Editor’s note: The following is excerpted from an email to Dan Frosch from Crystal Luker, who is profiled in Frosch’s story, “Soldier’s Heart,” posted to the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies’ collaborative site, AltWeeklies.com. Her husband, Specialist Ron Luker, began exhibiting symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after he witnessed the grisly death of a young member of his platoon in Baghdad.

I want you to know that we owe you a debt of gratitude. You have put the voice of the soldier out into the public. I think it is the most awesome thing that you could have done, to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. I am so happy that I had the opportunity to contribute to the article. Ron was happy, too; he knew how important it was to get this out and how much it meant to me to take part in this. I thought it was very well written — and you conveyed the emotion of all, and what, we have had to struggle with.
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Crystal Luker
Fort Hood, Texas