Life At Home After Combat Hardest Part

‘You feel so isolated’: Maine veteran talks about life at home after 2 tours 
Bangor Daily News
By Nok-Noi Ricker, BDN Staff
Posted May 15, 2015

“When you’re back, you feel so isolated. You’re suddenly tossed out of your element,” he said. “You have to come home and adjust. If you don’t have somebody there who understands all the time, it’s difficult to get by.”

Robin Aston
Army Reserve Spc. David Aston (center) returned home from Iraq
with the 94th Military Police Company, trained in Saco, in 2011.
In the photo with Aston are fellow reservists from southern Maine,
Branden Winkel (left) and Ben Johnson.

ORONO, Maine — When former Army Reserve Spc. David T. Aston II, a 2009 Bangor High School graduate, left on his second overseas tour, he thought coming home would be a breeze.

It wasn’t.

“I thought it would be easy,” he said Wednesday in the hallway of Wells Commons during the fifth annual conference of the Maine Military & Community Network. “It was much more difficult.”

He left Maine for the first time in 2010 with the 94th Military Police Company, an Army Reserve unit based in Londonderry, New Hampshire, and was deployed to Iraq to protect Outpost Muthana, a small post at the old Baghdad municipal airport.

Then he deployed again in 2013 with the 344th Military Police Company for a year in Afghanistan’s Parwan province, where he spent time training the Afghan army.

Both were dangerous jobs.

Serving overseas two times was difficult, but “the transition back is the hardest part,” recalled Aston, who received his discharge papers Thursday, completing his time in the service.

Living in constant danger takes its toll, he said.

Department of Veterans Affairs psychologist Dr. Jonathan Shay, who specializes in combat trauma, talked to veterans and other attendees about community reintegration after combat. Dr. Richard Lumb gave a presentation about ways to remain resilient after facing trauma. Pentagon Cmdr. Brent Embry talked about forging alliances between the military and community, and Joan Hunter, assistant surgeon general, talked about programs that support behavioral health.

There also were others on hand to talk about equine therapy for veterans, science-based natural therapies and other veteran resources.
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