I'm Ken Harbaugh, host of Warriors in Their Own Words. In partnership with the Honor

project, we've brought this podcast back at a time when our nation needs these stories more than ever.

Warriors in their own words is our attempt to present an unvarnished, unsanitized truth of what we have asked of those who defend this nation.

Thank you for listening, and by doing so honoring those who have served.

On this episode of Warriors in Their Own Words, we hear from a rock war combat vet, Chris Goldsmith,

who, as a 19-year-old soldier, was tasked with photographing corpses and documenting mass graves.

He developed severe PTSD, and in 2007, as the result of a suicide attempt that caused him to mis-reployment,

was given a less than honorable discharge.

After years of legal battles, that discharge was upgraded.

Chris went on to advocate for other veterans with PTSD who received bad paper discharges

and helped pass crucial legislation that helps them receive the

benefits they deserve. For me, Chris's story is especially important. It reminds us that for many

of America's warriors, the experience of combat can have lifelong effects. Chris's interview is only

partly about his time in Iraq. It is also about the

battles he fought at home to change the way the military treats service members suffering from PTSD.

If you are a veteran in crisis or have a battle buddy who is suffering, help is available. The

veteran's crisis hotline is free. The number is 800273-8255. We'll leave that in the show notes.

Thank you for listening. So I wanted to join the military from the time I was a topler.

I feel like a lot of young boys in the United States go through a phase at some point where they kind of, you know, all they want to do is like wear their police uniform or their fireman's uniform from Halloween on like every day of the year.

And I kind of never grew out of that.

You know, I, in most pictures that I can think of off the top of my head of me as a little kid,

it's me wearing camouflage with a pair of dog tags.

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