Erica Heartquist
The national organization started last year in Tucson.
So far it’s helped 175 people from around the country.
Organizers say, there was a need to help-out today’s troops and they plan to meet that need.
News 4 sat down with a 28-year old Army veteran who’s both helping, and getting help from Vets 4 Vets.
“War is difficult. You want to make your transition to your normal life easy,” says former Army Paratrooper, Abel Moreno.
But how do service men and women transition back to “normal” after months, even years of war?
“There are a lot of times where you really don’t feel like talking at all. And that’s just due to the decompression,” says Moreno.
He says the real fight is getting used to being back home.
Adjusting to life after war, Moreno says, is a struggle for service members regardless of their branch.
“There’s a common ground that you see and you meet with everybody especially when they’ve been in Iraq and they’ve been in the military, Army, Marines, Navy or Air Force- that of you’ve been over there- you’ve pretty much chewed the same dirt.”
While there are currently groups in place to help those vets who have fought in other wars, this is one of the first organizations to help veterans fighting in today’s conflicts.
Moreno, who also now works for Vets 4 Vets, spent seven months in Afghanistan and about six in Iraq.
He did not want to elaborate about his buddies killed overseas, but says the organization has taught him, “What you’re feeling is not alien, what you’re feeling is not strange, this is what happens to vets.”
Now he’s hoping he can help the other veterans who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Someone shouldn’t have to walk around when you live in this place and say, ‘I’m still living in Hell’ that’s not what they earned. What they earned was a happy life. If they’re entitled to anything, it’s that.”
