Struggle Turned To Hope For Easley Family
The war had just begun when Army Spec. Greg Easley was injured.
In 2003, during a 15-month deployment, an IED explosion flipped the truck Greg was driving. He suffered burns on his leg and was knocked unconscious. He awoke with terrible headaches, neck and back pain. Doctors removed shrapnel from his legs.
After a few days of bed rest, he was returned to duty, crisscrossing the dangerous Iraqi highways at the wheel of an Army truck. At the end of his tour, he was home for just four months before he returned to the war zone for another year.
The pain in his body worsened. Greg began having nightmares. He couldn’t eat. He suffered from PTSD. At that early point in the war, however, the injury went unrecognized.
After the deployments, Greg and his family were sent to a post in Germany. His suffering continued.
His wife Betty said his PTSD symptoms became worse, almost unbearable. He was impatient. The noise the children made aggravated him. He began to hoard food and hide things. He never told his wife about the injuries he suffered.
Betty had just delivered the couple’s second set of twins, and the family now had six children to care for. As his condition continued to deteriorate, so did their family.
Greg’s behavior problems led to his reduction in rank from E-6 to E-4, and he began the discharge process.
“No one educated us on PTSD,” Betty said. “The only thing we knew was to call it quits.”
As part of his discharge process, a military doctor diagnosed Greg’s PTSD.
The family retired from the military and moved to San Antonio with hopes for a brighter future. When they arrived, however, they discovered the military had seized Greg’s retirement pay for unspecified debt. The family of eight was penniless and homeless in a town where they knew very few people.
A family at the church they were attending offered them a temporary place to stay. Still, the family began looking for shelters as days turned into weeks and weeks into months.
This family’s story has a happy ending because they were able to get help. There are other wounded warriors and their families who are not quite as fortunate. When you support the Army Homefront Fund, you’re helping change the lives of brave men and women who have sacrificed so much in service to their country.