Like most veterans, Patrick Nelson found the transition to civilian life tough.
"I couldn't find a job to save my life," said Nelson, a wounded Army veteran who spent nearly seven years on active duty, including tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.
More troubling were questions from well-meaning family and friends: What was it like? What did you do? How many people did you kill?
"Sometimes you don't want to answer," said Nelson, 27, now a full-time student at Minnesota State University, Mankato. At least not answer face-to-face. In March, Nelson won a national $25,000 Pepsi Refresh grant to create and run the website www.realcombatlife.com. The nonprofit site offers troops a therapeutic outlet on which to share their stories and, in the process, gives insight to those who want to understand.
Not all entries are "battle stories," Nelson said. Some are musings about what troops do to "pass the time," or tales of humanitarian missions "too often neglected by the major media outlets." The site carries news items, too, about asbestos and traumatic brain injury.
Nelson understands that many veterans prefer to leave their darkest days untouched by documentation. Others, though, are finding their way to his site with emotional punch. One blogged about a "fresh-faced 18-year-old medic" ripped apart by an explosion. Mike McElmeel, a Special Forces free-fall parachutist, is a regular on the site with the makings of a novelist.
"The road to Klaw Kut," he wrote, "was rutted, narrow and peppered with the occasional land mine."
McElmeel, 46, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, served in the Army from 1982 to 2004. The father of four already has posted nearly a dozen times on Nelson's website. Many of his posts began as letters to his oldest son, Mick, 26, who served in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2007. "It's a great thing," McElmeel said of the site. "For a kid Patrick's age, it's pretty cool."
