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GILLETTE, Wyo. Robert James has lived his nightmares.

James drove a gun truck, the second in a convoy of Humvees, the first of which had its sole job to find improvised explosive devices or get blown up by them.

On his first mission in Iraq in 2006, the lead truck took a hit.

"Can you imagine that?" James asked, more than 10 years removed from the explosion.

Imagine with James being in the middle of a war zone and having a truck 600 meters in front of you get blown up by a bomb hidden in the dirt.

James tried to explain it like the moment "right before you think you're going to get in a car accident."

The blood in your body doesn't flow through your veins. It floods them. Your heart stops pumping and vibrates in your chest. Your fingertips go numb, your senses are on high alert and there's no stopping the inevitable.

"That's how you live when you get over there. Constantly," he said. "Then, every time you roll out of that gate, multiply it by 10."

In August the next year, James was blown up by an IED twice in nine days.

He rolled out of the gate 63 times for convoy missions, drove more than 15,000 miles at an average speed of 10 miles an hour and spent a total of 14 months in Iraq on high alert.

Then he brought the war home with him.

In this June 30, 2017 photo, Robert James walks his two service dogs, Apollo and Ares during a trip to Cam-plex Park in Gillette, Wyo. It wasnt until 2015 that James began cognitive processing therapy for his PTSD. It started with a counselor in Rock Springs and he later got psychiatric help in Sheridan. Thats when he was introduced to the idea of a service dog. Photo Credit: Kelly Wenzel/Gillette News Record via AP A NAVY MAN

James grew up the youngest of seven kids in the tiny town of Encampment.

He knew he wanted to join the military at a relatively young age. Both his adopted father and brother served stints with the Army and Navy. James made up his mind fairly quickly which branch he would join.

"Who doesn't want to see the world at the taxpayers' expense?" he said.

Navy it was.

James also wanted to join for the quality education provided to a service member.

He enlisted in 1988 as an operations specialist working the radar on board a ship. He then joined the reserves and was out of the service for six years, then joined the Navy again as an equipment operator in the construction battalion for five years until finally joining the Wyoming National Guard in 2005.

In January 2006, his company got a warning order for active deployment training. That happens from time to time, James said, just to put the fear of war in the men and women, to keep them on their toes.

"Yeah right," he thought at the idea of being deployed.

Six months later, he was on a plane to Iraq.

He had trained to be a fueler for the mission, but three days before they left he was given a new duty: gun truck driver. That's what he did for a living as a civilian, driving trucks and teaching other drivers before they got their commercial driver's licenses.

"The little training they give you before going over there for the National Guard isn't what really happens over there," he said. "Not even close."

There's no preparing for the real thing. No drill to make it as real, no staged mission to get the blood pumping like it does behind enemy lines in the desert.

He remembers the heat the most, how the Middle Eastern summer was year-round, how the sweat seeped through everything. The adrenaline, the fear, the unknown. Here he was, a Wyoming National Guard member who had two years left on his enlistment and the only thing he thought he'd have to worry about was paying the bills.

Now he was worrying about staying alive.

"Do you really think anyone really wants to go to war?" he asked. "No. They don't."

He said it like someone who has seen things things he tries his hardest to block from his memory.

"I try to forget everything, but you can't," he said. "I saw some nasty (stuff) over there. Things I don't like to talk about with anyone."

He's only discussed the things he's seen with four people: His wife Jennifer, his gunner, an old friend and one of his bosses.

"I don't want to relive it," he said. "It's bad enough."

In this June 20, 2017 photo, Robert James uses his PTSD service dog in order to calm him down in stressful situations, mainly by blocking out everything and focusing mainly on petting Apollo on the head, in Gillette, Wyo. It wasnt until 2015 that James began cognitive processing therapy for his PTSD. It started with a counselor in Rock Springs and he later got psychiatric help in Sheridan. Thats when he was introduced to the idea of a service dog. A BITTER HOMECOMING

The panic attacks started within weeks of returning home. They were triggered in crowded rooms, small spaces, coffee shops, even grocery stores.

The worst one happened in a movie theater. He told his doctors at the time about the attacks, but their advice was just to try and live as normal a life as possible.

The combination of the sound, the dark and claustrophobia in the movie theater gave James one of the worst attacks he's had. When he's overcome with panic, his chest becomes tight, he has trouble breathing, he can't focus on what's going on and the only thought that runs through his mind is "Get out."

He doesn't even remember what movie he was there to see. Sometimes it all goes dark.

Along with three herniated discs in his back and a screw in his ankle, James was diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from the war.

The last explosion that gave him the brain injury was the worst of them. All he remembers is a bright flash.

"You're trained to deal with everything while you're there, but when you come back home, there's so much you're not trained to deal with," he said. "They don't train you how to readjust. There's no process for that."

At home, he began to lose his cool, and anger issues that weren't there before emerged. His wife told him for two years to seek help. He thought she was full of it.

"I thought it was normal, freaking out like I did," he said. "I didn't know anything (different) was going on."

A SERVICE DOG

It wasn't until 2015 that James began cognitive processing therapy for his PTSD. It started with a counselor in Rock Springs and he later got psychiatric help in Sheridan.

That's when he was introduced to the idea of a service dog.

One of the frustrations that James has with the Department of Veterans Affairs is that it won't cover expenses for service animals for PTSD.

The federal agency does pay for service animals for veterans with visual, hearing or mobility disorders, but not for former service members whose only disability is PTSD.

The VA has studied the potential benefits of service animals for PTSD patients, but the agency has said that research has been inconclusive.

Without the help from the VA, James had to find a trainer and a dog on his own. Most trainers who work with service animals for PTSD require patients to relocate for a number of months to be there for the training.

"It was very discouraging because I would have had to relocate down in Arizona or Florida and be there for the entire time the dog was training," he said. "I couldn't uproot my family, especially after buying a house. That just wasn't going to happen."

That's when he found Tiffany Fitterer.

In this June 30, 2017 photo, Robert James walks his PTSD service dog Apollo at Cam-plex park in Gillette, Wyo. It wasnt until 2015 that James began cognitive processing therapy for his PTSD. It started with a counselor in Rock Springs and he later got psychiatric help in Sheridan. Thats when he was introduced to the idea of a service dog Photo Credit: Kelly Wenzel/Gillette News Record via AP

THE TRAINER AND THE DOG Fitterer is 24 years old and has been training service animals for just about five years.

She trains in the small town of Toronto, South Dakota, and was first introduced to James through Jennifer's cousin's son.

From the start, James didn't know that a service dog could actually help him. Fitterer sat him down and explained that men and women who come home from active duty have a hard time making connections, and a service animal is a perfect companion.

"When they are in the military they know what they're trained to do, so when they come home, so much of that is lost," Fitterer said. "Giving them a partner like a service animal, now they have a job to do and something to take care of."

In reality, Fitterer said, the dog is the one doing that for them.

James told her about his panic attacks, about his chest tightening. He told her about never being able to have his back to a door. He told her about loud noises, crowded rooms full of children, the nightmares.

Fitterer gathered all the details and told him to find a dog.

"I need you to look for it and feel it," she told him. "It's an absolute feeling."

"She said I had to have a bond with him instantaneously," James said.

"If the dog comes up to you and sits in front of you, that's a good start," Fitterer told him. "Then when you reach down and touch it, you'll have this feeling come over you like you've never felt or experienced before."

James thinks he looked at 50 to 60 shelters and farms for a dog. In Sturgis, he met a woman who had two Rottweilers. One was named Apollo, his brother Ares.

"You know those butterfly feelings?" James asked, referring to when you watch your bride walk down the aisle. "Quadruple that. That's the feeling I ended up having with Apollo when I initially touched him."

This was in April 2016. Fitterrer worked with Apollo for three months. In mid-July, James traveled to Toronto to do his own training so Apollo would follow the commands that Fitterer had worked through.

"Each dog and each human is different," she said. "Once I know the bond is there, everything else falls into place for how I do what I do."

James' life has completely changed since the first days of having Apollo at his side.

Mostly for the good. He had one bad run-in with a local restaurant that seemed intimidated by Apollo's size and asked them to leave. That ticked him off, but he's mostly kept his cool and has been able to transform his behavior.

During his recurring nightmares, James will be woken up by Apollo. In a crowded room, Apollo will sense James' heightening blood pressure and heart rate and have his owner focus on him instead of everyday chaos.

James likens it to plasma globes, the glass balls with a high-voltage electrode in the center of the sphere.

"Imagine my brain is that ball. Those normal pathways aren't there anymore because being (in Iraq) changed it," he said. "All of a sudden it (could) explode everywhere. That's what happens. It's a zero to instant type of problem. And (Apollo) will stop it."

Apollo has almost a dozen commands, from sit, kneel and stay to touch and give, which is something James can say to have Apollo turn a light on in a room before he enters it.

"Dogs are sensory creatures," James said. "They can pick up on (our senses) easily, especially when Apollo and I have that connection."

Just a few weeks ago, Fitterer got a text from James about how he was able to attend his son's concert.

When he was getting dressed for the show, James was scared as ever. The concert was for every fifth and sixth grader in the city who played a string instrument. His son plays the cello.

It was the most crowded room he's ever been in since coming home from the war.

At one point during the show, Apollo heavily leaned on one of James' legs. That was the moment James knew everything would be all right.

"(Now) he can go to the grocery store by himself and not fear or panic about someone coming up behind him in that cramped checkout area," Fitterer said. "A year ago he couldn't have done that. Now he doesn't bat an eye."

ANOTHER BEST FRIEND

A few months of having Apollo at home, James got a call from Fitterer.

The relationship between Apollo's brother, Ares, and the veteran that had been working with him didn't pan out.

James brought in Ares and had both dogs at home.

Ares is named after the Greek god of war. Apollo, the son of Zeus, is the god of many things, including light, truth, prophecy and healing.

To this day, James lives with the war that damaged him.

In his nightmares, he's reminded of the tragedies. His guardians are even named after the very idea that trapped him in dark corners and after the light that now shines in his new life.

They live cohesively with each other and alongside him. He has more control over his fears and anxieties all thanks to the healing powers of animals at the end of a leash.

Information from: The Gillette (Wyo.) News Record, http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com

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Service dogs help Iraq War veteran in Wyoming deal with PTSD - Military Times

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region Iraq has one of the highest rates of Tuberculosis (TB) in the region, with over 15,000 people affected in the country annually, says a report by the Iraqi government and the United Nations.

In a report published by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday, the Iraq Ministry of Health reported that the country has the highest amount of TB rates in the region, which can be lethal if left untreated.

TB is a highly contagious bacterium that usually attacks the lungs but can also damage other parts of the body such as the brain, kidneys or spine. It is an airborne bacterium spread when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks.

In cooperation with the World Health Organization and Health Cluster partners, IOMs Emergency Health Program has been supporting the Iraqi Ministry of Healths National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) since 2014.

The conflict in Iraq has created enormous humanitarian challenges, including placing additional strain on the health system, and the exacerbation of health needs, said IOM Iraqs Chief of Mission, Thomas Lothar Weiss. IOM Iraq is pleased to work together with Iraqs Ministry of Health and humanitarian partners to educate vulnerable populations about the risk of Tuberculosis and to support prevention and treatment.

IOM was selected this year to be the primary recipient of the Global Fund to provide support for Iraqi NTP. IOM and NTP collaborated to design a major TB program intervention aiming to control TB in Iraqis most vulnerable populations such Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Syrian refugees and returnees.

Between 2014 and 2017, more than 300 TB cases were detected by IOM at NTP heath facilities among IDPs and Syrian refugees in the Kurdistan region and Kirkuk.

However, Iraqs NTP recorded a total of 7,246 TB cases in 2016 alone with 305 cases identified being IDPs.

It was reported in 2015 by NTP that the total number of TB patients exceeded 8,000 individuals. Of those, 29 percent were completely cured, 62 percent successfully completed treatment, and 3 percent (240 people) died from TB. Other cases were transferred or did not complete treatment.

This year, NTP has confirmed a significant rise in TB cases, mostly due to TB patients fleeing Mosul who had no access to health care as well as IDPs in remote, hard to reach locations who have received delays in diagnosis and treatment.

To combat an outbreak of TB, IOM is increasing efforts by carrying out initial screening at IDP camps and within host communities.

Additionally, IOM is providing TB awareness campaigns, training more medical staff, providing support to TB screening facilities as well as early detection and diagnosis of TB cases in IDP camps and other emergency sites for Iraqs displaced.

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Report: Iraq suffering one of highest rate of TB in region - Rudaw

On Sunday, Haider al-Abadi, the prime minister of Iraq, visited Mosul to herald the success of his armys nine-month struggle to recapture the city from the Islamic State. In a speech on state television the next day, he declared the end and the failure and the collapse of the terrorist state of falsehood and terrorism which [ISIS] announced from Mosul. Even as pockets of militants continue to hold out in the Old City, the government is now effectively in control of both East and West Mosul. The capture of the Great Mosque of al Nuri, which sits at the heart of the Old City, on the west bank of the Tigris river, was a symbolic victory, since it was from this mosque that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of Islamic State, declared the foundation of the caliphate.

But the mosque also represents the scale of the challenge now facing Iraq. Before its capture, ISIS fighters blew up its iconic leaning minaret an act described by Abadi as an official acknowledgment of defeat. At its height, ISIS controlled 40 percent of Iraqi territory, terrorizing a population of 10 million. The recapture of that territory, with only the towns of Hawija and Tal Afar remaining in ISIS hands, has seen the displacement of 3 million people, and over 13,000 coalition airstrikes. Combined with ISISs penchant for systematically carpeting towns with IEDs, a vast swathe of Iraq, including the al-Nuri Mosque, lies in ruins.

Prior to falling to ISIS in June 2014, Mosul was a center for medium-sized Iraqi industries. The city hosted pharmaceutical factories, and an abundance of craftsmen who made furniture, instruments, leather goods, and textiles. ISIS repurposed many of the citys workshops to produce IEDs. Consequently they have been devastated in the fighting. Mosuls modern pharmaceuticals factory, for example, was bombed in 2016 by the coalition, after it was linked to the manufacture of chemical weapons by ISIS. The restoration of these industries is crucial to bringing the city back to life.

What emerges from the rubble will determine the future of Iraq. If the government fails to provide services and security from militias seeking revenge, the recapture of Mosul could simply set up the next round of Sunni insurgency. But if the government can lure investment and reignite Mosuls local economy, then its liberation could mark a turning point from one of the darkest chapters in Iraqs history.

Earlier this month, the Iraqi government held a conference in London that brought Iraqi and foreign business owners together with government officials and experts to discuss the opportunities and barriers to developing the countrys economy. Now we need a Marshall Plan, Ibrahim al Jaafari, Iraqs foreign minister, declared in his opening remarksa reference to Americas massive reconstruction program following World War II. He argued that such a plan wouldnt just be sensible policy, but an obligation of the international community. Over a hundred nationalities came to Iraq as terrorists. Iraq is fighting to protect itself and on behalf of the whole world, he said.

Western officials are sympathetic, not least because a peace dividend, in which citizens in liberated areas feel the immediate benefits from the return of government control, is considered essential to stave off a resurgent Sunni uprising. The danger is to win the war but lose the peace, Greg Hands, Britains minister of state for trade and investment, said in response to Al Jaafaris remarks.

While all parties seem to recognize that a lasting peace depends on the Iraqi government quickly establishing services in liberated areas, international aid and investment has been sparse. The UN has called for $985 million to provide for immediate humanitarian needsnot to finance reconstruction. So far, only $423.5 million has been pledged. Estimates of the cost of reconstruction vary widely, but Iraqi officials are discussing a plan that would cost around $100 billionjust over half the total cost of the Marshall Plan, adjusted for inflation, which supported the reconstruction of Western Europe.

The international communitys reluctance stems, in part, from its skepticism over Baghdads capacity to properly distribute the funds. The Marshall Plan saw extensive American oversight of the process, in order to ensure that funds were spent effectively, and in line with U.S. interests at the onset of the Cold War. In Iraq, security concerns prevent western officials from maintaining a sustained presence to oversee projects.

The Iraqi government is looking to fill the gap with private investment, both because this could help establish long-term business relationships with foreign countries, and because individual investors, eager to make money, will, theoretically, be careful to make sure their money is properly spent. Baghdad is seeking to promote partnerships between foreign companies and lenders, with Iraqi firms, to redevelop the countrys infrastructure. These efforts have been well received abroad. The United Kingdom has made some $12 billion dollars available to support private investment in Iraqi infrastructure, through U.K. Export Finance, its export credit agency. But private investment is not charity. There is no question that were eager to support them, Louis Taylor, head of the agency, said at a recent event with Iraqi business owners. But we need projects that will bring a financial return.

What worries British investors is that their potential business partners in Iraq have yet to provide sufficiently detailed proposals to convince them that they will make money. Ambiguous business proposals, investors fear, will allow money to be siphoned off to local officials. The legal paperwork must be protected. We need to know who we are doing business with, Raed Hanna, director of Mutual Finance, which supports investment projects in Iraq, explained to me.

One inconvenient, generally accepted truth, is that doing business in post-conflict territories and emerging markets necessitates some measure of corruption. Privately, business owners acknowledge that it simply is not possible to do business in Iraq without paying bribes. The country remains vulnerable to clientelism, in part because of the public sectors dominance of the Iraqi business environment. The result is that political power often rests with whoever can provide his supporters with lucrative government contracts. All this contributed to Iraq coming in at 166 out of 176 countries in Transparency Internationals 2016 corruption index.

While its relatively easy for large companies in the oil and gas sector to factor the cost of corruption into their investments, the costs for investors in small-and-medium-sized businesses can be crippling. The costs of obtaining all the necessary permissions to set up the business may outweigh any potential profits, especially if a local official has a client who is a potential competitor. Yet manufacturing and medium-sized enterprises are the ones that have the capacity to deliver employment to liberated areas.

Iraq also needs private industry to flourish in order to expand its tax base and diversify the economy: The oil industry accounts for 99 percent of government revenues. Fluctuations in the price of oil cause huge fluctuations in the available funds for the budgets of government departments. At present, with oil below $45 per barrel, Life has economically almost stopped. Our bureaucracy has taken much of our resources in order to waste them, Sami al Araji, chairman of Iraqs National Investment Commission, explained to me.

Al Araji believes that Iraq must diversify its economy, both to expand and broaden the job market, and also to provide a stable tax base. For this to happen, Baghdad needs to relinquish control of its monopolies. The government dominates the oil, energy, and service sectors through government-owned companies. In a bid to increase revenues, the state has often tried to compete aggressively with private firms, rather than support private sector growth. The Iraqi State Company for Land Transportation, for example, has doubled its profits since 2011, largely at the expense of private firms. Not everything can be a part of mega projects. You have to have a private sector that is a productive element in society, not dependent upon government contracts, al Araji said.

The growth of the small and medium-sized enterprises that Iraq needs, however, will only come with foreign investment. Thats because domestic banks are extremely risk-averse, and rarely lend money to local businesses. Often, they only offer loans to businesses that own their own land, and can offer it up as collateralan unrealistic proposition for them, given that most dont have the necessary capital. This leaves Iraqi businesses desperate for partnerships with foreign companies who can obtain capital.

Iraqs rebuilding dilemma, then, is that, in order to rebuild, its small and medium-sized businesses must play a central role. But they require external investment, which will only arrive once investors are confident in the integrity of Iraqi institutions and the viability of projects. Getting to that stage depends on the Iraqi government embracing a radical program of privatization and economic reform, which, even during peacetime, would be ambitious.

Consider Iraqs electrical sector. Generous subsidies drive down prices, leading to overconsumption by households, subjecting Iraqis to regular power outages. This, in turn, forces Iraqis to pay private diesel or petrol-powered generator firms. Prime Minister Abadi has sought to privatize parts of the energy sector and remove subsidies. In January, the Iraqi government signed a $1.4-billion deal with General Electric to expand its power supply and modernize the countrys gas-powered turbines. More controversially, the government is looking to reduce the provision of subsidized electricity, shifting Iraqis onto paid contracts. It may be politically unpopular, al Araji said, but we have to stop subsidies. The less the government spends on salaries and subsidies, the more it can spend on new infrastructure, and on the liberated territories like Mosul, which is currently without electricity.

Iraq therefore stands at a pivotal moment. There is potential for serious economic reform to drive reconstruction, and thereby build a pathway for stabilizing the liberated territories. There is also a serious possibility that bureaucratic paralysis and corruption will undermine reform, prevent investment from entering the liberated areas, and that, without jobs or services, insurgency will renew with a vengeance. For now, international investors and foreign governments are cautious, waiting to see whether the investment environment improves. In the meantime, Iraqs future is in Iraqi hands.

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How Can Iraq Rebuild? - The Atlantic

A still photo from video posted on a militant website July 5, 2014, purports to show the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, delivering a sermon at a mosque in Iraq during his first public appearance.

AP

Last Updated Jul 11, 2017 1:42 PM EDT

LONDON -- A London-based monitoring group with a solid history of accurately reporting incidents from inside war-torn Syria said Tuesday that it had been able to confirm the death of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Russia said in June that there was a "high degree of probability" al-Baghdadi had been killed in a Russian airstrike at the end of May. Moscow firstmade the claim on June 16, saying it had evidence he was among a group of ISIS leaders targeted at a meeting just outside the terror group's de facto capital in Raqqa, Syria.

U.S. and Iraqi officials cast doubt on the claim then, however, saying they had no evidence to suggest al-Baghdadi was dead. There have been numerous erroneous reports of his demise since ISIS seized a vast swath of northern Iraq and Syria in the summer of 2014.

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The Reuters news agency quoted U.S. military officials in Washington again on Tuesday as saying they had no reason yet to believe al-Baghdadi was dead.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition told CBS News in an emailed statement that, "we cannot confirm this report, but hope it is true. We strongly advise ISIS to implement a strong line of succession, it will be needed."

A U.S. intelligence official also told CBS News that the U.S. had not confirmed the report.

The director of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) told CBS News that a "1st tier and two 2nd tier ISIS commanders from Deir Ezzor" had confirmed al-Baghdadi's death.

SOHR director Ramy Abdel Rahman told CBS News by phone that the sources "could not say when Baghdadi died, or whether he succumbed to injuries he sustained in an attack."

ISIS has now lost the largest population center it controlled in Iraq, the city of Mosul, and is surrounded by U.S.-allied and Syrian forces in Raqqa. The size of the group's self-declared "Islamic caliphate" has shrunk around 60 percent over the last several years.

If confirmed, al-Baghdadi's death would be a huge symbolic blow to the Sunni Muslim extremist group, which many experts expect to convert in the coming months into a more traditional insurgency -- still hell-bent on carrying out deadly attacks as and where it can, but without holding significant territory in either Iraq or Syria.

Baghdadi hasn't been heard from since late 2016. The ISIS leader has only appeared once in video, speaking to supporters in an iconic mosque in the heart of Mosul that wasdestroyed by ISIS in Juneas Iraqi forces closed in. That appearance came in 2014.

The last time Baghdadi released an audio message was Nov. 3, 2016, when he released an statement urging followers to continue to fight for Mosul.

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Monitoring group says ISIS members confirm leader's death - CBS News

Dying is easy. Putting yourself in harms way to visually document a brutal conflict in the Middle East is hard.

That's the impression you get, at least, while looking through the work of Lewis & Clark grad Kainoa Little. The freelance photographer spent April and May in Mosul with Iraqi forces as they tried to recapture the city, three years after its capture by the Islamic State.

He returned with a striking collection of photographs depicting the brutality and violence he witnessed. But when he tried to find newspapers and wire services that would buy them, Little came up empty-handed. So he uploaded them to his website and posted a few on PetaPixel.

"The worst uncertainty for me as a freelancer in conflict isn't that I won't be able to pay my rent; it's that no one will see the story," Little said in the post. He noted that the soldiers and refugees he met "very rightly expected that I would tell their story."

The Iraqi Prime Minister declared victory over ISIS yesterday, effectively ending the recapture effort. Uncertainties surrounding the eventual rebuilding effort still remain.

Little is now based in Shoreline, WA. You can see more of his work on his website, or follow him on Instagram.

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Lewis & Clark Grad Uploads Harrowing Photos Of ISIS Conflict in Iraq - Willamette Week