A poem by Iraq War veteran Joe Wheeler from the Warrior Writers project.
Coming home
Iraq was horrific.
The intense searing heat
that suffocated…
always.
Being shot at.
Hearing the mortar rounds fired at us.
The waiting, for the mortar
rounds to land on me or
one of my fellow soldiers.
The incoming wounded shot in the face.
The war broke my heart.
The war broke me.
What was worse
was coming home
to a little girl
who did not know me.
Naively, I expected open
arms,
but to her I was
the enemy.
I was the intruder.
I was waging war on her way of life.
Encroaching on her
relationship
with her
mother… my wife.
Worse than war
was coming home a
stranger
to my
own family.
– Joe Wheeler
Joe Wheeler is a member of the warrior writers project who was deployed during the first year (OIF I) of the Iraq war with the 240th Forward Surgical Team attached to the Fourth Infantry Division as a surgical assistant. He was active duty army.
