, to hold him for hours as he tries to forget all that he has seen.
"He's not the same as before," Ms Miller says.
"I'd never seen the anger, the irritability, the anxiety."
Unable to work, Miller relies on his disability pension of $3339 to get by. He is often angry and confused. In an incident before he was discharged, Miller attacked a petty officer on a US Coast Guard ship while he was deployed to help the Hurricane Katrina clean-up.
The sailor had made a whistling noise like a missile. Miller went berserk, slammed him against a wall and punched him.
Miller doesn't remember the incident.
But he says his ambition to become a police officer or marshal is ruined because of his post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I'm only 21. I'm able-bodied , yet I'm considered a liability," says Miller, who cannot bear to look at the war photo and hates the nickname.
"It's like I had all these doorways open to me and suddenly they all closed on me. It's like my life is over."
HeraldSun
But now, 18 months on, James Blake Miller is fighting another battle. The troubled former marine's life has been ruined by post-traumatic stress.
He can't find work, drinks too much and dreams of death.
In November 2004, when the photograph was taken, Miller had survived an all-night fire-fight in the town of Fallouja.
For 12 hours Lance Corporal Miller and his unit had been pinned down on a rooftop by enemy fire.
As the dawn broke and the shots finally subsided, the shattered 20-year-old, put a Marlboro cigarette to his mouth and this famous image was snapped by a photographer.
The photo was sent around the world. Dubbed the Marlboro Man or the "Face of Fallouja", it captured the essence of the Iraq conflict, symbolising everything from the valour of the fighting man to the loss of youthful innocence and the futility of the war.
For Miller, who did not notice his photograph being taken, the image preserved forever a moment when he did not know if he would see another dawn.
In the days after the photograph, Miller became an overnight celebrity. The US military command tried to move him from the frontline, fearing the public relations disaster of this new hero being killed in combat, but Miller refused to leave. His fame reached all the way to the White House, where US President George Bush sent him a letter and a cigar.
But long after the fame subsided, a new picture began to emerge. One year after the photo was taken, Miller was discharged from the Marine Corps after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Today he barely sleeps, plagued by nightmares.
The Marlboro Man now smokes a packet of cigarettes a day, down from the six in Iraq.
He drinks too much and depends on his wife, Jessica, to hold him for hours as he tries to forget all that he has seen.
"He's not the same as before," Ms Miller says.
"I'd never seen the anger, the irritability, the anxiety."
Unable to work, Miller relies on his disability pension of $3339 to get by. He is often angry and confused. In an incident before he was discharged, Miller attacked a petty officer on a US Coast Guard ship while he was deployed to help the Hurricane Katrina clean-up.
The sailor had made a whistling noise like a missile. Miller went berserk, slammed him against a wall and punched him.
Miller doesn't remember the incident.
But he says his ambition to become a police officer or marshal is ruined because of his post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I'm only 21. I'm able-bodied , yet I'm considered a liability," says Miller, who cannot bear to look at the war photo and hates the nickname.
"It's like I had all these doorways open to me and suddenly they all closed on me. It's like my life is over."
HeraldSun
posted by madtom at 10:42 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home