Living in Two Worlds

Wounded Marines and Me

Thu Dec 19, 2013 | 12:00am
In Lance Corporal Jennifer Ratliff's self-portrait "Stella Jo," she holds a photo of her best friend and her daughter, whom Ratliff cared for while her friend deployed. Ratliff had been injured in Iraq while serving as a machine gunner. The image "speaks volumes regarding Marines' love of family and comrades," says the author.

I live in two worlds

My first world, the “real world” for me, is with my family at our home near the beach in Santa Barbara. The “other” world is MCB Camp Pendleton, at the Wounded Warrior Battalion – West where I teach injured Marines photography. These two worlds could not be more diverse!

Arriving at the battalion at the beginning of my workweek or returning to our home at the end of my week sometimes seems like an out-of-body expedience. I’ve had these experiences before: when I’ve been abroad for a while or am returning to an environment I haven’t visited for a long while. But it’s always the same. It’s familiar, slightly uncomfortable, but totally different and the same, all at once. One might call these moments a déjà vu moment, that “all over again” feeling.

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