Women and War

Women's scars of war

Zen Hernandez proudly wears his "My Mommy Wears Combat Boots" T-shirt as he poses with his mother, Myrna Hernandez, and her combat boots at their home in Concord, California, in December. Myrna Hernandez served in Iraq in 2004 and was later diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

When retired Army Staff Sgt. June Moss returned from Iraq, she had to explain to her children why she couldn't hug them. Any embrace longer than two seconds made her skin feel like it was on fire.

"When I got back, my kids were really clingy," Moss says. "They wanted affection. But, what do you say to a child?"

At night, sleep never came. Instead, Moss baked cupcakes until dawn. At playgrounds, surrounded by the noise and chaos of crowds, Moss felt like her chest was going to explode. Worse, she was afraid she'd hurt someone.

"I wasn't the same person when I came home," says Moss, who returned from Iraq in August 2003 and now lives in East Palo Alto, Calif. "I was different. I was cold."....>>>>>