This week, Scott Pelley reported on the families who held the home front while their spouses, fathers and mothers fought in the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Approximately 600,000 U.S. veterans have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Symptoms may include anxiety, fear, irritability and depression.
In their reporting for this week’s article, Scott Pelley and the 60 Minutes team discovered that some symptoms of PTSD are, in some sense, contagious: Some family members living with veterans who have been diagnosed , like children and spouses, often experience similar symptoms, such as anxiety and depression.
One of the brave families who shared their story with 60 Minutes was the Rotenberry family.
Chuck Rotenberry was a Marine deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. During his second deployment, Rotenberry remembers being on patrol when another Marine stepped on an IED, seriously injuring the soldier and sending Rotenberry 20 feet, knocking him unconscious. Rotenberry remembers going to injured Marines and providing them with life-saving aid.
Rotenberry returned home to his children and his wife, Liz, who was pregnant with their fourth child. He suffered from head trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“He would hide, you know, in back rooms…and I would find him crying, and he didn’t understand why he was crying,” Liz said.
Their son, Kristopher, who was 7 at the time, participated. Over the years, he tried to protect his father from the triggers and his sisters from the trauma. By the age of 12, he had gained weight and he recalled attempting suicide.
“I kind of decided that, you know, my family would be better off without me here,” Kris told 60 Minutes.
In an interview with 60 Minutes Overtime, Pelley reflected on his reporting on soldiers who served in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past two decades, as well as the impact of their deployment and PTSD on their families.
Beginning in 2005, Pelley and 60 Minutes followed an Iowa National Guard unit for nearly two years, from the time they were called to serve until the eventual extension of their mission in Iraq .
One of the guardsmen was Denver Foote, who had been in the National Guard for seven years before his deployment.
His wife, Shannon Foote, was giving birth to their first child, Landen, when the call for war rang out on Denver’s cell phone. She told Pelley she was going to become a “super mom” while her husband served overseas.
But she struggled, working to support herself and Landen, living with her in-laws and battling depression. When Denver’s tour was extended, she was devastated.
“I don’t think the time he spent there was fair. And I didn’t really see any progress,” she told Pelley in an interview.
Pelley wondered if depression was common among other military spouses. “Everyone I’ve talked to, it’s really quite common,” she said.
In 2009, Pelley joined a company from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines for a story called “Golf Company.” The company was based in Helmand province, Afghanistan. At the time, the United States was experiencing the highest number of casualties in the region.
Second Lieutenant Dan O’Hara of Chicago was a platoon leader. Two of his Marines had been killed. Pelley asked O’Hara how soldiers could distinguish the enemy from civilians among the local population.
“For the most part, you don’t until they start shooting at you,” O’Hara said.
In 2012, 60 Minutes reported on veterans living in Harris Country, Texas, who had returned home from the war with PTSD and broken the law in an article titled “Coming Home.”
Kevin Thomas, a Marine who had served in Iraq, told Pelley that he was on a night patrol with other soldiers when they received a call on the radio that a helicopter had crashed. What he saw was etched in his mind.
“What did you see?” Pelley asked Thomas.
“Wreckage, carnage, bodies…25 to 30 Marines. Brothers. Family,” he said.
Six months later, Thomas returned home to his family in Houston. He said he began drinking heavily and becoming avoidant, isolating himself at home. He had no idea what was happening to him.
He lost his job and the trust of his family. His aggression was due to a hair trigger. Eventually, he hit his then-wife and was charged with assault.
“I was angry about the unresolved issues in Iraq. I wanted to go back,” he told 60 Minutes.
A court for first-time offenders helped Thomas find treatment at a VA hospital as part of his probation. It also helped him get into college.
The 60 Minutes cameras were with Thomas and his two sons when they went out for ice cream. One of them asked him what it was like in the Marines. Pelley asked Thomas, “When he’s a little older, what are you going to tell him about your experience?”
“I’m going to tell him that my experience and my career in the Marines was great. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said through tears.
Tragically, Kevin Thomas died in a car accident seven months after “Coming Home” aired on 60 Minutes. He was 36 years old.
“The most important thing for the nation to remember is that these veterans of these wars, their children and their spouses are still going through this,” Pelley told 60 Minutes Overtime.
“And that’s something none of us should ever forget.”
The video above was produced by Will Croxton and Brit McCandless Farmer. It was edited by Sarah Shafer Prediger.
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