Home from war, but not free from it

Sergeant Danny Hernandez, 26, of East Boston, and his wife, Faith, both Army veterans fresh from the Iraq war, had just arrived home, by plane to New York and by bus to an armory in Manchester, N.H.

The Iraq war was over for them. Or so they thought.

As they sped through the chilly winter night last February to their East Boston home for the first time in 13 months, a sudden puff of smoke from an 18-wheeler brought them back to the streets of Iraq. Instinctively, Danny Hernandez hit the gas and banged a quick left, as he had been trained to do. Both veterans positioned their hands as if they were holding weapons, to cover both sides of their vehicle. Until they realized, ''We're in the US. There is no need for that," Hernandez recalled saying.

Hernandez would later describe his first road trip since his return to the States as ''nerve-racking," and the next few months as difficult. As for many other returning veterans, it was work to readjust from a war mentality.

Former Air Force sergeant Ron Harris, 53, of Chelsea, knows such difficulties all too well. It took Harris 30 years to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He was met at San Francisco International Airport with eggs being thrown at him and protesters calling him a ''baby-killer," upon his return from Vietnam in the summer of 1974.

That was just the beginning. He had problems with sobriety and homelessness over the next 30 years as he walked the streets of Columbus, Ohio, a self-described broken man looking for direction.

It was a little-known program in Massachusetts that Harris says saved him, and that same program -- founded to help Vietnam vets -- is now helping Iraq vets like Hernandez. The Veterans Upward Bound Program at UMass-Boston has been a lifeline for hundreds of returning military personnel over the years.

According to director Barry Brodsky, more than one-third of participants have been homeless veterans like Harris; others, like Hernandez, are fresh from the battlefield. The program is described as ''academic boot camp" and gets veterans prepared to take college entry exams.

It serves veterans from all US conflicts from the Korean War to Afghanistan and Iraq. While the program was created in response to the Vietnam War, Harris and Brodsky now are gearing up to help more Iraq veterans.

For Hernandez, the program means taking classes at UMass in subjects such as writing and algebra to prepare him for college entrance exams. He plans to go the way of Harris, the son of one of the original Tuskegee Airmen, who is currently in his junior year in college pursuing a degree in psychology. After college, Hernandez says he will rejoin the Army. He is a self-described ''lifer" who says he would be honored to serve for 20 more years.

Two years ago, Hernandez, after spending six years in the Army following his 1997 graduation from East Boston High, thought his years of active duty were over. Then came a call from the New Hampshire National Guard. College had to wait.

He went to Iraq, where he was trained to be in communications -- a position with minimal risk -- while stationed at Camp Cedar II. However, due to his seniority, he said, he was assigned as a gun-truck commander providing VIP security.

Over the next year he traveled all over Iraq, logging 50,000 miles. His team was directly hit with one improvised explosive device, or IED, and was narrowly missed about 12 other times. His team was one of the only ones not to lose a member.

Hernandez and Faith, a 22-year-old private first class, met while they were stationed together. Now they have the same nightmares. Faith joined the National Guard in 2003. Hernandez describes her as appearing timid ''until you hand her a weapon or a machine gun and tell her when she is allowed to fire." They help each other get over what they saw and experienced.

''I feel I'm too young to feel this way," Hernandez said. ''I get nervous talking about what happened over there." As for Harris, now a coordinator for Veterans Upward Bound, he plans on helping people with the same problems he had.

He finds it hard to imagine that just over two years ago he was homeless when he bought a one-way ticket to Boston. He's gone from the homeless shelter on Court Street to the Dean's List at UMass-Boston.

He and his mother have started talking again. According to Harris, she ''has her Ron back."

The Upward Bound program is the only one of its kind in New England, and Brodsky says that private donors will be needed to keep it going as costs go up.

''War traumatizes a human being," said Harris. ''We have an opportunity to do for these kids, coming back from Iraq, something that was not done for the Vietnam vet."

For more information, call 617-287-5870 or e-mail:veteransupwardbound@umb.edu.