[Mb-civic] Coming Home to A Different Struggle - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Coming Home to A Different Struggle

By Robert E. Pierre
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 18, 2005; Page A09

NEW ORLEANS -- Eighteen months in Iraq taught Jemal Foster that optimism 
is a little like fool's gold. There were too many dead, too many wounded 
and too much daily stress to hope that the next day, even the next hour, 
would be a good one.

So, just days back on U.S. soil, Foster steeled himself for the 
devastation at his own front door. "Excuse the house," he joked before 
giving a hard shove to push away debris.

Inside was a mess of toppled appliances, squishy carpets and a life's 
worth of memories and belongings that had been tousled about, covered 
with grimy water, and ruined. Mold covered everything. This is what he 
could save: his college diploma, a purse for his wife and two unopened 
Iraqi Freedom backpacks that he'd sent to his daughters.

"I expected the worst, and I pretty much got it," Foster, 35, said. "We 
took a beating. I never thought I would see anything like this. You got 
a whole city with nobody home."

He had survived Iraq and had plans to buy a new house, a big-screen 
television and settle into a life that didn't involve toting a gun or 
watching his back every second. But the floodwater changed all that, 
forcing him to rethink everything in his life. His family is homeless. 
He isn't sure his wife, an accountant, has a job to return to. His best 
option, he said, appears to be returning to active duty for a year to 
assist in the cleanup effort.

Foster was among the 3,700 Louisiana guardsmen called up to fight in 
Iraq. The state's 256th Brigade took heavy casualties, and many counted 
the days until their tour was over. Those such as Foster -- who trained 
at Jackson Barracks here -- were rushed home early to face a new threat: 
the loss of their homes and the reality that Katrina might tax their 
families as much as the time they spent in Iraq.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/17/AR2005091701362.html?nav=hcmodule
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