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Thousands of GIs Cope With Brain Damage
The training that helped them in combat situations is hurting them now.
"These guys are taught to be alert all the time," so they sleep poorly, Schneider said.
  Bryan Malone, an Army specialist, left, and Eric O'Brien, right, an Army staff sergeant, pose at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Aug. 2, 2007, in Nashville, Tenn. As a result of a rocket attack on a Baghdad gym where the two were working out, they both suffer from traumatic brain injury, the "silent epidemic" of the Iraq war. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) (Mark Humphrey - AP) Resources
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"Their nervous system becomes acclimated to being constantly on alert _ fight or flight," Fenimore said.
Malone knows it well.
"I worry about every little thing _ people breaking into my house, loud booms ... I'm jumpy," he said.
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"I'm going to Afghanistan next year," said O'Brien, determined to stay in the Army and support his two daughters, who live with his ex-wife in Texas.
"I'm trying," added Malone. "They're telling me they don't think my brain can take it. I think, 'Why don't you let me decide?'"
Doctors don't know whether either will return. But after all they've been through, if one does and the other does not, "it's going to be tough," Malone said. "It's going to be tough for whichever one stays back."
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Associated Press writer Christine Simmons in Washington contributed to this report.
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