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Jamie B.
![This is like the good times, you know. I came back from Iraq the first time, and it just felt like that was at our good point [as a family]. That’s my daughter kissing her doll; pictures of the good times that we had.](img/vets/vet_jamieb_portraits.jpg)
![That’s just half of the awards that I received when I was in the military. A lot of them I just threw away. I was so angry at certain times. It’s like a gift and a curse; you received these for doing good things, but… One is for doing 300 missions in Iraq; but on that 300+ missions I lost friends, I [developed] PTSD, I got a traumatic brain injury, I lost my hearing… I get a binder with a piece of paper in it and a little thing to stick on. What am I going to do with it now? Stick it on my shirt and walk around with it?](img/vets/vet_jamieb_accolades.jpg)
![When I [saw] my kids born, it just changed my life. I believe in God and all that… we’re practicing Catholics. Your kids, when you first see them, it’ll change your life forever, and it changed my life, it just changed my life forever.](img/vets/vet_jamieb_daughter.jpg)
![Look at all of this paperwork [from my medical files], about how screwed up I got after the military and all the, all the VA [care] I need. I’m overwhelmed. I need someone who cares and wants to spend time with me, like every week, and get down to the real problems and what’s going on [with me]. Not to take a goddamn ticket and to wait four hours to see someone.](img/vets/vet_jamieb_paperwork.jpg)
![This is my apartment I’m living in. I’m 100% disabled, which means I can’t work. And I get about $3,000 a month from the VA. People think that sounds like a lot of money, but when you’re young and have two kids to raise it’s really not enough. I want to own a house and have a yard and stuff like that, [but] I’m living in a one-bedroom apartment. It’s not what I want for my kids.](img/vets/vet_jamieb_apartment.jpg)
![I took a picture of [my cat] because, it’s weird to say, but [he’s] the only thing I have to come home to. My kids aren’t there, so I’ve just got him.](img/vets/vet_jamieb_companion.jpg)
Jamie served two tours in Iraq as an Infantryman, where he went on over 300 combat missions. During his second deployment, Jamie suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury, and he separated from the Army after coming home from his second deployment. Since his separation from military service, Jamie has been dealing with mental and physical health issues, including PTSD. His marriage fell apart and he was going through a difficult divorce at the time of his participation in the Photovoice project. Jamie is the proud dad of two young daughters.
