Veterans Day has always been a strange day for me.

Sure, it’s welcoming to be seen and acknowledged for the day, but the veteran experience is complicated and sometimes hard to explain to those who don’t truly know what it is like.

As a long-time reporter, I ask people all the time to open up to me, to be vulnerable and share their pain. I suppose it’s time for me to do the same.

I’m an Iraq war vet. I haven’t had a night of uninterrupted sleep in more than 20 years, I risk having a panic attack if I drive to unknown locations, I struggle with major depression and it’s difficult to build any meaningful connections with people – but I’m getting better.

Before going to college and then becoming a reporter for MLive 10 years ago, I lived a much different life. I served eight years on acti

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