b'U . S .M i l i t a r yDoug Gresenz on the water with Redford, the service dog he credits with saving his life.focused on IED casualties, Marines who were gettingMarine Corps brother and best friend, Lance Corporalown life, Gresenz met the man who would take him beaten up daily in combat like Gresenz were hesitant toChristopher Harlan, then his roommate. Every psychkayakfishinginAransasPass,ajoyfuldiversionthat complain about anything less than major injuries. drug causes suicidal tendencies, said Gresenz, We hadnot always resulted in the catching of fish, but one that I learned to tell everyone to get every injury documenteda come-to-Jesus talk the night before we planned toDoug would credit with saving his life at a moment of inthefield,saidGresenz,whoseafter-actioninjuriesgo to the VA to get help for us both. The next day, aftermaximum vulnerability. Heroes on the Water was the have led to almost a decade of pain and debilitation,returning home from work, Doug found his brother-in- group, and I kayak fished for 28 of the 30 days I had off including the near-loss of his life, long after returning toarms dead in their apartment. work, Gresenz remembers, who was just 25 at the time. the safety of U.S. soil. He remembered a buddy namedHarlan was one of several Marines from their platoonIt brought me back to myself.Peter who had uranium deposits in his leg, which he lostwhohadcommittedsuicideafterreturninghomeHavingbeenin Wisconsinjustonceasakidtovisit to bone cancer. Shortly after he returned to the statesfromcombat.UndistinguishedfromPostTraumaticgrandparents, Gresenz made the move to his parents from Iraq, still on active duty, Gresenzs knee blew out,StressDisorder(PTSD),suicideamongcomradesisapost-retirement home where he self-medicated in his marking his entry into the military medical system. Ipsychological cancer that spreads for years after combateffort to escape the psychological cancer of suicide that found myself descending into misery because I didnt gohas endedand it is the very pharmaceutical therapyhad spread throughout his Marine Corps platoon, taking to Afghanistan due to my knee blowing out, he said. Afterprovided by the VA that, in many cases including that ofhis best friend in its wake. He went under care of the recovering from his knee injury and being honorablyDoug Gresenz, feeds the cancer, rather than cures it. Milwaukee VA, which diagnosed him with depression discharged from the military, Gresenz moved to Corpusbrought on by PTSD, and was put on an ever-expanding Christi to go to work in the oil field, accompanied by hisEmotionally devastated and seeing little hope for hisregimenofpsychotropicmedications,knownasthe 84THECOASTALBENDMAGAZINE TheCoastalBend.com'